Google wins against Oracle’s Code Theft Claim, Musician sues Rockstar Games for Copyright infringement, COPA sues Craig Wright over Bitcoin Copyright claim, Youtube introduces ‘Checks’ for Copyright violations, Marshmello wins ‘Happier’ Copyright case against ARTY and Sky wins Copyright infringement claim against show Pirater.
Google wins against Oracle’s Code Theft Claim
The US Supreme Court decided in favor of Google in a case filed by Oracle. The complaint filed by Oracle accused Google of copying their software code used to make apps. The code was written in Java, a software programming language owned by Oracle and used by Google to create the Android Operating System.
Google contested that such copying was a standard practice in the industry while Oracle accused Google of theft. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Google, holding that Google’s copying fell under ‘the Fair Use’ exception, which allows copying another’s work without authorization if some conditions are met.
Musician sues Rockstar Games for Copyright infringement
Rockstar Games, a video game publisher, was sued by Shawn Lee, a musician and Ubiquity Records for copyright infringement of a melody. They alleged that Shawn’s melody was used in two popular games published by Rockstar Games.
The musician had submitted a song to Rockstar Games for a project, from which they copied the melody and certain riffs to use in two installments of the “Grand Theft Auto” series.
The suit alleges copyright infringement, intentional misrepresentation and negligent misrepresentation on Rockstar Games’ part.
COPA sues Craig Wright over Bitcoin Copyright claim
The Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) is suing nChain Chief Scientist Craig Wright for his copyright claim over the Bitcoin White Paper. Wright has been claiming ownership over the Bitcoin White Paper and had sent a cease and desist notice to Square to takedown the same from their website, in response to which, COPA sought some clarifications.
The opposition from COPA, an alliance formed by Square, claims to bring this action on behalf of the entire crypto community to protect the open source spirit of the same, by ensuring that all resources, such as the white paper, remain in the open source realm and not become protected works.
This case filed before a UK Court High Court is to declare that Craig Wright does not have any copyright ownership over the white paper.
Youtube introduces ‘Checks’ for Copyright violations
Youtube has introduced a new service called ‘Checks’ to scrutinize video and metadata of content before it is uploaded on the platform. This is an upgrade from the previous system, wherein content creators are made of infringing aspects of their content only after it is uploaded on the platform. To decide whether the content has a possible violation, the device uses the company’s Content ID algorithm.
The entire process takes three minutes and informs the creator if the content violates any copyrights before it is uploaded. The service will still allow the creator to upload flagged content onto the platform as it automatically informs the copyright owner first.
This service was created to prevent long drawn copyright disputes, which prevent content creators from monetizing their videos. The service doesn’t guarantee that a video won’t be flagged for copyright violations, however, it claims to diminish the possibility of the same.
Marshmello wins ‘Happier’ Copyright case against ARTY
The Californian US District court decided in favour of EDM producer Marshmello in an action brought against him by another producer, ARTY for stealing a melody the latter used in the remix of ‘I lived’ by One Republic. ARTY filed a suit claiming infringement of the beat and other non-composition related elements.
The judge ruled in favour of Marshmello on the basis of the contract between ARTY and One Republic, which granted no ownership or financial interest in the remix to ARTY.
This ruling may have set precedent to further the argument that remix songs do not create legal rights for the artist working on them.
Sky wins Copyright infringement claim against show Pirater
Sky UK Ltd., a broadcaster, won a copyright infringement claim against Alex Cherrie, a pirater. He was infringing Sky’s copyright in several shows by granting unauthorized access to people over the internet. He was charging people for access to material owned by Sky and shared it via hyperlinks on Youtube and Reddit. Alex had over in excess of 51,000 users across sub reddits and had 95,000 users on the Youtube Account.
The Court of Sessions granted an interim interdict against Alex Cherrie, preventing him from further encroaching upon Sky’s rights. This order, as a precedent, could help companies protect their works against copyright infringements involving unauthorized broadcast.
Authored and compiled by Neharika Vhatkar (Associate, BananaIP Counsels) and Shaantanu Krishnan (Legal Intern)
The Copyright Law News Bulletin is brought to you jointly by the Entertainment Law and Consulting/Strategy Divisions of BananaIP Counsels, a Top IP Firm in India. If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please write to contact@bananaip.com with the subject: Copyright Law News
Disclaimer: Please note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to contact@bananaip.com for corrections and take down
