3 Count: Honestly, Nevermind

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1: Drake Faces Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Over Uncleared ‘Calling My Name’ Sample

First off today, Bill Donahue at Billboard reports that Ghanaian artist Obrafour has filed a lawsuit against Drake and others involved with his Honestly, Nevermind album over an allegedly uncleared sample in the song Calling My Name.

The rapper goes by the name Obrafour, though his legal name is Michael Elliot Kwabena Okyere Darko. He claims that he is the artist behind Oye Ohene, a track from which Drake pulled a voice sample from for his song. Obrafour alleges that Drake’s label got in contact with him for licensing the sample, but released the track before he could respond.

According to Obrafour, the label contacted him just nine days before the album was released, and he was unable to contact them before it came out. As such, he is seeking damages related to copyright infringement and feels that the email is an admission of the unlawful use of the sample.

2: Nintendo Wins Court Battle Against Site used to Pirate Its Games

Next up today, James Batchelor at Gamesindustry.biz reports that, in Paris, a court of appeals has sided with Nintendo in an ongoing dispute with the file hosting site Dstorage.

According to Nintendo, the site hosted a large number of files related to unauthorized video games and other software. Nintendo requested that those materials be removed from the site, but Dstorage did not comply. This prompted Nintendo to take legal action.

The Paris Court of Appeals sided with Nintendo, ruling that the site needed to pay €442,750 ($486,000) in compensation to Nintendo. The company was ordered to pay an additional €25,000 ($27,000) in legal fees and other costs.

3: Piracy Could Result in $113 Billion Loss for Streaming Services by 2027

Finally today, McKinley Franklin at Variety reports that a new report from the research firm Parks Associates forecasts that piracy could harm streaming video providers to the tune of $113 billion by the year 2027.

According to the report, the lockdowns due to COVID resulted in an increase of 31% in the traffic to pirate sites. Though rightsholders have some optimism about new countermeasures coming online, there is no agreement on when that bump may start to decline.

One area of particular focus is the issue of password sharing. This is a space the report says rightsholders will be targeting in the coming years, despite the harm to the user experience. This comes as Netflix announced that it was expanding its crackdown on password sharing and offering shared accounts at a higher cost.

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