Copyright Fail

"What’s really fascinating is BlueBeat’s response. BlueBeat claims that “Plaintiffs..."

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:23:06 -0600

“What’s really fascinating is BlueBeat’s response. BlueBeat claims that “Plaintiffs are not likely to succeed on the merits because Defendants’ website markets and sells an entirely different sound recording than that copyrighted by Plaintiffs.” BlueBeat says it “independently developed [its] own original sounds” that consist of “entirely different sound recording[s]” through a technical process it calls “psycho-acoustic simulation.” BlueBeat even says it obtained copyright registrations on such “new” recordings (which, as the plaintiffs point out, are exactly the same as the original recordings).”

- Words fail me on this one…

Copyrights & Campaigns: Introducing the ‘psycho-acoustic simulation’ defense to copyright infringement

"He and his laptop were eventually allowed in to see the film, after convincing the cinema’s..."

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:03:14 -0500

“He and his laptop were eventually allowed in to see the film, after convincing the cinema’s child-faced manager that the Vaio didn’t actually have a camera in it. In his blog, Jeremy adds: “I often pop in to the movies after work, so I often have the laptop with me and I wanted to check that this was definitely out from now on. He said after advice from FACT, the Federation Against Copyright Theft, Cineworld had brought in the new guidelines.” “I asked if it would be OK to take my mobile phone into the film as that does have the capacity to record movies. He asked if I was planning to use it for that purpose. I said no. He said it would be all right then. Not the most rigorous interrogation and one that a determined bootlegger probably could have passed.””

- So laptops without cameras are banned, but mobile phones with video recording devices are allowed…?

Barmy new ‘no laptops allowed’ rule from Cineworld | BitterWallet

"Imagine my surprise to find out that Verizon has now agreed to pay the ASCAP an interim license fee..."

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:55:11 -0500

“Imagine my surprise to find out that Verizon has now agreed to pay the ASCAP an interim license fee of more than $4.99 million for songs the phone service provider uses in ringtones for its customers. Meanwhile, the two sides will continue to debate how much the group should receive for the tunes.”

- Try not to think about this one too hard…

Ridiculous: Verizon Pays ASCAP $5M Interim License Fee For … Ringtones

Paramount Pictures FCC Broadband Workshop Presentation (via...

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:16:46 -0500

Paramount Pictures FCC Broadband Workshop Presentation (via acurtis)

"Songwriters, composers, and music publishers are making preparations to one day collect performance..."

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:19:38 -0500

“Songwriters, composers, and music publishers are making preparations to one day collect performance fees from Apple and other e-tailers for not just traditional music downloads but for downloads of films and TV shows as well. Those downloads contain music after all.
These groups even want compensation for iTunes’ 30-second song samples.”

- Words can not describe this fail…

Music publishers: iTunes not paying fair share | Digital Media - CNET News

"A judge yesterday ruled against a Long Island man who drove a phony missile emblazoned with the..."

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:42:22 -0500

“A judge yesterday ruled against a Long Island man who drove a phony missile emblazoned with the words “Viva Viagra” into Manhattan last year. Manhattan federal Judge William Pauley III said Arye Sachs illegally infringed on pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s trademark for its erectile-dysfunction drug by copying its slogan.”

- Not really a copyright case… But still…

LI man guilty of copyright boner

"In a lawsuit filed Thursday with the federal court in Manhattan, widely published photographer Louis..."

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:37:05 -0500

“In a lawsuit filed Thursday with the federal court in Manhattan, widely published photographer Louis Psihoyos contends that Apple is using his “1000 TVs” image in its “i.TV” movie guide application for the iPhone.”

- Why fail? APPLE DOESN’T MAKE THE I.TV APP! I.TV DOES!

Apple sued for infringing 1000 TVs copyright

"We’re providing this favelet’s source code for educational purposes. Note that the..."

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:48:27 -0500

“We’re providing this favelet’s source code for educational purposes. Note that the source code is copyrighted. We do not grant you the right to modify or distribute it.”

- Open the source code to get the punchline to this joke…

Favelet/Bookmarklet: New Browser Window

That is one cruel anti-piracy measure… EarthBound...

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:00:34 -0500

That is one cruel anti-piracy measure…

EarthBound Anti-Piracy Measure (spoilers!) (via starmennet)

"The picture shows Obama puffing on a cigarette (of the tobacco type). People at NORML took the..."

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:24:55 -0500

“The picture shows Obama puffing on a cigarette (of the tobacco type). People at NORML took the image, dressed it up a little to make it look like Obama’s puffing on some serious Early Pearly Maui (or something), and stuck it on their Summer of Love-inspired promotional poster for their annual conference. The message on the poster: “Yes We Cannabis.” But it’s not Obama who’s taken his anger over the poster public, rather Lisa Jack, an Obama classmate back at Oxy, who took the picture. She reportedly had no idea the photo had been used until the Post told her on Tuesday.”

