By Marc D. Ostrow On April 29, the head of the Copyright Office, Register Maria A. Pallante, was the sole witness before the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing entitled The Register’s Perspective on Copyright Review. Both her oral and written statements — the latter consisting of a 32-page memorandum with copious footnotes and an […]
By Marc D. Ostrow On April 13, H.R. 1733, The Fair Play Fair Pay Act of 2015 (FPFPA) was introduced by a group led by Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). This bill would make several amendments to the Copyright Act, the most noteworthy of which would be to provide a public performing […]
By Marc D. Ostrow There’s been a blizzard of articles regarding the jury decision finding that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams’ 2013 megahit, “Blurred Lines,” infringed upon Marvin Gaye’s song, “Got to Give It Up.” I’ll leave it to you, gentle reader, to judge how similar the recordings of two songs are to each other. […]