By Donyale Y. Reavis Edited by Elissa D. Hecker
Below, for your browsing convenience, the categories are divided into: Entertainment, Arts, Sports, Technology/Media, and General News:
Entertainment Supreme Court News: High Court Sweeps IP Cases From Docket on Opening Day The Supreme Court opened its 2021 term by denying certiorari in several intellectual property cases and cleared from its docket approximately one-fourth of pending petitions in IP cases, leaving in place the 2nd Circuit decisions in Marano and 'Rosemary's Baby'. It left in place the Second Circuit's recent decision in Marano v. Metropolitan Museum of Art, which affirms the SDNY's 12(b)(6) dismissal on the ground that the museum's use of a photograph on its website of Eddie Van Halen playing his "Frankenstein" guitar in an exhibition of rock n' roll instruments constitutes a fair use. https://bit.ly/3ltu0VP
Seuss, ComicMix Close Book On Landmark Copyright Dispute Over 'Star Trek' Mashup In a final update in the Dr. Seuss Enterprises v. ComicMix copyright infringement case, the parties have settled and asked the court to approve a consent judgment and permanent injunction. ComicMix would not be permitted to distribute any further copies, but would not have to pay any damages or attorneys' fees. Dr Seuss Enterprises v ComicMix LLC.pdf https://reut.rs/3FBb7Z7
'Friday the 13th' Copyright Case Is Rare Termination Rights Guide Victor Miller convinced both a federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that he wasn't an employee writing the script for the 1980 horror movie as a work for hire under copyright law. Instead, he originally owned a copyright and had a right to terminate his licensing of the script. Termination rights let creators reclaim rights 35 to 40 years after assigning them under the Copyright Act of 1976. https://bit.ly/306GPNR Clint Eastwood Wins $6.1 Million CBD Lawsuit The Academy Award-winning director accused a Lithuanian company of falsely claiming that he had endorsed CBD products. https://nyti.ms/3al254p
NBCUniversal Settles with Ron Meyer The former vice chairman was fired in August 2020 after he disclosed that he made hush-money payments to a woman to cover up an old affair. NBCUniversal employees confirm that the company made a confidential settlement with the former Universal studio executive. https://lat.ms/3jaH1T1
YouTube Deletes Two R. Kelly Channels, but Stops Short of a Ban The video platform said that it was enforcing its terms of service, one week after the singer was convicted on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges. https://nyti.ms/3AqgeYw
Dave Grohl Suggests That Nevermind Might Get New Cover Art Former Nirvana band member Dave Grohl said that the iconic cover of the band's second studio album could get a makeover in light of a lawsuit from Spencer Elden, the infant captured in the 1991 underwater shot. https://yhoo.it/2YIHULo
Hollywood Crew Union Votes to Authorize Strike Against Studios The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees is at loggerheads with companies like Netflix, Disney, and Amazon over streaming pay and long workdays. https://nyti.ms/3v8tT5p
Trump Granted Hip-hop Manager Clemency but Left Him In Prison, Lawyers Claim "Rosemond is serving a sentence that no longer exists," his attorneys write. Though the 20-page petition cites obscure examples of informal presidential clemency decrees dating to President Abraham Lincoln's handling of Civil War deserters, Rosemond's attorneys acknowledge in the document that "this exact situation is unprecedented -- it does not appear to have happened in the history of the United States." https://wapo.st/3Ap1itN
Musicians Flee Afghanistan, Fearing Taliban Rule Dozens of artists and teachers from a prominent music school that promoted girls' education left the country, but more remain behind. "The mission is not complete," its founder said. https://nyti.ms/3ByyJey
Russian Actress and Director to Start Making First Movie on Space Station The pair arrived at the International Space Station aiming to shoot scenes for the first feature film made in orbit. https://nyti.ms/30fQEZU
Arts President Biden Names His Picks to Lead the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities Maria Rosario Jackson and Shelly C. Lowe are President Biden's picks to lead the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, respectively. The unemployment rates for the cultural community are among the highest in the country, according to a recent statement from the White House. New York City alone lost two thirds of its jobs in the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector over the past year, according to the New York state comptroller's office. "Ensuring the American people have access to humanities institutions, resources, and programs is absolutely critical in addressing the challenges of the 21st century," Lowe said. https://bit.ly/3mOvauS
