Did pirates kill ‘Hannibal’?

TheHill: I’ve had the great privilege of working in the film and television business for nearly four decades. I count myself among the fortunate few who have been able to oversee the production of movies and TV shows beloved by millions. To this day, despite the success I’ve enjoyed, I take nothing for granted.

So why would someone like myself care so deeply about combating piracy?

Warner Music Pays $14 Million to End 'Happy Birthday' Copyright Lawsuit

Hollywood Reporter: The music publisher will also not stand in the way for a judge to declare the song to be in the public domain.

Sing the song, blow out the candles, eat the cake and unwrap the gifts.

According to a court filing on Monday, music publisher Warner/Chappell will pay $14 million to end a lawsuit challenging its hold on the English language's most popular song, "Happy Birthday to You."

The Shittiness Of IP Law Has Taught The Public That Everything Is Stealing And Everyone Is Owed Something

Techdirt: In an article that's actually a bit (but just a bit) more thoughtful than the headline applied to it ("How Corporations Profit From Black Teens' Viral Content"), Fader writer Doreen St. Felix tackles the cultural appropriation of creative works. Sort of.

Autodesk going subscription-only. Here’s how they can help the industry

fxguide: Autodesk has announced that they will stop selling standalone perpetual licenses of their desktop software beginning on February 1, 2016. This is only for standalone software, and the change does not impact the Entertainment Creation Suites or Network licenses at this point in time (expect news on that in the future).

IMDb wins age-reveal lawsuit

MSN Movies News: The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has emerged victorious in its long-running legal battle with actress Huong "Junie" Hoang, who sued the company for revealing her age.
A jury found in favor of the company in U.S. District Court in Washington on Thursday, bringing an end to the suit, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.

Surprise: Register Of Copyrights Expected To Call For Reduction In Copyright Term

Techdirt: For a long time now, the idea of an overhaul of copyright law in the US has mostly been seen as a pipedream. However, it appears that the Register of Copyright, Maria Pallante, may actually be angling for a major bit of copyright reform. Coming up next Wednesday, she's going to be testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on her supposed "Call for Updates to U.S. Copyright Law." Apparently, on March 4th, she gave a talk at Columbia University which has remained amazingly under the radar until now, in which she proposed a long list of possible copyright reforms, which are likely to headline the hearings next week. It's fairly impressive, given how much attention copyright law has been getting lately, that she could present a surprising call for massive changes to the law, and not have a single person report on it immediately after the event ended. However, that is the case.

Judge Sets Court Date in 'Spider-Man' Trial

NYTimes.com: A federal judge has set a May 28 trial date for the director Julie Taymor, Bono and the Edge of U2, and the producers of the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” to battle in court over a lawsuit stemming from the spectacular implosion of their years-long collaboration on the show. Judge Katherine B. Forrest of Federal District Court in Manhattan ordered on Friday that the parties may conduct discovery through May 1 and that “trial is and will be on May 28, 2013,” adding that no further meetings with the judge were necessary. The order came four days after the judge, during a closed-door session with the various sides, expressed frustration that they had not been able to settle disputes over copyright control and profits from the show in spite of coming to terms in principle in August.

Julie Taymor's Lawsuit Over 'Spider-Man' Musical Set for May Trial

www.hollywoodreporter.com: Julie Taymor's Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark was supposed to be an epic -- the most expensive Broadway musical ever with audacious stunts and music from U2's Bono and The Edge.

Judge Confirms Warner Bros. Owns Superman Rights

www.hollywoodreporter.com: Warner Bros. scored another win in the war over Superman rights Wednesday when a federal judge confirmed the enforceability of a 2001 agreement between DC Comics and the estate of Superman co-creator Jerome Siegel.

Gamer Faces $50K Fine For Mapping A Train Station

Popular Science: If you give a gaming community the tools to create a custom level, or "map," you'll end up with lots of fun stuff. Some people will even recreate real-life places, which is what Diego Liatis and friends did with Montreal's Berri-UQAM metro station. But the Société de transport de Montreal is worried the level will cause panic among straphangers presumably because it gives would-be evil-doers a handy guide to the underground system. The agency is now threatening a lawsuit if the custom level gets released.