- The Best Fair-Use Controversy Ever? - Law Blog - WSJ

"Goffe and his legal team are seeking the huge amount in damages, claiming that as Winfrey sold an..."

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:19:15 -0500

“Goffe and his legal team are seeking the huge amount in damages, claiming that as Winfrey sold an alleged 650 million copies of the book online for $20 (£13) a time, he is owed $1.2 trillion. However, Goffe admits that the website, which sold Winfrey’s work, is no longer available.”

- This is a very different stimulus package.

Oprah faces $1 trillon lawsuit

"First one comes via MobileCrunch and tells of the aforementioned Khalid Shaik who, using a team of..."

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:07:42 -0500

“First one comes via MobileCrunch and tells of the aforementioned Khalid Shaik who, using a team of 26 Indian and Pakistani based programmers, turned out a mind-numbing (in more ways than one) 943 apps in the last year. These apps aggregated text or images from the Internet around topics like army news, wrestling news, sexy ladies, etc. and typically sold for $4.99. The only problem, of course, is that Shaik didn’t own the rights to the content he was using, and when you start trying to profit off racy pictures of young starlets you pull from the internet, the copyright police will come knocking.”

- App Store Cracks Down on Copyright, Ejects 900+ Aggregator Apps, Rejects E-Books

"A music publisher that says Australian band Men At Work stole a melody from a children’s song..."

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:29:00 -0500

“A music publisher that says Australian band Men At Work stole a melody from a children’s song in hit Down Under has won the first stage of a court battle. Larrikin claims the flute riff from the 1981 hit is stolen from Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, written by Marion Sinclair for the Girl Guides in 1934.”

- BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Men At Work face plagiarism case

Technically it’s more trademark than copyright, but...

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:09:55 -0500

Technically it’s more trademark than copyright, but stil…

Wyatt Cenac on Feuding iPhone Farters | Comedy Central Insider Blog

"So it was odd to see a news release announcing the impending launch of Zookz, a site that offers..."

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:24:58 -0500

“So it was odd to see a news release announcing the impending launch of Zookz, a site that offers unlimited music or movie downloads for about $10 a month, or both for $18. That’s a bit like waving a red cape in front of a couple of bulls, isn’t it? But Zookz believes it’s in the clear, legally, thanks to the World Trade Organization. It’s a far-fetched argument, but you’ve got to give Zookz credit for nerve.”

- Raise your hand if you think this will end badly?

Zookz: A license to infringe?

"But not everyone gets the joke. Keyboard cat will no longer be collaborating on YouTube with Hall..."

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:03:06 -0500

“But not everyone gets the joke. Keyboard cat will no longer be collaborating on YouTube with Hall & Oates, whose label, Warner Music Group, excised the audio from a video including Helen Hunt’s turn as a teenage drug casualty in the 1982 film Desperate Lives, the Hall & Oates hit “You Make My Dreams Come True,” and — of course — the mighty keyboard cat, who plays off Hunt’s character with the help of the two erstwhile pop stars.”

- Play them off… oh… wait…

Warner Music Group Deletes Keyboard Cat Track from YouTube | Epicenter | Wired.com

"Thanks for writing us an email regarding the “Record Breaking Fail”. Unfortunately, douchebaggy..."

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:39:26 -0500

“Thanks for writing us an email regarding the “Record Breaking Fail”. Unfortunately, douchebaggy cyber-bullying emails will only bring upon you more shame on your house. I am also resisting the urge to write this email in ALL CAPS. I believe it is the duty of FAIL Blog(TM) to call out organizations when they encourage the public to do such things as “Break the record” for the “Most Individuals Killed In A Terrorist Act”. We firmly believe that our publication of your fail is protected under the concepts of fair use, commentary and non-trademark use. Please RTFM and we welcome you to teh interwebs.”

- This is rather meta, CopyrightFail reporting on a Copyright Fail at Fail Blog…

OMG U FAIL SO HARD

In the year 2015, an artist hopped in a time machine to go back...

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:02:58 -0500

In the year 2015, an artist hopped in a time machine to go back to 2009 and run a new Web site. The results were… epic.

Name hidden to protect the identity of the less copyright inclined.

"If you have been on iCodeBlog before, you might recognize this “game” from a tutorial that I wrote..."

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:06:46 -0500

“If you have been on iCodeBlog before, you might recognize this “game” from a tutorial that I wrote about writing an iPhone game (link). One thing to note here is the company name is BlaBlaIncTech (not iCodeBlog) meaning I did not submit this nor did I give permission to do so. I find it interesting that someone has the guts to take a tutorial on iCodeBlog and submit it to the app store unmodified.”

- Doh!

Look Familiar?

"Fresh off a court victory against Google’s YouTube, ASCAP tells us it is setting its sights on..."

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:06:28 -0500

“Fresh off a court victory against Google’s YouTube, ASCAP tells us it is setting its sights on users of the video-sharing site. Welcome to the exciting world of copyright licensing, blogger; you may already owe gobs of money!”

- Embedding a YouTube Video May Cost You a Bundle in ASCAP Bills