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☆ Ed Sheeran Wins Copyright Case Over Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Ben Sisario | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The case involved only the compositions underlying both tracks — the lyrics, melodies and chords that can be notated on paper — and not their recordings. For older songs like “Let’s Get It On,” copyright is limited to the sheet music, or “deposit copy,” that was originally submitted to the United States Copyright Office. Kathryn Griffin Townsend, Mr. Townsend’s daughter, who wore a tan-colored coat with the word “integrity” emblazoned on the back, said she had filed her suit to protect her father’s legacy. On Day 3 of the trial, the proceedings were interrupted when she collapsed and was taken to a hospital. When Ms. Townsend returned to the courtroom on Monday morning, Mr. Sheeran embraced her.

☆ Opinion | A Push to Reverse ‘Wokeness’ at U.Va.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

I served on a committee in 1973 to help the new Black students there adjust to an institution that was clearly not welcoming. If racism is not systemic, how could there have been so little progress for so long? This is a sad story and a tragic denouement for all the efforts of good people at U.Va. I deplore Mr. Ellis’s attempts to further entrench a history of obliviousness to racism at U.Va. Both of us serve today as trustees of Virginia’s best universities, appointed by Virginia governors, though at different schools.

May 2 (Reuters) - A court in Utah has stopped the state's Republican-dominated government from enforcing a new law that would effectively end abortions by making it impossible to get a license for a clinic where they are performed. Judge Andrew H. Stone of the Third District Court of the state of Utah ruled on Tuesday that abortion rights group Planned Parenthood, which had sued to block the law, was likely to prevail in its argument that the law is not reasonable. Planned Parenthood said the measure, which would eliminate the licensing process for abortion clinics and thus effectively make it impossible to get an abortion anywhere but in a hospital, violated the state constitution's rights to privacy and bodily integrity. Stone last year issued a preliminary order preventing the state from enforcing an earlier abortion ban while he hears a legal challenge by Planned Parenthood. Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Himani SarkarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: The 'Ndrangheta: Italy's most powerful mafia group
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

May 3 (Reuters) - Italy's 'Ndrangheta has supplanted Sicily's Cosa Nostra as the country's most powerful mafia organisation, and has spread across Europe and the rest of the world. ORIGIN, CELEBRITY KIDNAPPING AND COCAINEThe 'Ndrangheta originates from Calabria, the impoverished southern region at the tip of Italy's boot. Its name is believed to come from the ancient Greek words "andros" and "agathos", meaning brave or valiant man. POWER AND WEALTHIn its latest six-monthly report, Italy's Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate (DIA) calls the 'Ndrangheta "the absolute dominant force in the criminal world" well beyond its home turf of Calabria. In 2008, Italian research group Eurispes valued the 'Ndrangheta's annual turnover at a staggering 44 billion euros ($48.54 billion), about 3% of Italy's gross domestic product at the time.

New York CNN —The jury in the Ed Sheeran copyright infringement case — about whether Sheeran’s smash single “Thinking Out Loud” copied the classic Marvin Gaye song “Let’s Get It On” — deliberated for about five minutes Wednesday evening before the judge sent jury members home. If the jury decides Sheeran is liable for copyright infringement, the trial will move on to the second phase to determine damages. The family of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote “Let’s Get It On” with Gaye, has accused Sheeran of copying the 1973 hit. Earlier, an attorney representing the family suing Sheeran asked the jury Wednesday not to be “blinded by the defendant’s celebrity.”“Mr. Sheeran is counting on you to be very, very overwhelmed by his commercial success,” attorney Keisha Rice said in her closing argument Wednesday.

☆ 5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Herbie Hancock
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Marcus J. Moore | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Now, we’re turning to Herbie Hancock, the groundbreaking pianist and composer who emerged in jazz as something of a prodigy. His career took off after the trumpeter Donald Byrd asked Hancock to play in his quintet. By the early ’70s, Hancock had all but abandoned jazz for funk and ambient textures, and released challenging music that didn’t fit one box in particular. In 1973, he released his biggest album, “Head Hunters,” a propulsive funk odyssey that went platinum and led to Hancock playing to huge crowds. Below, we asked 11 musicians, writers and critics to share their favorite Hancock songs.