Copyright And The Harlem Shake: Selective Enforcement

Techdirt: For those of you who have managed to avoid the viral sensation of February, known as "The Harlem Shake," consider yourselves lucky. People still seem at a total loss how this became "a thing," but it involves the opening 30 seconds of a song released nearly a year ago, called The Harlem Shake, by Baauer, with the first half involving someone in a wacky costume (often involving a helmet) dancing while others around them ignore it, followed by a bass drop and suddenly everyone around is dancing crazily, often involving costumes, stuffed animals (or real animals), people in sleeping bags and much much more. It's gone quite insane (and, yes, we know it's not "the real Harlem Shake" but so what?) with way, way, way, way too many people, companies and organizations all doing their own versions. There were reports of 4,000 Harlem Shake videos being uploaded to YouTube every single day, and over 60,000 being on YouTube already. If you want (and I warn you to be careful), you can spend hours going through video after video. The KnowYourMeme link up top has collected some of the most popular ones. I cannot vouch for how many such videos it takes before you are driven insane, so be forewarned.

As 3-D Printing Becomes More Accessible, Copyright Questions Arise

All Tech Considered : NPR: Many people think 3-D printing could help spark a manufacturing renaissance in the U.S. — even President Obama highlighted this technology in his State of the Union address last week. But as 3-D printers and 3-D scanners get cheaper, this nascent industry could be roiled by battles over intellectual property. Not so long ago, a good 3-D scanner that could create accurate digital models of objects in the real world cost more than $10,000. Then, Microsoft released the Kinect — the video game controller that allows you to play games by just waving your hands.

Carnegie Mellon seeks up to triple damages in Marvell patent case

Reuters: Carnegie Mellon University is asking a court to make Marvell Technology Group Ltd pay up to three times the $1.17 billion jury verdict that the chipmaker was ordered to pay in December for patent infringement. The university filed papers Monday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, saying Marvell knew it was using Carnegie Mellon patents wrongfully and should pay up to triple damages as a result. Carnegie Mellon also is seeking $321 million in pre-judgment interest.

Campaign Launched To Stop School From Claiming Copyright On Student Work

Techdirt: We recently wrote about how the school board for Prince George County, Maryland, was considering a policy that would claim the copyright of everything produced by both students and faculty at the various schools in the district. That seemed extreme in so many ways. Some folks have set up a site called Don't Copyright Me, in which they're asking people to sign a petition to be sent to the school board, telling them not to take the copyrights from students and teachers.

Judge rules that it's illegal to sell custom Batmobiles because the Batmobile is itself a fictional character

io9.com: California resident Mark Towle runs car customizing shop Gotham Garage, which makes replicas of cars from TVs and movies. Naturally, Batmobiles were on the menu, at least until Warner Bros. smacked Towle with a lawsuit for violating its intellectual property. Now a U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Lew judge has ruled that the Batmobile is subject to copyright because the Batmobile is itself a fictional character in the Batman franchise.

Glee Thinks They Did Jonathan Coulton a Favor

Geekosystem: Ah, Glee. Can you get any worse? The answer to that question, for those playing along at home, is an unequivocal “yes, though not much.” It came to light last week that an episode called “Sadie Hawkins” would use a version of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” song. That version, unfortunately, turned out to be Jonathan Coulton‘s specific arrangement and even lyrics. Well, now it’s aired and, yup, it’s basically JoCo’s version. Even worse, Glee apparently thinks they did the man a favor by using it.

Settlement Between Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark Producers and Julie Taymor Not Yet Reached; Trial Would Begin in May

Playbill.com: The producers of Broadway's Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark have resumed litigation with director Julie Taymor after failing to reach a final settlement in her copyright infringement case, according to Reuters.

Warner Bros. Wins Blockbuster Victory in Legal Battle for Superman

Hollywood Reporter: An appeals court has delivered a huge victory to Warner Bros. that will likely allow the studio to control the future of the Superman franchise. On Thursday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided that a lower court was wrong to deny Warner Bros. subsidiary DC Comics' contention that it had a deal in 2001 with the estate of Superman co-creator Jerome Siegel. As a result, a federal judge's 2008 ruling to allow the Siegel estate to recapture Superman rights is about to be wiped out.

Opera About Walt Disney Refused Permission To Use Disney Images

Techdirt: Techdirt has noted before the hypocrisy of Disney in refusing to allow others to draw on its creativity in the same way that it has drawn on the art and ideas of the past. Here's another example, but this time it's an opera that's had difficulties

Appeals Court Denies Copyright Claim Over Furniture on TV Show

Hollywood Reporter: On Friday, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a maker of high-end furniture alleging that that virtual furniture displayed on HGTV's Selling New York constituted copyright infringement.