The Pandora Papers Leak Reveals How the Late Dealer Douglas Latchford Used Offshore Accounts to Sell Looted Cambodian Antiquities The Pandora Papers, a trove of 11.9 million leaked documents, are revealing the shadowy business dealings of some the world's wealthiest and most powerful people. Among the prominent names from the art world to emerge is that of late antiquities dealer Douglas Latchford, a leading Cambodian art scholar who, the papers show, used offshore trusts to sell looted art. He was accused of falsifying invoices, provenance documents, and shipping information to smuggle illicitly obtained artworks internationally. Some of the world's leading museums are also now coming under increased scrutiny over works in their collections that were once owned by the late collector. https://bit.ly/2YpiXoe
Antiquities Dealer Pleads Guilty for Role in Sale of Looted Items The dealer, Nancy Wiener, acknowledged in court that she used fake provenances to cover for the murky histories of some items she sold. Some of the items she sold to major museums in Australia and Singapore, while others were sold on the auction block at Christie's and Sotheby's, according to investigators. The items ranged in value from $100,000 to $1.5 million. https://nyti.ms/3uLOfkM
A Judge Paves the Way for Scholar Marc Restellini's Lawsuit Over Ownership of Valuable Modigliani Research to Move Forward The court dismissed the Wildenstein-Plattner Institute's counterclaims against Restellini of copyright infringement. https://bit.ly/3oHHS0P
'The Beginning of the Snowball': Supply-Chain Snarls Delay Books Shipping delays, printer backups and worker shortages are forcing publishers to postpone new titles and leaving booksellers in a lurch for some old ones. https://nyti.ms/3Bw37Gp
National Endowment for the Humanities Awards Covid Relief Grants The American Rescue Plan Act, with its $87.8 million in funding, will support projects at nearly 300 cultural and educational institutions in the country. The grants, which total $87.8 million, will provide emergency relief to help offset pandemic-related financial losses at museums, libraries, universities, and historical sites in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Northern Marianas. https://nyti.ms/3oLvNYL
Cuomo's $5 Million Book Deal Is Subject of a New Ethics Inquiry The move by a state ethics panel is a forceful example of how much the political environment has been reshaped since Andrew Cuomo resigned as governor. https://nyti.ms/3Dh1rB7
Nobel Prize in Literature Awarded to Novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah Zanzibar-born writer Abdulrazak Gurnah receives the prize for what the judges described as his uncompromising and compassionate presentation of the effects of colonialism and the fate of refugees. https://on.wsj.com/3Ar6qgR Sports Former National Basketball Association Players Charged in $4M Health Care Fraud Scheme Eighteen former National Basketball Assocation (NBA) players were charged with pocketing about $2.5 million illegally by defrauding the NBA's health and welfare benefit plan in a scam that authorities said involved claiming fictitious medical and dental expenses. Terrence Williams was the alleged ringleader of the group that submitted false invoices for medical expenses to the NBA's healthcare fund, prosecutors said. https://es.pn/3mIEkZF https://on.wsj.com/3mxGsDC
National Women's Soccer League Players Protest Abuse Scandal as League Returns to Field In their first matches since confronting the accusations that have shaken their league, women's soccer players stopped play to make a point. https://nyti.ms/3FBxQo4
Female Soccer Players Are Done Taking Abuse. Let's Stop Dishing It Out. Players in the National Women's Soccer League are demanding the respect all female athletes deserve but rarely get. https://nyti.ms/3iSvOGh
Two Winter Olympics Underdogs That Have Already Won Actively Black, a Black-owned small business, will outfit Team Nigeria at the Olympic Games. The collaboration is also part of a larger trend of Olympic sponsorships increasingly becoming an important milestone for brands of all sizes, not just the usual athletics giants. For example, Skims, Kim Kardashian West's shapewear brand, was the official underwear outfitter for female athletes for Team U.S.A. at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games. https://nyti.ms/3uZ5peI
The Electrician Who Shocked the National Football League With the Videos of Urban Meyer How did the viral clips of the Jacksonville Jaguars coach emerge? They were posted by an Ohio State fan. https://on.wsj.com/3Bsbv9X Technology/Media A Star Corporate Lawyer Now Set to Take On Corporate America For years, while representing Microsoft and other companies, Jonathan Kanter, the Biden administration's choice to be the Justice Department's antitrust chief, has been an anti-Google legal warrior. If confirmed, he will inherit the department's suit against Google, filed last October, accusing the company of illegally abusing its market power to protect its monopoly in internet search and search advertising. https://nyti.ms/3aa37QB
The Facebook Whistleblower, Frances Haugen, Says She Wants to Fix the Company, Not Harm It The former Facebook product manager who left the company in May revealed that she had provided internal documents to journalists and others, saying that her goal is to help prompt change at the social media giant.
