Sunday, March 01, 2009

Copyfight headlines

Canada ISP Videotron pushes for 3 strikes copyright law:
Quebecor [owner of Videotron] argues in favour of certain instances of ISPs controlling content, including anti-spam or child pornography blocking. Moreover, it suggests that copyright policies that build upon the graduated response policies in other countries should be added to the list of content controls that benefit society.
Nicholas Sarkozy, whose government is also trying to pass a "3 strikes and you're disconnected" law, is being sued by US indie band MGMT for copyright infringement. Sarkozy's party has offered to settle for one Euro:
The party has admitted to using the popular track, Kids, at its national congress in January, in two online videos and in political advertisements. But it claims this was an unintentional mistake and offered the band a symbolic €1 ($1.43 Cdn.) for copyright infringement.
John McCain is still being sued by Jackson Browne for copyright infringement of his song "Running on Empty" which was used without permission during the presidential campaign last year:
Browne argued that copyright law protects his song even in the context of a political ad. "Defendants flood the court with paper and essentially argue that because they are politicians and political parties, they have an unfettered right to use musical compositions in political campaign commercials, and to associate themselves with any person they want to, with or without consent.
This brings to mind the little problem National had with a certain Coldplay song on a certain DVD not so long ago. Not that Coldplay haven't got issues too, mind.