Saturday, December 31, 2011

12 for 2012: No.8: "Jelly Roll" Morton (1885-1941)

During each of the twelve days of Christmas, the 1709 Blog is bringing readers some information concerning an author, composer, artist or creator who died in 1941 and whose works fall into the public domain in 2012 in countries which operate a "life plus seventy years" term for copyright in authors' works. Today we feature a colourful personality within the field of jazz -- the celebrated pianist and composer "Jelly Roll" Morton.

Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (‘Jelly Roll Morton’) was famous both for his musical talents and for his rather overconfident nature. His self-promotion as the ‘inventor of jazz’ has been disparaged by many a musician and critic, yet his considerable accomplishments speak for themselves. Morton’s musical career began at the age of fourteen, when he began working as a piano player in a brothel. His nickname ‘Jelly Roll’, which at the time had sexual connotations, was acquired during this period. He was kicked out of the home he shared with his grandmother when she discovered how he was earning his living. Still in his teens, Jelly Roll became a travelling musician, composing and performing all over the American South.

'Jelly Roll Blues' (1915) became the first published jazz composition, and Morton’s famous jazz arrangements are unique in their ability to capture the essence of improvisation on paper. Other well-known works by Morton are 'Black Bottom Stomp' (1926), 'Wolverine Blues' (1927), and 'I thought I heard Buddy Bolden Say'. Morton’s piano style was influenced by ragtime and boogie-woogie, and his music often had a wild, improvisatory feel. Whether or not the invention of jazz can be attributed to Jelly Roll, he was undoubtedly a pioneer figure in the development of this genre, and the creator of some of today’s greatest jazz arrangements.

This series has been authored by Miriam Levenson, whom the 1709 Blog gives its grateful thanks.

Dragon Flyers in China: An Incredible Video

What a way to end the year with an amazing video about the Dragon Flyers in China. These guys make sky divers, bungee jumpers, mountain climbers, and hang gliders look like merry-go-round riders. The action starts one minute and twenty seconds into the video, so watch at least the first couple minutes to see what the dragon flyers are.

Chinese Scenes from BASE-Book - Matt Gerdes on Vimeo.



Obviously, the video has nothing to do with stocks, bonds, or investments, but I thought you would enjoy it.

One More Picture of Notre Dame

Not necessarily a promise.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes to All

JoAnna and Paul

Musee Carnavalet: A Fireplace in Every Room

From "DK Eyewitness Travel Top 10 Paris".

"Devoted to the history of Paris, this museum sprawls through two mansions, the 16th-century Carnavalet and the 17th-century Le Peletier de Sevigne. The former was the home of Madame de Sevigne, the famous letter-writer from 1677 to 1696 and a gallery here portrays her life."

The museum, at least the sections open to the public during our visit, contains period rooms filled with art and portraits. And that what 8 focus on in this post.

Three bonus point for this off-the-beaten-path attraction.
1. It's within easy walking distance from our apartment.
2. No waiting in line.
3. Free admission.













OK, well just about every room.

12 for 2012: No.7: Johan Wagenaar (1862-1941)

During each of the twelve days of Christmas, the 1709 Blog is bringing readers some information concerning an author, composer, artist or creator who died in 1941 and whose works fall into the public domain in 2012 in countries which operate a "life plus seventy years" term for copyright in authors' works. Today's featured creative personality is not so well-known -- so it will be interesting to see if his reputation rises now that his music has fallen out of copyright.


Dutch composer Johan Wagenaar began his formal musical education at the age of thirteen, at the Utrecht music school. Upon graduation, Wagenaar was immediately offered a job teaching at the same institution, which he juggled alongside composition studies in Berlin. Wagenaar remained a dedicated teacher throughout the rest of his career, progressing to directorship of the music conservatoire in The Hague (1919). Most of Wagenaar’s compositions are choral and orchestral works with lively themes; the majority of these are programmatic and have strong theatrical connotations.

Some of Wagenaar's most famous works include the overture 'Cyrano de Bergerac' (1905), 'De getemde feeks' (‘The Taming of the Shrew’, 1909), and his symphonic poems 'Saul en David' and 'Elverhöi'. Despite the sweeping changes that were revolutionising classical music in the early twentieth century, Wagenaar’s orchestral style was more conservative, reminiscent of nineteenth-century romantic tradition.

This series has been authored by Miriam Levenson, whom the 1709 Blog gives its grateful thanks.

