Industry Insider

May 11 -- Russel Brand to host MTV Awards; Senators clash over Internet privacy

Industry Spotlight

Russell Brand to host MTV Movie Awards
May 10, 2012 – New York Daily News

Slacker Radio Launches Beastie Boys-Themed Station
May 8, 2012 - Artistdirect.com

Amazon says Kindle owners can lend Harry Potter e-books
May 10, 2012 - Reuters

Apple tech goes ape crazy with the iPad
May 9, 2012 – ZDNet (blog)

Sony Selects AU for New Digital Media Academy
May 7, 2012 - Newswise

Bonnaroo gets a YouTube channel
May 10, 2012 – USA TODAY

Microsoft announces $99 Xbox 360 with two-year contract
May 7, 2012 – ZDNet (blog)

Politics & Policy

I. Data Caps & Competition

Sen. Al Franken Questions Comcast's Handling of NBC Acquisition
Authored by Alex Ben Block on May 7, 2012 – Hollywood Reporter

In a letter to the FCC and Dept. of Justice, Minnesota U.S. Senator and former comedian Al Franken suggests Comcast is not dealing fairly with competitors as promised.

Franken’s letter comes in the wake of a decision last week by the FCC to force Comcast to give better placement to the Bloomberg news channel on its cable systems. “I am pleased that the Commission finally acted on this complaint last week,” wrote Franken, “but I remain disappointed that this dispute languished before the Commission for more than ten months.”

Noting Comcast has already said it plans to appeal the ruling concerning Bloomberg, and in light of other complaints from smaller companies and independent distributors, especially those who offer content over the internet, Franken said the failure to take prompt action becomes a tool for Comcast to use its size and power to control the distribution of content, which violates the agreement made at the time of the NBC deal.

“I am concerned that these sorts of delays always inure to the benefit of Comcast and give Comcast further incentive to challenge any aspect of its compliance with the merger order,” wrote Franken. 
 
 
II. IP Enforcement: Website Seizures

Hip-Hop Copyright Case Had Little Explanation
Authored by Ben Sisario on May 6, 2012 – New York Times

Over Thanksgiving weekend 2010, a popular hip-hop blog, Dajaz1.com, was shut down as part of a sweep by federal authorities of dozens of Web sites suspected of copyright infringement and selling counterfeit goods. A year later, the government dropped its case against Dajaz1 and returned the site to its owner. But why?

Little explanation was given at the time, and the answer is still unclear. But court documents released last week offer a window into the investigation, and reveal some of the finger-pointing between the government and the industry groups that push for copyright enforcement.

The papers, unsealed after a request by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the California First Amendment Coalition and Wired magazine, show that prosecutors in the case made three secret requests for more time to file paperwork on the seizure of the site. As part of those requests, the government’s investigator said he was awaiting information about the content on Dajaz1 from “rights holders” and the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group that had pointed the authorities to the sites in the first place.


III. Digital Brief: Termination of Rights

Village People Songwriter Wins Case Over Termination of Rights
Authored by Eriq Gardner on May 8, 2012 - Hollywood Reporter

A California federal judge has given original Village People singer Victor Willis a big victory in a case that has been closely followed in the music industry.

Last year, Willis terminated rights to his share of 33 of the group's songs, including the monster hit "Y.M.C.A."Scorpio Music and Can’t Stop Productions, the two companies that administer publishing rights to the group's songs, reacted by going to court for a judgment that Willis couldn't regain control over his work.

On Monday, California judge Barry Ted Moskowitz rejected the publishers' claims, granting Willis' motion to dismiss.

The dispute was more than 35 years in the making, after Congress lengthened the copyright term but decided that artists who had created works at the early stage of their careers but handed their rights over without much bargaining power should be the beneficiaries of the latter portions of the newly extended term.


IV. Online Privacy

Senators clash over Internet privacy
Authored by Andrew Feinberg on May 9, 2012 – The Hill (blog)

Senate Democrats called for implementation of the Obama administration's privacy framework at a hearing Wednesday afternoon, during which Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) clashed with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on the need for privacy protections of any kind.

While Rockefeller admitted there remains no consensus on what privacy legislation should look like, he pledged to work with colleagues to develop a bill to "push the industry to develop strong consumer privacy protections."

"Consumers need strong protections and simple to understand rules, and easy to understand privacy policies rather than incomprehensible legalese," he said.

Toomey said he remains skeptical about the need to pass legislation.