Category Law
Music Modernization Act Loses Opportunity to Clean Up Music Industry Data
Last week the U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously to adopt the Senate’s modified version of the Music Modernization Act (MMA). It’s expected to become law with the President’s signature imminently. The bill’s trip from the House to the Senate had several twists and turns, with parties such as Blackstone Group (controlling owners of the […]
EU Parliament Approves Watered-Down Copyright Directive
This past Tuesday, the European Union Parliament approved a heavily amended version of the copyright reform legislation that has been generating much controversy over the past couple of years. We’ve been looking specifically at Article 13 of the proposed Directive, which has generated the most controversy for its inclusion of provisions that would require online services […]
Would Article 13 Give Copyright Owners What They Want?
Last week, the European Parliament moved the EU’s new Copyright Directive along in its legislative process; it passed out of the Legal Affairs Committee and is due for a plenary vote in September. One of the most controversial provisions of the new Directive is the forbodingly-named Article 13. Article 13 would require online services to […]
Music Modernization Act Draws Concerns About Mechanical Licensing Agency
The Copyright Society of the USA’s Annual Meeting took place over the past couple of days in Toronto. One of the many interesting sessions was one on music licensing, where we from the U.S. got to learn that Canada has just as much of a “sausage factory” as we do when it comes to the […]
Judge’s Ruling in Redbox Case Raises Concerns for Physical/Digital Content Bundles
A ruling from a California district judge last month impacts an area we explore here from time to time: when you purchase a digital content product, what rights do you have to that product, and are you buying it or licensing it? Judge Dean Pregerson’s recent ruling in Disney v. Redbox helps define the boundaries between sale and […]
Improving the Music Modernization Act
The Music Modernization Act (MMA) has been getting traction in the United States. It was introduced into the Senate two weeks ago, and it has become part of a larger package of music copyright legislation which has become known as the “Music Bus” bill. More and more organizations have announced their support for the MMA. Many […]
Music Modernization Act Proposes Single Solution to Mechanical Licensing Problem
The music industry’s licensing problems just got another proposed governmental solution, with last week’s introduction in Congress of the Music Modernization Act (MMA). The MMA is a bipartisan bill that would provide a blanket mechanical license and set up a collecting society to manage payments to composers and publishers. It aims to solve a particular […]
The Search for Leverage Against Sci-Hub (Updated)
I’m finally getting around to writing about Sci-Hub, the enormous and still-growing repository of scientific journal articles and academic papers that is often called “The Pirate Bay of Science.” The latest development in one of the lawsuits brought against the site in the United States finally brings a measure of technological interest to the legal […]
Could Lawsuit Settlements Be the Best Way to Solve Rights Data Problems?
Copyright owners have long been at odds with tech companies and service providers over copyright-related issues. We’ve seen various different attempts to solve these problems across industries since the start of the “copyright wars” in the late 1990s, enough to have some idea of what works and what doesn’t. In rough terms, there are four types […]
New Proposed Legislation Sets Up Showdown Over Online U.S. Music Rights Database
An effort is brewing in Washington to get an authoritative online database of music rights information built for the United States. It started last week as a bill called the Transparency in Music Licensing and Ownership Act. (It has neither a catchy acronym nor even a bill number at this time of writing, so we’ll just call […]
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