copyright&consumer right

8/8/2019 Copyright&Consumer Right

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COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

UMG Vs MySpaceOn November 17, 2006, Universal Music Group (UMG), a leading music publishingand record company sued MySpace, a popular social networking site in the US, forcopyright infringement of the work of its artists.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for California's Central District, allegedthat MySpace helped its users to upload music videos and participated in theinfringement process by re-formatting the videos so that they could be sharedamong other users.

UMG further alleged that most of the content posted on MySpace was not "user-generated" and was copied from content owners. Commenting on this, UMG said,"The foundation of MySpace is its so-called 'user-generated content.' However, muchof that content is not 'user-generated' at all. Rather, it is the 'user-stolen'intellectual property of others, and MySpace is a willing partner in that theft.

UMG said that MySpace would have to pay UMG, US$ 1,50,000 as damages foreach unauthorized music or video posted on its site. UMG had already identified 60copyright violations. Peter Lofrumento, spokesperson for UMG, said, "Businesses

that seek to trade off on our content, and the hard work of our artists andsongwriters, shouldn't be free to do so without permission and without fairlycompensating the content creators."

With over 100 million users, MySpace, based in California, USA and owned bymedia conglomerate News Corporation (News Corp.), is a popular social networkingsite that allows users to host their personal webpages. It allows users to sharephotos, create blogs, upload music / videos, and build their own network of friends.It also has an internal search engine and an e-mail system.

MySpace felt that UMG'S decision to file a lawsuit was unfortunate and that the

fine imposed was unjust. A spokesperson for MySpace, said, "MySpace provides anextraordinary promotion platform for artists -from major labels to independent acts-while respecting their copyrights. We have been keeping UMG closely apprised of our industry-leading efforts to protect creators' rights, and its unfortunate theydecided to file this unnecessary and meritless litigation. We provide users with toolsto share their own work - we do not induce, encourage, or condone copyrightviolation in any way."


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MySpace also said that it had made efforts to launch a new copyright protectiontool, an audio fingerprinting technology . The technology included a filtering systemthat automatically prevented unauthorized music from being copied to another site.

A release from MySpace, said, "We proactively take steps to filter unauthorizedmusic sound recordings and have implemented audio fingerprinting technology. We

will continue working to be the gold standard in protecting creators' rights."

Analysts cited MySpace as an example of the rising popularity of social networkingand user generated content in the Web 2.0 era. The term Web 2.0 was used to referto second-generation websites where in users could design their own pages,contribute content, and be a part of an online web community.

There was also evidence of the money making potential of these websites. In August2006, Google Inc. (Google), the leading online search engine, entered into a dealwith Fox Interactive Media (Fox Media), the parent company of MySpace. As perthe deal, Google would pay Fox Media US$ 900 million over a period of three yearsfor the right to provide web search results and sponsored ad links in MySpace.

But a main challenge for these Internet firms was the copyright issue as manyusers would post music or videos for which they did not have the copyright. Somelegal experts opined that websites like MySpace sought protection through the 1998Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a copyright law in the US, which exemptedInternet service providers from any liability as long as they removed the copyrightinfringing material when notified of the violation. Moreover, given the backing of alarge conglomerate like News Corp., MySpace would have the resources to deal withany legal challenges. However, some analysts expected MySpace to reach a

settlement with UMG on the lawsuit.

Bibilography:

1] Chris Morris and Carl DiOrio, "Universal Music Sues MySpace Over Copyrights," www.hollywoodreporter.com, November 18, 2006.2] Dawn C. Chmielewski, "MySpace is Sued by Universal Music," www.latimes.com,November 18, 2006.3] "MySpace Statement in Response to Universal Music Group Lawsuit,"

http://home.businesswire.com, November 17, 2006.4] The fingerprinting technology was owned by California based Gracenote, whichspecializes in organizing digital music. It uses MusicID software and Global MediaDatabase for checking files uploaded by users accessing MySpace for the protectionagainst copyright violations.5] Andrew Orlowski, "UMG Sues MySpace," www. theregister.co.uk, November 17,2006.


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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS

Problem:

MySpace faced a lawsuit when UMG filed a case against it for copyrightinfringement. UMG argues that materials posted or uploaded in MySpace arecopied and edited by MySpace users. The materials are hardwork of artistsassociated with UMG and their efforts are being misused by MySpace users. UMGfiled a case against MySpace and demanded compensation of millions of dollars forsingle posting. MySpace has identified more than 60 of such copied and editedmaterials for which it is asking compensation.

Analysis:

MySpace feels that case file against it is unjust and unfair on the part of UMG sinceit has taken maximum efforts to avoid copyright infringement and has providedusers with many tools and softwares to make their own video and post on MySpace.

