Ed Sheeran Sued For Copyright Infringement

British pop star Ed Sheeran has been sued for copyright infringement by two California songwriters. Martin Harrington and Tom Leonard claim Sheeran and co-writer Johnny McDaid of the band Snow Patrol copied, almost note for note, a song titled “Amazing” when they wrote Sheeran’s hit song “Photograph.” “Amazing,” sung by Matt Cardle, peaked at No. 84 in the United Kingdom. “Photograph” became a top 10 hit in the United States, selling over 3.5 million copies.

The other named defendants in the lawsuit are McDaid, Sony …

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Copyright Conundrum: Photographer Accuses Wikimedia of Monkey Business

British Photographer, David Slater is irate over Wikimedia’s inclusion of his photograph in Wikimedia Commons, an online archive of royalty-free images.  Slater submitted a request for its removal but Wikimedia has adamantly refused to take it down, stating that Slater has no claim on the image as he did not take it; a monkey did.

In 2011, Slater traveled to Indonesia with his photography equipment to capture the crested black macaques in their natural habitat.  After he left his camera unattended, some of the monkeys …

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Palin Claims “Fair Use” on 9/11 Photo

Former Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin continues to make headlines. In September 2013, North Jersey Media Group (NJMG) filed a federal lawsuit against Palin and her political action committee (SarahPAC) for copyright infringement. The suit alleges that Palin posted NJMG’s iconic “WTC Flag Raising Photograph” on Palin’s Facebook page without permission. The photograph, taken by a staff photographer for NJMG, depicts three firefighters raising an American flag over the rubble of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Screen shots from Palin’s Facebook …

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