Kentucky French Chicken

And it's a busy place.

The interior of a nearby McDonald's -- sidewalk too busy for a clear shot and I wasn't inclined to walk inside just to snap a picture -- looks decidedly upscale compared to the usual American design.

Under the Pyramid @ the Louvre

8,500,000 people visited the Louvre in 2010. And they all went though this point.



Friday, December 30, 2011

Happy New Year 2012!

Cliched but true, how time flies and again we find ourselves at the last day of yet another year.

I wish to take this opportunity to thank everyone of you who have one way or another made my day throughout the last year and all the years before that.

Thank you
- You who make it a point to visit everyday
- You who come by whenever
- You who made a stop on your way to bigger blogs
- You who are stalking (hehe..)
- also You who have been compelled to leave a not-so-nice comment (which sometimes allowed me to see things from a different perspective).
- and Everyone else whom fate guided to this space. Thank you!

You know who you are. You all have made the blog (though still insignificant and humble) what it is today and I thank you for your friendship, your continuous support, understanding, and love!

Best wishes to You and Your Family for greater happiness, blue skies and all things nice!

Cheers!

Russell Brand and Katy Perry to divorce

British comedian and actor Russell Brand called it quits on his 14-month marriage to 'Teenage Dream' singer Katy Perry on Friday, filing for divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences.

They spent the Christmas holidays apart, with Brand being photographed in England, and Perry spotted in Hawaii -- both without their wedding rings.

Source: The Star

Well, at least, they lasted 14 months. Kim Kadashian's marriage to Kris Humphries lasted just 72 days! Sigh..

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Stocks Liked by both Warren Buffett and Renaissance Technologies

Everyone knows who Warren Buffett is, top investor and trader and either the richest, second richest, or third richest man in the world, depending on what day of the year it is. One technique that investors use is piggybacking on Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B) portfolio. Yet Buffett owns over thirty stocks in the portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway, according to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. So what is an investor to do?

Investors can look at what top hedge funds are investing in, and compare that list to Buffett's stocks. One of the top hedge funds is Renaissance Technologies, founded in 1982 and run by James Simons. Renaissance's Medallion fund was the most profitable hedge fund with profits of over $1 billion in 2009. Also, the Medallion Fund has had an average annual return after fees of 35% since 1989. Renaissance charges the highest fees in the industry with a management fee of 5% and a profit participation of 44%.

Now lets look at the stocks that are preferred by both Berkshire Hathaway and Renaissance Technologies. Both own Intel (INTC), the world's largest semiconductor chip maker by revenues. The stock trades at ten times forward earnings and pays a decent yield of 3.5%. Latest quarterly earnings were up 17.4% on a 28.2% rise in revenues.

Another stock in common is Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), known for such brands as Head & Shoulders, Olay, Gillette, Mach3, Crest, Oral-B, Iams, Pringles, Dawn, Downy, Duracell, Gain, Tide, Bounty, Charmin, and Pampers. The stock has a forward price to earnings ratio of 14.6 and provides investors with a yield of 3.2%. Revenues for the latest quarter were up 8.9%, but earnings were down 1.9%.

Buffett and Simons also own Costco (COST), the third largest retailer in the United States. The stock trades at 19 times forward earnings and yields 1.1%. Latest quarterly earnings were up 2.6% on a 12.4% increase.

One more stock owned by both: General Dynamics Corp. (GD). The stock has a favorable forward PE of 9 and pays a yield of 2.9%.

And of course, Renaissance Technologies owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B).

If you want to see a free list of the stocks owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author didn't own any of the above at the time the article was written.


By Stockerblog.com

Must watch "Why this Kolaveri Di" - A Gold Medal YouTube video

Every once in a while, we get a video that takes the cyberworld by storm, views hitting millions. The current rage is a Tamil hit song Why this Kolaveri Di? and the video has been viewed more than 29 million times and still counting! Comments received on the video on YouTube must be the highest all-time, at more than 97K currently.

The song is produced as part of an upcoming Tamil movie, starring actress, Shruti Haassan and actor, Dhanush, who also sang the song. The film is due for release next month on the eve of the harvest festival, Ponggal.

The title of the song, Why this Kolaveri Di? (meaning “Why this murderous or killer rage?”) is a question posed by the film's hero towards his girlfriend who has dumped him.

