1. A US District Court judge in New York has dismissed the three-year-old copyright infringement case against the Beastie Boys (see opinion here). Plaintiff TufAmerica had accused the Beasties of sampling TroubleFunk's "Say What" and "Lets Get Small" without permission. According to the court, TufAmerica lacked standing because they didn't have an exclusive license from all three members of TroubleFunk.
2. IKEA is being sued (story here) for alleged copyright infringement by Emeco. According to plaintiffs, IKEA copied an Emeco chair without permission. The allegedly infringing chair is on the right, and the copyrighted chair is on the left. So this one should be settling shortly.
3. The US District Court for the Northern District of California has heard arguments in a suit challenging Warner/Chappell's copyright on the song "Happy Birthday to You," which is not scheduled to expire until 2030.
Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA has spoken out about the recent "Blurred Lines" copyright infringement verdict.
He's got an interesting solution for solving the problem of musicians sampling others' works: a a 50% statutory cap on royalty payments.
I have a better idea: how about negotiating a license before you use somebody else's recording in your work, instead of just ripping them off and waiting to get sued?
Just a thought.
Somebody doing a little historical research in the USPTO database (article here) has uncovered the original patent for perforated toilet paper, thereby answering the "over v. under" question once and for all.
And the verdict is...
As it should be.
