Texas court says photographer has no recourse against university copyright infringement — “In a closely watched case in creative and publishing circles, Olive, who has made a career out of getting difficult and dangerous aerial shots from open helicopters, sued the University of Houston two years ago with a novel argument that using one of his photographs without compensation or permission was an unlawful ‘taking’ under the Texas Constitution, which prohibits government agencies from taking private property without adequate compensation. Olive tried the approach after the University of Houston rejected his claim that the public university should pay for a photo it used without permission in web and print publications, contending the university has sovereign immunity, a well-established legal principle that protects a state from getting sued.”
Impacts of Digital Piracy on the U.S. Economy — A report released this week from the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center estimates that digital piracy costs the US economy at least $29.2 billion a year.
Hollywood Studios Awarded $62M in VidAngel Fight — The streaming service had argued that its unlicensed streaming service was permitted under a combination of copyright exceptions, but the court had earlier rejected those arguments. This week, a jury awarded damages for the infringement of over 800 films, and had found that infringement willful, meaning VidAngel will be unable to discharge the judgment in bankruptcy proceedings.
Italian court confirms that unauthorized use of Audrey Hepburn’s likeness infringes (post mortem) image rights — Eleonara Rosati reports, “Italian image rights protection is notoriously quite strong and is also available post mortem. In the latter case, consent to the use of one’s own likeness must be obtained, in the first place, from the person’s spouse and children.”
Stream ripping site Convert2MP3 shuts down following global settlement with recording industry — “Convert2MP3, one of the world’s most-used stream ripping sites, has ceased to operate globally, following action coordinated by IFPI and BVMI on behalf of their member record companies. The Germany-based site, which had 684 million visits from around the world over the past 12 months, has agreed to shut down, surrender its domains and not infringe the rights of record companies in the future.”