Here is the video..



and here's the lyrics translated into English:

Yo boys, I am singing song…
Soup song, flop song.
Why this killer rage, killer rage, killer rage, girl?
Why this killer rage, killer rage, killer rage, girl?
Rhythm correct.
Why this killer rage, killer rage, killer rage, girl?
Why this killer rage, killer rage, killer rage, girl?

Maintain please.
Why this killer rage, …, …, girl?
The moon is in the distance, the moon.
Moon’s colour is white.
Night’s background is white, the night,
Night’s colour is black.
Why this killer rage, killer rage, killer rage, girl?
Why this killer rage, killer rage, killer rage, girl?

She’s a fair-skinned girl, girl, Girl’s heart is black,
Her eyes and my eyes met, My future is now dark.
Why this killer rage, killer rage, killer rage, girl?
Why this killer rage, killer rage, killer rage, girl?
Buddy, take notes, and take the saxophone in your hand. “pa pa paan pa pa paan pa pa paa pa pa paan”
Play it right.
Super, buddy! Ready? Ready? 1… 2… 3… 4…
Whoa, what a difference buddy!
Alright buddy, now tune changes…

“Kaila” glass… Only English, eh! Glass in hand, Scotch in glass, Tears in eyes, Life’s empty, Girl shows up, Life’s going downhill. Love, love, oh my love, You stood me up. Cow, cow, holy cow, I want you here now! God, I’m dying now, But she’s happy, how? This song is for the soup boys, We don’t have a choice. Why this killer rage, killer rage, killer rage, girl? Why this killer rage, killer rage, killer rage, girl?



By the way, this song made it to CNN top video of 2011. Also, for the number of views it received, the video has been awarded a Gold Medal by YouTube for receiving a large number of hits within a short time.

The video has also gone viral on Facebook. A group performing a flash-mob of the song in Auckland has been uploaded on YouTube. A Malaysian version, with Bahasa Malaysia lyrics, is also gaining popularity getting more than 12k views.

Enjoy..

Some of My Favorite Corners of the Louvre

So much territory to cover.

Since this is our first visit, we spent as much time getting ourselves oriented and admiring the architectural beauty of the building itself as we did viewing the exhibits.

How Many Pictures are Taken of the "Mona Lisa" Each Day @ the Louvre?

Who can count that high?

It's been a great day for avoiding lines. Instant access at the Conciergerie and and an almost equally breezy entrance at the Louvre, thanks to our Paris Museum passes.

By far, the greatest concentration of people was found in Salon B, 1st floor, Denon wing.

Contemporary Art Exhibit @ the Conciergerie

From Le Nouveau Paris website: "Discover how, down through the ages, man has transformed animals into weapons, even giving them a key role on certain battle fields."

Or, as Eddie noted after we toured the exhibit area, "This is the stuff that nightmares are made of."

Gavin Younge, "Quagga Project"

Julie Faure-Brac, "La porteur de l'esprit de la baleine echouee".

(Flies inside fabric.)



Christian Gonzenbach, "Hval(baleine)".


Claire Morgan, "Here is the End of All Things".

(Inside a slatted wood enclosure.)

JoAnna's Direct Antecedents Missed the Cut

The exhibits at the Conciergerie included a list of the 2780 people beheaded during the French Revolution.


First Stop on Day 5: The Conciergerie (Part 1)

According to "DK Eyewitness Travel Top 10 Paris":

Originally home to the caretaker and guards of the Palace de Justice, the Conciergerie was turned into a jail at the end of the 14th century. It took its place in history during the French Revolution, when more than 4,000 citizens (including Marie-Antoinette) were held prisoner here, half of whom were guillotined. It remained a prison until 1914.

The best news is that we didn't have to wait in line. Instant access




Huge Titanic Artifact Auction


The publicly traded company, Premier Exhibitions Inc. (PRXI), will be auctioning off the 5,000 artifacts salvaged from the Titanic, the famous ship that sank on April 15 one hundred years ago. Guernsey's, based in New York, will be auctioning off the items. The latest appraisal from a few years ago, was set at $189 million.

Disclosure: Author owns PRXI. PRXI is a very low cap stock and should be considered very speculative.

