Re:Create Recap January 31, 2020

Media Outlet Fears Bankruptcy Due To Excessive Statutory Damages In Copyright. The Orange County Breeze, a southern California online news outlet detailed the challenges it faced after receiving a DMCA takedown notice for a low-resolution photo published with an article years ago. While conducting an internal review of other potential copyright liability, the publisher informed readers the outlet was suspending online publication of all articles prior to January 1, 2019 while they were reviewed and acknowledged, “This is a huge undertaking, but the only realistic alternative is shuttering the company.” The article pointed out how the CASE Act would make the situation even harder if passed, and how it would encourage trolling and abuse of the copyright system.

ICYMI: Copyright Week 2020. The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s annual Copyright Week celebration was held last week with a focus on important themes like fair use, copyright and competition, remedies, the public domain and copyright and democracy. If you missed any of the compelling content posted by EFF and other copyright voices and experts, be sure to take a look here.

UK Will Not Implement “Terrible” EU Copyright Directive. Despite casting a pivotal vote that allowed the EU copyright directive to pass, the UK now says it will not implement the directive known as the “meme ban” after leaving the EU. Wired reports on UK Universities and Science Minister Chris Skidmore’s written statement that: “The United Kingdom will not be required to implement the Directive, and the Government has no plans to do so…Any future changes to the UK copyright framework will be considered as part of the usual domestic policy process.”

A Great Gatsby Musical? Town and Country magazine gets readers excited for The Great Gatsby’s entrance into the public domain at the end of this year. In her preview of the upcoming F. Scott Fitzgerald milestone, Caroline Hallemann points out that the novel sold fewer than 25,000 copies in Fitzgerald’s lifetime. She writes that, “Over the past 94 years, its presence has only grown in the collective consciousness, and next year, you can expect to see it everywhere.”

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