Copyright Claims Board to Begin Accepting Claims Later This Month — Since the law creating the voluntary adjudication process for small copyright claims was passed in late 2020, the Copyright Office has undergone tremendous efforts to implement the board within the tight statutory deadlines. It announced this week that it has now set a date: the Copyright Claims Board will begin accepting claims on Thursday, June 16, 2022.
Support for Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code grows as 24 publishing minnows secure Google deals — As noted here, “Critics of the legislation, which effectively forces Google and Meta/Facebook to pay for news, have frequently argued that it was designed to benefit large publishers like Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.”
Biggie Smalls Estate Says Photographer’s Copyright is Irrelevant — Matt Growcoot reports at Petapixel about a dispute between copyright and right of publicity. The estate of the iconic rapper Biggie sued photographer Chi Modu for allegedly selling apparel and other merchandise that featured images of the rapper. The defendant answered, in part, that his exclusive rights under federal copyright law preempt any state claims related to the commercial use of Biggie’s name and likeness. The court heard arguments on a preliminary injunction motion earlier in May.
Are game show formats in Vietnam protected by copyright? — “Globally, this is a question without a clear and explicit answer. The Format Recognition and Protection Association (FRAPA), a trade association formed in 2000 to advocate recognition of television formats as intellectual property, strongly believes that format rights are protectable and has been working to convince courts and lawmakers around the world to define these rights under law. However, recognition of format rights is still very limited, and is often determined on a case-by-case basis.”
Types of Errors Hiding in Google Scholar Data — “Google Scholar (GS) is a free tool that may be used by researchers to analyze citations; find appropriate literature; or evaluate the quality of an author or a contender for tenure, promotion, a faculty position, funding, or research grants. . . . The aim of this study was to examine the accuracy of citation data collected from GS and provide a comprehensive description of the errors and miscounts identified. . . . The results revealed an unprecedented error rate, with 279 of 281 (99.3%) examined references containing at least one error.”