World Heritage Map 2011-2012


The World Heritage Map, 2011-2012, from http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/808

“The latest version of the World Heritage map, produced by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and National Geographic Maps with the generous support of Russian Federation, can now be ordered for a modest fee from the World Heritage Centre website.  The featured image on the Map presents Saint Petersburg, where the next session of the World Heritage Committee will be held (June/July 2012).
The World Heritage map is an educational visual tool, allowing UNESCO to communicate its work in this field on a large scale.  It is especially important since print documents, accessible to everyone, are an essential communication tool.
The map features the 936 World Heritage properties, brief explanations of the World Heritage Convention and World Heritage conservation programmes, as well as superb photos of World Heritage sites with explanatory captions.  The dimensions of the map are 78 cm by 50 cm (31 by 20 in.), and it is available in English, French, and Spanish versions.  A Russian version will also be produced this year.”
A copy of the map may be ordered from http://whc.unesco.org/en/map/
The list of the sites, and an interactive map, is at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list The interactive map allows you to see all the sites by category, and clicking on a site brings up a detailed description, including a brief history of the site, why the site was chosen to be listed, what UNESCO listing criteria it meets, and lots of photos.  It's nicely done and quite interesting.  
I have been to a number of these sites, including three just last summer, during my trip to the International Medical Geography Symposium in Durham, UK: Durham Cathedral and Castle; Roman Empire Frontiers (Hadrian's Wall); and Greenwich Maritime outside of London.  The World Heritage sites are never less than spectacular.  Check out the list by country - The US has quite of few sites (of which I am ashamed to say I've only visited 10 of them).  The UK, Germany, France, and Italy all have many sites, but the list is far from overwhelmingly Euro-centric.  Going quickly through the list, I see that I have visited about 150 of the sites (including a couple that have been designated recently as "endangered"), and of course, my "bucket list" includes seeing the remaining 800 or so sites!  Probably won't get to all of them!  

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle All The Way, Oh What Fun We Had, With Safe Habour and the DCMA!


Here’s hoping that my headline doesn’t offend post Meltwater and Infopaq, but this is my (personal) take on copyright and the business of music in 2011, a busy busy year around the globe with a mixed bag of results for the different sectors in the music industry.

A number of threads emerged, most notably the battleground over what (if any) responsibility Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and another web intermediaries should have for the infringing acts of their users – something considered by the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in UMG v Veoh, by the British High Court in Newzbin2, The Australian Full Federal Court in the iiNet case and by the European Court of Justice in Scarlet v SABAM with legislation pending in a number of countries including Spain and the UK. A second thread was the future role of collection societies in monetising music copyrights and the potential for enhanced but streamlined societies – at least on a pan-European basis, And finally, IF music copyrights can be monetised in the digital age with the “can pay won’t pay” generation of users, then battles remain over who gets what share of the pie with artistes beginning to challenge the accounting practices of the recorded music sector in particular.

It is no secret that music is important in almost everyone’s life, but the music industry has thus far been fairly ineffective at designing workable business models fit for the digital age – whilst others such as ISPS and companies such as Amazon, Google, YouTube and Apple have reaped huge benefits from their association with music. It’s been an interesting year!

In January, the first news was bad news for the recorded music sector with new data showing that US recorded music sales fell 2.4% in 2010 to $1.5 billion, as CD sales plummeted nearly 20% while digital track sales were up just 1%. at 1.17 billion. While CD sales fell dramatically last year, digital album sales rose 13% and the report noted that digital music accounted for 46% of all U.S. music purchases in 2010, up from 40% in 2009 and 32% in 2008, and digital track sales broke the 1 billion sales mark for the third straight year. The picture was similar in the UK where sales of digital singles and albums continued to boom in 2010 but overall recorded music sales continued to fall. Digital album sales in 2010 were up 30.6% on 2009, and singles sales - mainly digital - were at an all time high. But overall album sales were down 7%, with CD sales declining 12.4%. Better news came from Google who announced a number of new initiatives to help combat copyright infringement online, including the promise of 24-hour turnaround on takedown requests, and preventing terms associated with piracy from appearing in its "autocomplete" search results. Google also promised to improve its AdSense anti-piracy review, and expel infringing sites making money off infringing content and also said that it will experiment to make authorised preview content more readily accessible in its search results. Also in January, Limewire finally gave up the ghost and the company said that it would close its remaining businesses. Finally the legal battle between EMI and Pink Floyd seemed to have run its course. Earlier the Court Of Appeal had upheld a High Court ruling against EMI which determined the way Pink Floyd's music could be sold online and how the label should account to the band. Pink Floyd had objected to the sale of the band's albums on a track-by-track basis on digital services like iTunes and claimed that their 1967 contract with EMI prohibited the record company from selling their music in this way. But the parties agreed to a new five year deal - and EMI were able to sell individual Pink Floyds tracks as digital downloads after all. EMI’s recorded music division was sold to Universal at the end of 2011.

