3 Count: Access Denied

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1: York Can’t Be Sued for Copyright Fees Not Agreed To: Top Court

First off today, Leslie MacKinnon at iPolitics reports that the Canadian Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that York University cannot be held liable for its failure to pay a collective licensing fee that it did not agree to pay.

In Canada, a group named Access Copyright handles collective licensing for authors when it comes to the use of their work at colleges and universities. However, York University opted not to pay for a license, prompting Access Copyright to file a lawsuit.

However, the Supreme Court ruled that Access Copyright cannot sue the University for a license they did not agree to pay. Furthermore, since a copyright lawsuit can only be brought by a rightsholder, not a licensing agency, it will be up to authors and/or publishers to file a copyright infringement lawsuit against the university.

2: Now Sony Music Sues Energy Drink Brand Bang Over Unlicensed Music in Social Media Videos

Next up today, Chris Cooke at Complete Music Update reports that Sony has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Bang Energy, alleging that the company has used at least 132 unlicensed Sony-controlled songs on various social media platforms.

According to the lawsuit, Bang Energy is the third-largest maker of energy drinks in the United States. However, across all of their social media channels, they have uploaded various videos featuring their product but making unlicensed use of Sony’s music. The lawsuit claims that they contacted Bang about the infringement, even pointing out very specific instances, but the company did not take down the infringing videos or cease the behavior.

The lawsuit comes one month after Sony filed a similar lawsuit against the sportswear company Gymshark. In both cases, they are suing for both direct copyright infringement for videos released directly by the company, and secondary infringement for those released by influencer partners.

3: Choreographer JaQuel Knight, Logitech Partner to Help BIPOC Dance Creators Copyright Their Moves

Finally today, Steven Vargas at USA Today reports that prominent choreographer JaQuel Knight is teaming up with Logitech to help ten BIPOC creators secure copyright registrations for their dances.

The group of six are primarily creators of popular dance crazes on social media, most notably TikTok. However, registering choreographic works are a notorious challenge, as the U.S. Copyright Office typically gets fewer than 20 such registrations in a year. That is why Knight is helping them, as he is familiar with the process and completed it successfully in the past.

In addition to the assistance, they will be producing a short film that documents the process. There is no word on when the film is scheduled to be released.

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