3 Count: Sealed with a Kiss

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1: Authors Win $7.8 Million Default Judgment in Global Piracy Lawsuit

First off today, Andrew Albanese at Publishers Weekly Reports that a collection of publishers and authors have secured a default judgement against a piracy service named KISS Library, this one awarding them $7.8 million in damages as well as a broad injunction against the site.

The lawsuit was filed back in July 2020 by the Authors Guild, a group of publishers including Amazon and a collection of authors. The lawsuit claimed that the site was offering illegal downloads of their books and specifically targeted two Ukrainian nationals as the operators.

However, those operators declined to respond to the lawsuit or participate in it. According to the court, though the two were served with the lawsuit, but actively attempted to hide their identities throughout the process. In September 2020, the court granted a preliminary judgment, however, this expands that judgment by granting both damages and a permanent injunction.

2: SoundExchange Royalties Dispute with Music Choice to be Referred to Copyright Royalty Board

Next up today, Murray Stassen at Music Business Worldwide reports that the performing rights organization SoundExchange has secured a victory in their lawsuit against Music Choice as a federal court has agreed to refer the case to the Copyright Royalty Board at SoundExchange’s request.

The lawsuit was filed by SoundExchange after an audit alleged that Music Choice, which relies on a statutory license for the music it uses, had underpaid the royalties it owes. Music Choice, for its part, had hoped that the case would remain with the district court, saying that it is best equipped to resolve those issues.

However, the court disagreed, saying that the Copyright Royalty Board has primary jurisdiction over these issues, and it has oversight in this matter. As such, the lawsuit will head there for the next phases.

3: ‘Pooh,’ ‘Sun Also Rises’ among literary and film works with copyrights expiring in 2022

Finally today, The Associated Press reports that, with the new year, several prominent works are lapsing into the public domain including the Ernest Hemingway novel The Sun Also Rises and A.A. Milne’s book Winnie the Pooh.

Under U.S. Copyright Law, works lapse into the public domain on January First of the year their copyright expires. For works published before 1978, that is 95 years after publication meaning that works from 1926 expired into the public domain at the start of the year.

Works that enter the public domain are free to be copied, used, distributed and have derivative works created of them without a license. They are free of copyright.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

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