In February the Spanish Parliament passed reintroduced legislative proposals that will make it easier for content owners to target copyright infringing websites, The so called Sinde Law will offer a fast-track system through which content owners can force commercial websites that exist primarily to assist others in their illegal file-sharing offline. Amid a high profile campaign by some internet service providers, websites and consumer groups, including the accusation that the legislation was ‘US influenced’, the House of Representatives originally voted against the proposals but the legislation was reintroduced with new safeguards which include a judicial stage in the shut down process. The French government also had to add in a judicial stage into their Hadopi three-strike law. A January poll in France indicated that 49% of French Internet users continue to illegally download music and video and it remains to be seen how Spain’s new government will implement the Sinde law. Also in early February, news broke that Andrew Crossley, the lawyer behind controversial law firm ACS:Law, had withdrawn from pursuing 26 alleged illegal filesharers, blaming “criminal attacks” and bomb threats as reasons. And in speech in London, EU Digital Commissioner Neelie Kroes called on content owners to create “a simple, consumer-friendly legal framework” for making digital content available across borders in the EU.

In March, The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) lost its appeal against Australian ISP iiNet. In the absence of specific legislation in Australia, AFACT, representing the TV and movie industries, had argued that net companies had an obligation under Australian copyright laws to take a proactive role in policing online piracy and that the Australian ISP was responsible for illegal content downloading by its users. Australian courts had previously found that web company Kazaa was liable for ‘authorising’ infringement and clearly content owners were hoping that the courts would extend copyright law to include a duty on ISPs to monitor and filter unlicensed content on their networks, and/or to find that that a failure to do so would make them guilty of authorising. A majority of the three judge appeal panel in the full Federal Court dismissed the appeal holding that even though iiNet was dismissive of copyright infringement complaints, that fact alone did not mean it was liable for authorizing infringement. That said, all 3 justices in the appellate court found that in appropriate circumstances it was appropriate to disconnect customers (one even outlined a potential termination strategy) and in a dissenting judgment, Justice Jagot held iiNet liable for authorising users’ acts of copyright infringement and that the trial Judge had erred in holding that the relevant test was whether iiNet had provided the ‘means’ of infringement. The Australian High Court will now hear the case. In better news for the content industries, credit card companies including MasterCard and Visa are working with the City of London Police and the recorded music sector to extend cooperation in tackling illegal online services selling unlicensed music worldwide.

In April another Australian case hit the headlines when the Federal Appeals court in Australia upheld a Federal Court ruling that said Larrikin Music, publishers of Australian children's classic 'Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gumtree', were due a share of all songwriting royalties on the Men At Work classic 'Down Under', because the short but distinctive flute sequence in the 1981 pop hit was borrowed from the folk tune. The Federal Court ruled that Larrikin should get 5% of all 'Down Under' royalties dated paid back to 2002. EMI must also cover Larrikin's legal costs in relation to the appeal. Also in April, the giant Chinese search engine Baidu said that they had reached an agreement with the Music Copyright Society of China to start paying a publishing royalty on any MP3s downloaded or streamed via the search platform.. Under the new agreement with MCSC, Baidu will pass a share of advertising revenue on for every track accessed via the search platform from a new music service that Baidu plans to launch in May.

In May there were cloudy skies – as Google announced that it would join Amazon in launching a new music-based cloud digital locker service - despite not have any licensing deals in place with the record companies or music publishers. Amazon had previously argued that its digital locker service did not require licences from with record labels or music publishers because all its digital locker does is allow users to upload their own MP3 collections to remote servers and suddenly all eyes turned to the US case of EMI v MP3tunes which would clearly significant in determining the legality of these unlicensed platforms. More on that later! Also in May, Professor Ian Hargreaves, charged by David Cameron with independently reviewing UK intellectual property law and the environment to promote e-businesses in the UK, published his Report Digital Opportunity and his recommendations included: legalising format shifting; looking at copyright exceptions at national level to realise all the opportunities within the EU framework, including exceptions for parody, non-commercial research, and library archiving; proposals for a new system for licensing so called ‘orphan works’; the appointment of a senior figure (now confirmed as Richard Hooper) to oversee the design and implementation of a “cross sectoral Digital Copyright Exchange” and support for EC moves to establish a framework for cross-border licensing within the EU.

