3 Count: Parole Violation

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1: YouTuber Receives 52 Copyright Notices from Louisiana Parole Board

First off today, Andrea Robinson at KPLC reports that the Louisiana Board of Pardons has filed some 52 copyright notices against a YouTuber who goes by the name Mandoo over the reposting of parole board hearings.

The Louisiana Board of pardons and Committee on Parole streams their hearings, but do not make recorded versions available after the streams are done. This is where Mandoo has stepped in and publishes the recordings, with additional commentary on the events.

However, this came to a head after parole for inmate Thomas Cisco was rescinded. KPLC then accessed Mandoo’s channel to get clips from the parole hearing for a news broadcast. This, in turn, led to the board filing over 50 takedown notices against Mandoo’s channel, resulting in the removal of the videos. Mandoo has claimed that his use is protected both under fair use and under Louisiana’s open meeting law. The board did not have any comment.

2: Anti-Piracy Group Shuts Down French Streaming Site

Next up today, John Eggerton at NextTV reports that the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) has announced the closure of Extreme-down, the second-largest pirate streaming site in France.

According to ACE, the site went down without much of a fight. They successfully identified the operator, who was working out of Tunisia, who then stopped the site and surrendered the domains connected to it.

Before its closure, the site was estimated to draw more than 14 million visitors per month with over 40,000 movies and TV episodes.

3: NYC Photographer Wielding Copyright in ‘Sunglass Corner’ Photo Fight

Finally today, Jared McCallister at the New York Daily News reports that photographer Cheryl Miller has filed a claim with the Copyright Claims Board against artist Nate Ladson over what she considers a painting based on one of her most famous photographs.

In 1980 Milller took a photo entitled Sunglass Corner, which features four elderly black men in suits standing in front of a store in Harlem. More recently, she learned about a similar painting done by the artist Nate Ladson. As such, she filed the case with the Copyright Claims Board in hopes of resolving the issue without a full copyright lawsuit.

Ladson, for his part, claims that the photo wasn’t the inspiration he used and, instead, he got it from an earlier book. However, the two images are almost identical, even featuring the same writing on the shop signs in the background and dozens of other small details that were copied.

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