3 Count: Quitting Time?

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1: Ed Sheeran Says He’s ‘Done’ If He Loses Copyright Trial

First off today, Justin Curto at Vulture reports that musician Ed Sheeran has said that, should he lose his ongoing court battle, he is “done” with making music.

Sheeran is facing a lawsuit from the estate of Ed Townsend. According to the lawsuit, Sheeran’s hit song Thinking Out Loud is an infringement of the Marvin Gaye song Let’s Get it On, which Townsend co-write. Sheeran has strongly denied any infringement, but the plaintiffs have shown clips of Sheeran going between the two songs on stage.

On the stand, Sheeran was asked about what would happen should he lose this case. He said that he was “done” with music and “I find it really insulting to work my whole life as a singer-songwriter and diminish it.” The trial is ongoing.

2: BC Court of Appeal Upholds Copyright Infringement Claim of Exam Monitoring Software Proctorio

Next up today, Angelica Dino at Canadian Lawyer reports that, in Canada, the British Columbia Court of Appeal has ruled in favor of the exam monitoring firm Procotrio in a case over the sharing of unlisted YouTube links.

The case centers around Ian Linkletter, who works at the University of British Columbia as their learning technology specialist. When criticizing Procotrio’s software, he logged onto Proctorio’s online platform and accessed unlisted instructional videos on YouTube. He then shared seven of those links on his Twitter.

Proctorio sued Linkletter alleging both a breach of confidentiality and the circumvention of a technical protection measure, which is a breach of copyright. Linkletter had sought to get the allegations against him dismissed, but the trial judge declined to do so. This prompted Linkletter to appeal, with the Appeals Court upholding that decision. This now sets the stage for a potential trial in the dispute at a later date.

3: US Government Publishes Annual Report Assessing Copyright Regimes Around the World

Finally today, Chris Cooke at Complete Music Update reports that the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has published its annual Special 301 Report, which highlights countries that the USTR feels are not doing enough to protect intellectual property.

The major changes included the addition of Belarus tot he list. This was due to a new law, passed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that allows the infringement of certain works. Royalties from those infringements are collected by the Belarusian government, which uses it themselves rather than forwarding to rightsholders.

Both China and Thailand were countries that showed notable improvement. In particular, the USTR noted tougher enforcement in China, though also said additional questions remained. The report also noted that Thailand, as well as Vietnam and Nigeria, enacted new laws to better protect intellectual property.

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