Facebook's Outage Frustrates Advertisers Heading Into the Holiday Season The outage was an unpleasant reminder to many advertisers of Facebook's powerful influence on their ability to do business. Ten million advertisers contribute more than 98% of its revenue. In the three months ending in June 30th, it pulled in an average of $78 million in ad sales every 6 hours, much of it from small companies, organizations, and individuals. https://nyti.ms/3oA6TLq
Facebook Is Weaker Than We Knew A trove of leaked documents, published by The Wall Street Journal, hints at a company whose best days are behind it. https://nyti.ms/3DpIOuM
Facebook Hearing Strengthens Calls for Regulation in Europe A whistle-blower who told Congress about the tech giant's inner workings has spoken with top policymakers in Brussels, Britain and France about the need for tougher oversight. https://nyti.ms/3FAjvIm https://on.wsj.com/3DpUttV
Apple Files Appeal In Epic Games Case, Potentially Delaying App Store Changes For Years Apple is asking for a stay on the injunction that says developers can add in-app links to non-Apple payment websites. If Apple wins the stay, which will be decided by a judge in November, the change to Apple's policies may not take effect until appeals in the case have finished, a process that could take years. https://cnb.cx/3FF0tkq
Trump Loses Effort to Keep Suit Over YouTube Ban in Florida Google's legal battle to keep Donald Trump banned from the company's YouTube video-sharing platform was transferred from Florida to a federal court in California over objections by the former president. The ruling by U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami means that Trump's lawsuit seeking a return to the social media platform will be moved to the Northern District of California, near the headquarters of Google owner Alphabet Inc. Moore agreed with YouTube that its terms of service allow the company to choose the forum for such lawsuits. https://bit.ly/3muFJmp
Ozy Media is Accused In a Lawsuit of "Fraudulent Conduct" A fund management company that invested more than $2 million in Ozy Media filed a lawsuit claiming that Ozy "engaged in fraudulent, deceptive and illegal conduct." The lawsuit, filed by LifeLine Legacy Holdings of Beverly Hills, Calif., represents the latest challenge for Ozy, which was backed by a bevy of high-profile investors and announced on Friday that it had shut down after its business practices and leadership had come under scrutiny. https://nyti.ms/2WSojri
Ozy Media Facing New Questions, This Time About How It Spent $5.7M In COVID-19 Relief Loans Ozy certainly wasn't the only media company to accept PPP funding. Yet in all likelihood, it was the only one (as media columnist Ben Smith's explosive New York Times report revealed) with a co-founder who is said to have impersonated a YouTube executive while on a conference call with Goldman Sachs during a pitch for investment funding. https://bit.ly/3lj38I9
Google and YouTube Say They Won't Allow Ads or Monetized Content Pushing Climate Denial Google announced that it would no longer allow ads or monetization for content that promotes climate change denialism. The policy change will apply to publishers, advertisers, and YouTube creators, who will no longer be able to make money from content that "contradicts well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change." https://tcrn.ch/3lxUWUJ https://on.wsj.com/3iGOXuE
Gone in Minutes, Out for Hours Outage Shakes Facebook: When apps used by billions of people worldwide blinked out, lives were disrupted, businesses were cut off from customers -- and some Facebook employees were locked out of their offices. https://nyti.ms/3AHyoVX
Canadian Admits Fabricating Terrorism Tale Detailed in New York Times Podcast In exchange for the admission of the man, Shehroze Chaudhry, Canada dropped criminal charges against him. https://nyti.ms/2YGuS0M
Attack on Teacher May Have Been Inspired by TikTok Challenge, Police Say Larrianna Jackson, 18, a student at Covington High School in Louisiana, is a facing a felony battery charge after she repeatedly punched a teacher, the authorities say. https://nyti.ms/3mDKFFC
Awarding the Nobel to Journalists Recognizes the Growing Repression of Media "Without freedom of expression and freedom of the press," the committee said, "it will be difficult to successfully promote fraternity between nations, disarmament and a better world order to succeed in our time." https://nyti.ms/3Fyl5dT
Philippines' Nobel Prize Newsroom is Overjoyed but Under Siege Maria Ressa, one of the news outlet's founders, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 'courageous fight for freedom of expression'. https://bit.ly/2X02eqE
Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov Journalists are honored for efforts to safeguard freedom of expression. https://on.wsj.com/3AtbocN
Chinese Journalist Detained After Criticizing Government-Sponsored Blockbuster The police arrested Luo Changping on Thursday, 2 days after he questioned China's role in the Korean War, the subject of China's box office hit "The Battle at Lake Changjin." https://nyti.ms/3oNUeEM
General News Finance Leaders Reach Global Tax Deal Aimed at Ending Profit Shifting The Group of 7 nations agreed to back a new global minimum tax rate that companies would have to pay regardless of where they are based. https://nyti.ms/3ByyHmX
Read That Link Carefully: Scammers Scoop Up Misspelled Cryptocurrency URLs to Rob Your Wallet
These aren't typos: wwwblockchain.com and conibase.com, and there's big money in little typos. A man in Brazil paid more than $200,000 worth of bitcoin between last November and February for those and other typo Web addresses, according to sales records leaked after a hack of Epik, an Internet services company favored by the far-right. He also purchased conibase.com for more than $16,000, meant to mimic Coinbase, another cryptocurrency exchange.
https://wapo.st/3Bpba8b