MySpace has sought protection from 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, acopyright law in the US, which exempted Internet service providers from anyliability as long as they removed the copyright infringing material when notified of the violation.

Analysts believe that MySpace may reach for a settlement with UMG on lawsuitwhich may be affordable to MySpace as well as justice to the artists associated withUMG.

Recommendation:

MySpace should take initiative to make sure that all the videos and materialsposted on MySpace website is not re-formatted by its users so that efforts andsentiments of all the artists are not put to stake.


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Consumer Right Case

Cadbury vs ConsumerIn October 2003, just a month before Diwali, customers in Mumbai complainedabout finding worms in Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates. Quick to respond, theMaharashtra Food and Drug Administration seized the chocolate stocksmanufactured at Cadbury's Pune plant. In defense, Cadbury issued a statementthat the infestation was not possible at the manufacturing stage and poor storage atthe retailers was the most likely cause of the reported case of worms. But the FDA didn't buy that. FDA commisioner, Uttam Khobragade told CNBC-TV18, "It waspresumed that worms got into it at the storage level, but then what about thepacking - packaging was not proper or airtight, either ways it's a manufacturingdefect with unhygienic conditions or improper packaging." That was followed byallegations and counter-allegations between Cadbury and FDA.

The heat of negative publicity melted Cadbury's sales by 30 per cent, at a timewhen it sees a festive spike of 15 per cent. For the first time, Cadbury's advertisingwent off air for a month and a half after Diwali, following the controversy.Consumers seemed to ignore their chocolate cravings. As a brand under fire, inOctober itself, Cadbury's launched project 'Vishwas' - a education initiative covering190,000 retailers in key states.

But what the company did in January 2004 is what really helped de-worm thebrand. By investing up to Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million) on imported machinery,Cadbury's revamped the packaging of Dairy Milk. The metallic poly-flow, wascostlier by 10-15 per cent, but Cadbury didn't hike the pack price. Bharat Puri,managing director, Cadbury's India says, "While we're talking about a few bars of the 30 million we sell every month - we believe that to be a responsible company,consumers need to have complete faith in products. So even if it calls for substantial

investment and change, one must not let the consumers confidence erode."Simultaneously, Cadbury's roped in brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan to dosome heavy duty endorsement putting his personal equity on the line for thebrand.The company upped ad spends for the Jan-March quarter by over 15 per cent.The recovery began in May 2004, and by June, Cadbury's claimed that consumerconfidence was back.These experts believe that the reason for Cadbury's success


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was that it took crisis head-on. And the consumers were more forgiving, because thebrand enjoyed an emotional equity in India. Santosh Desai, former president,McCann-Erickson says, "The nature of the relationship that Cadbury's has builtwith the consumer is responsible for latitude the consumers are giving it. "They are

seeing it as a lapse, not a breach of trust - this difference is key. What Cadbury's setout to deliver, it goofed up once but it seemed to be very sincere in its intent to getthings right."

Biblography:

http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/dec/24cad.htm

http://www.mbaknol.com/management-case-studies/case-study-cadbury-crisis-management-worm-controversy/


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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS

Problem:

Mr Sebastin has purchased a Cadbury chocolate from a pick and bay in vile parle.He found worms in it (batch no : 28f3110703). Fernandes complained to theshopkeeper Jitendra Shah who later informed Pravin Marve, vice-president,

Andheri Vyapar Manch. Marve then contacted the FDA and gave them the sample.FDA Joint Commissioner Hindurao Salunkhe said Cadbury's Talegaon plant willalso be inspected.

Analysis:

The state Food and Drug Administration has ordered seizure of Cadbury's DairyMilk chocolates from all over Maharashtra after worms were found in two of themin Mumbai. The Food and Drug Administration had then seized the company's stocksand the Cadbury India management had explained it was bad storage practices byretailers and distributors that had led to the worms and even the government got intothe act with the central health ministry asking for a report on the controversy.

Cadbury went into overdrive to tell consumers that improper storage of what isessentially a perishable commodity might lead to worm infestation. As a resultCadbury improved the packaging and paid more attention to the way its chocolateswere stored by nearly 650,000 retailers across the country.

The larger Cadbury Dairy Milk packs came in poly-coated aluminium foil, whichwas heat-sealed and then wrapped in the branded outer package. Both theseinitiatives are country specific and Cadbury invested nearly Rs 25 crore (Rs 250million) this year on new machinery for the improved packaging.

Recommendation:

Cadbury should take care this small packaging mistake can make bad image of thecompany. They should always see to it that they maintain the quality of thechocolates and take care of humanity.

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