Monday, June 15th
Legal accusations are being thrown that JK Rowling was more than inspired by Adrian Jacob’s Adventures of Willy the Wizard. Although Jacob died in 1997, his estate says that it is seeking “proper recognition of his contribution to this success story.”
Tuesday, June 16th
A Swedish author under the nom de plume J.D. California is being sued for infringing the ever-reclusive J.D. Salinger’s copyright in a new novel called 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye. The author says that he never thought the book would bring a lawsuit—“In Sweden, we don’t sue people.”
The Japanese parliament has decided that the copying of a copyrighted work for private use is, in fact, an infringement.
Wednesday June 17th
In an absurdly hypocritical claim, the RIAA has asked the FCC to investigate radio stations that were boycotting musicians who supported the Performance Rights Bill.
A new Harvard study shows that file sharing hasn’t damaged creative output. Turns out, the number of albums and feature films released per year is actually increasing.
Thursday, June 18th
A jury has found Jammie Thomas-Rasset liable for willful infringement of 24 copyrighted songs. At $80,000 each (an amount decided by the jury), she faces a penalty of $1.92 million. Seems a bit excessive…
Friday, June 19th
Two years ago, the RIAA sent letters to Mavis Roy demanding that she pay thousands in restitution for illegally downloading 218 songs. As she did not own a computer at the time of the alleged infringement, the suit has been officially settled—neither party is paying anything.