In June a report from the United Nations said that provisions of the UK’s Digital Economy Act (which had already been unsuccessfully challenged by ISPS in a judicial review) that could see music and film pirates cut off from the internet were disproportionate. Frank La Rue, the report’s author and UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, called on the government to “repeal or amend” the legislation. He said he was “alarmed by proposals to disconnect users from Internet access if they violate intellectual property rights”. In The USA the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would make it a felony to stream copyrighted movies and TV episodes online and in Germany two computer hackers who targeted pop stars and record companies in a bid to secure personal information and distribute pre-release tracks online were handed down prison sentences by a court in Duisberg. And back in the UK Video Performance Limited, the audio-visual arm of collection society PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited) lost a major case in the Court of Appeal against a decision of the Copyright Tribunal that said that that the correct royalty rate payable by TV channel operator CSC should be somewhere in the region of 10% to 15% rather than the higher rate set in an earlier licence between VPL and BSkyB. And Neelie Kroes outlined the Digital Agenda for the EU saying "Too many barriers still block the free flow of online services and entertainment across national borders. The Digital Agenda will update EU Single Market rules for the digital era".

In July Mr Justice Arnold reached his decision in Newzbin 2, where the Motion Picture Association succeeded in an action which it brought against telecoms giant BT to invoke Section 97A of the Copyright, with Arnold J saying “in my judgment it follows that BT has actual knowledge of other persons using its service to infringe copyright: it knows that the users and operators of Newbin2 infringe copyright on a large scale, and in particular infringe the copyrights of the Studios in large numbers of their films and television programmes, it knows that the users of Newzbin2 include BT subscribers, and it knows those users use its service to receive infringing copies of copyright works made available to them by Newzbin2.”. Newzbin blocked!

In August Online music service Grooveshark had to face a new action from music publishers. The online service allows users to post their own tracks to their site while sharing them with the world was sued by a number of songwriters and music publishers. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, the plaintiffs claim the music illegally violates many copyright laws, and therefore is liable for contributory infringement, copyright infringement and vicarious infringement saying “Defendant neither sought nor obtained a license, permission, or authorization from plaintiffs”. The company claims to abide by all rules of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DCMA”) and that it is protected from any copyright violations committed by its users. Also in August, YouTube’s takedown procedure came under the spotlight for seemingly being too effective with videos by Justin Bieber, Rhianna, Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Shakira after “iLCreation” managed to get videos by all of these artistes and many more taken down from YouTube. Seemingly rather easily. And finally the much anticipated ruling in EMI v MP3Tunes was announced and in a potentially highly damaging day for the US content industries, the New York district court has ruled that digital music lockers don't need licences from record labels to store recorded music and that the operators of digital locker services are protected by the ‘safe harbor’ provisions of the DCMA.

In September a number of newspapers carried stories about moves by US songwriters and recording artistes to ‘reclaim’ copyrights from music publishers and record labels - including Bruce Springsteen’s “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” Billy Joel’s “52nd Street,” the Doobie Brothers’ “Minute by Minute,” Kenny Rogers’s “Gambler” and Funkadelic’s “One Nation Under a Groove” thanks to a till then little-noted provision in United States copyright law that meant that those artists — and thousands more — now have the right to reclaim ownership of their recordings after 35 years, so long as they apply at least two years in advance. Recordings and songs such as the Village People’s YMCA from 1978 are the first to fall under the law, but in a matter of months, hits from 1979, including “The Long Run” by the Eagles and “Bad Girls” by Donna Summer, will be in the same situation — and then, as the calendar advances, every other master recording once it reaches the 35-year mark. In Europe the European Commission announced the extension of the copyright term for sound recordings from 50 years 70 years which was agreed by the EU on the 12th September, following an earlier meeting of the European Union's Committee of Permanent Representatives. The new Directive included some provisions which might aid artistes (rather than labels) receive a share of new revenues, although many remain unconvinced that the major labels will be able to tear themselves from traditional business models which artistes claim are simply unfair, or a widespread attempt to underpay recording artistes” or even a sometime “criminal” enterprise. Less welcome news for the music industry was a decision by a court in Germany which followed on from the record industry’s fairly unsuccessful attempt to block digital cloud locker service MP3Tunes in the USA. In Germany EMI failed to force a German ISP to block access to file-sharing service eDonkey. The court in Cologne ruled that the net firm HanseNet was not liable for the actions of its customers in accessing Russian illegal file swapping services. In the see-saw world of US copyright damages for illegal downloading and file-sharing, a federal appeals court reinstated the $675,000 judgment against Boston University post graduate student Joel Tenenbaum, who had already admitted to downloading music on Internet file-sharing sites. In an earlier hearing a judge had reduced the previous jury award at the same level by 90%.

