3 Count: Happiest Marshmello

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1: US Senators Introduce SMART Copyright Act of 2022

First off today, Buddy Iahn at The Music Universe reports that U.S. Senators Thom Tillis and Patrick Leahy have introduced the SMART Copyright Act, a bipartisan bill that aims to reform the notice and takedown system.

Dubbed the Strengthening Measures to Advance Rights Technologies (SMART) Copyright Act of 2022, the act aims to encourage the use of “standard technical measures” by creating a system that the U.S. Copyright Office would oversee to designate standard technical measures through a public rulemaking process.

The aim here is to encourage the use of such standard technical measures to prevent the reupload of allegedly infringing material. Sites that fail to comply with the use of such systems can face significant consequences under the act.

2: Marshmello Beats Copyright Case Over ‘Happier’ at Appeals Court

Next up today, Bill Donahue at Billboard reports that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court decision that favored the electronic musician Marshmello over his 2018 hit song Happier.

The law3suit was filed by a producer named Arty that claimed Happier was an infringement of his 2014 remix of OneRepublic’s I Lived. However, a federal judge dismissed the case last year, citing that Arty lacked a copyright interest in the musical composition he was claiming Marhsmellow infringed.

Now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld that decision, effectively bringing an end to the case. According to the Ninth Circuit, Arty failed to bring enough evidence to overturn the lower court decision, prompting them to uphold it.

3: Court Prohibits Convicted Lawyer from Filing New Copyright Lawsuits

Finally today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that a U.S. District Court has ruled against former Prenda Law attoney Paul Hansmeier and both dismissed a series of cases he brought while in prison and barred him from filing any further copyright infringement lawsuits.

Hansmeier was one of the attorneys behind the disgraced Prenda Law firm. The firm made a name for itself by suing suspected BitTorrent pirates but fell into legal trouble for misrepresenting itself in pleadings and for uploading its own content to The PIrate Bay to serve as a honey pot for potential downloaders.

In 2014 Hansmeier as sentenced to 14 years in prison. However, he has continued appealing while in prison and, most surprisingly, renewed his honeypot campaign while behind bars. Some of his latest defendants have asked the court to stop the lawsuits, something that US District Judge John Turnheim has done and furthermore, he barred Hansmeier from filing additional copyright infringement lawsuits, at least not in Minnesota.

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