In October the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal against an appellate court’s ruling that a traditional Internet download of sound recording does not constitute a public performance of the recorded musical work or the composition under federal copyright law. The Supreme Court denied the appeal without comment. Also a number of major artistes faced infringement claims with Bob Dylan accused of replicating several famous photographs in his new art show, The Asia Series, which includes paintings that seem like acrylic reproductions of images by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dmitri Kessel and Léon Busy and Beyoncé was accused of copying the choreography of Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker for the video to her track 'Countdown' . In the UK, Campbell Cowie, Director Of Internet Policy at media regulator OfCom, said that warning letters under the three-strikes style anti-piracy system put in place by the Digital Economy Act were now not likely to go out until 2013. And significantly, the European Court of Justice handed down a preliminary ruling decision in the linked cases of MPS v Murphy and FAPL v QC Leisure holding that national legislation which prohibits the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards for pan-European satellite channels are contrary to the freedom to provide services and cannot be justified either in light of the objective of protecting intellectual property rights or by the objective of encouraging the public to attend (live football matches) football stadiums. And yes, EU competition law 'trumps' copyright !

In November a class action between a number of recording artistes and Universal Music over how digital royalties are calculated was given the green light by a federal judge in California. The action, headed up by a number of long established artists, led by White Zombie, Chuck D, Whitesnake, and the estate of Rick James will be a major test of how artiste digital royalties are calculated by record labels in the absence of specific contract wording: The label would like to calculate the royalty based on the same accounting process as a normal (physical) sale – whilst artistes want a share of the income which will almost certainly be a substantially greater share of the revenue. There is a precedent here, the so called ‘Eminen’ case that actually involved FBT Productions, the production house involved in some early Eminem recordings, who took Universal to court over digital royalties and succeeded in achieving the higher royalty rate: FBT argued they had a right to a 50/50 split of profits with Universal on sales of digital music and ring tones through online retailers such as iTunes and Sprint as these 'Master Licensing' deals attracting the higher royalty. The contract did not specifically mention income from download stores like iTunes, or what share the artist (and therefore FBT) should get from such sales but Universal have been treating download sales as being equivalent to CD sales paying a lower rate of 12-20%% as if these were physical sales. Whilst a district court refused summary judgment saying the agreement was ambiguous, The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with FBT saying that the higher royalty should apply and the US Supreme Court then declined to hear an appeal by the Universal Music Group. A number of artistes including Cheap Trick and the Allman Brothers have brought a similar case against Sony BMG to gain a greater and they say fairer share of revenues. The European Court of Justice added to the jurisprudence on the role of ISPs in the Scarlet v SABAM case saying “EU law precludes the imposition of an injunction by a national court which requires an internet service provider to install a filtering system with a view to preventing the illegal downloading of files" adding “Such an injunction does not comply with the prohibition on imposing a general monitoring obligation on such a provider, or with the requirement to strike a fair balance between, on the one hand, the right to intellectual property, and, on the other, the freedom to conduct business, the right to protection of personal data and the freedom to receive or impart information”

And Finally in December, The Swiss Government decided that downloading music and movies would remain legal. With an estimated one in three of the Swiss population admitting to downloading content without permission, Swiss policy will now be that downloading for personal use WILL be legal since people eventually spend the money saved on entertainment products. And in the USA the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down its decision in UMG v Veoh, the case addressing copyright liability for ISPs that host infringing works. The court affirmed the lower court’s interpretation of the DCMA and extended ‘safe harbour’ protection to Veoh and meaning that the onus to first identify infringing materials is on rights owners and the Court said that it is copyright holders who know precisely what materials they own, and are thus better able to efficiently identify infringing copies than service providers like Veoh, who cannot readily ascertain what material is protected by copyright and what is not

I am sure next year will be equally fascinating – and can I wish all of our readers a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012.