"They independently created 'Thinking Out Loud,'" Farkas said. Farkas told the jury that these were "basic musical building blocks" that no one owns. A lawyer for the heirs was expected to give a closing argument to the jury later in the afternoon. Sheeran won a trial in London last year in a separate copyright case over his hit "Shape of You." Gaye's heirs in 2015 won a lawsuit claiming the Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams song "Blurred Lines" copied Gaye's "Got to Give It Up."

☆ Danish Wind Pioneer Keeps Battling Climate Change
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Stanley Reed | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The contemporary wind power industry, which has spawned hundreds of thousands of spinning rotors generating electricity without putting greenhouse gases into the air, was to a great extent born in a notoriously windy region of Denmark called Jutland. And while countless people have played a role in refining the machines that stud coastlines, plains and mountain ridges, perhaps no one has had more influence than a Jutlander named Henrik Stiesdal. As a young man of 21, he built a rudimentary machine to generate electricity for his parents’ farm. He was later co-designer of an innovative three-bladed turbine that set the stage for what has become a multibillion-dollar global industry. His inventions have led to about a thousand patents, and Mr. Stiesdal is widely seen as a pioneer in this very Danish field.

Companies Warner Music Group Corp FollowNEW YORK, May 3 (Reuters) - A jury will now decide whether British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran ripped off Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" after hearing closing arguments on Wednesday in a week-long copyright trial. Townsend's heirs in 2017 sued Sheeran, his label Warner Music Group (WMG.O) and his music publisher Sony Music Publishing, claiming infringement of their copyright interest in the Gaye song. Sheeran and his co-writer, Amy Wadge, both testified during the trial that they did not copy "Let's Get It On." Sheeran said he had only passing familiarity with the song and that "Thinking Out Loud" was inspired by Irish musician Van Morrison. Sheeran won a trial in London last year in a separate copyright case over his hit "Shape of You."

☆ The French château with more than 100 fighter jets
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Miquel Ros | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —The sleek, dark-gray lines of a F-16 Fighting Falcon jet, flanked by two other veterans of the Cold War skies, a French Dassault Mirage IV and a F-104 Starfighter, is not what you would usually expect to come across when walking into the courtyard of a 700-year-old French château. The majority of them were acquired as scrap,” says Christophe Pont, Michel’s son and current owner and manager of the château. Courtesy Miquel RosIn the mid-1980s, Pont, who was ex-military, made inquiries with the French Air Force about the possibility of getting one of their decommissioned Mirage III fighter jets to exhibit at the château. The request was granted and six months later what would become the kernel of the world’s largest private fighter aircraft collection was on its way to Savigny-lès-Beaune. Château de Savigny-les-Beaune, Rue Général Leclerc, 21420 Savigny-lès-Beaune, France; +33 3 80 21 55 03

☆ Windfall tax seizure case in Michigan deepens appellate split on class standing issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Alison Frankel | Thomson Reuters | Alison Frankel Has Covered High-Stakes Commercial Litigation As A Columnist For Reuters Since A Dartmouth College Graduate | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The county auctioned Fox's property for about $25,000 — and kept the $22,000 difference between the sale price and Fox's tax obligation. But Fox’s class action did not name only Gratiot County as a defendant. Circuit Court disagreed. The 6th Circuit in the Fox case agreed with the 2nd Circuit's holding that trial courts must consider constitutional standing issues ahead of class certification. The Michigan counties that challenged class certification were represented at the 6th Circuit by Douglas Curlew of Cummings, McClorey, Davis & Acho.

May 2 (Reuters) - A lawyer for a Florida prosecutor on Tuesday urged a federal appeals court to reinstate his client after the state's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, indefinitely suspended him over his pledge not to prosecute people seeking or providing abortions. "This governor punishes dissenting voices," David A. O'Neil, a lawyer for suspended prosecutor Andrew Warren, told a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Henry Whitaker, a lawyer in the Florida Attorney General's office representing DeSantis, said Warren was suspended for his conduct of refusing to enforce the law, not for his speech. Whitaker urged the court to uphold a January ruling in favor of DeSantis by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle. Warren, who won re-election in 2020 as the Hillsborough County state attorney, sued DeSantis last August.

May 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge to the legality of an Indiana requirement that abortion providers bury or cremate embryonic or fetal remains following the procedure, sidestepping another dispute involving a contentious Republican-backed state policy concerning abortion. Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate the state's requirement after a federal judge had invalidated it. Indiana's ban is currently blocked after decisions by lower court judges. The Supreme Court on April 21 blocked restrictions set by lower courts on a widely used abortion pill while litigation continues in lower courts in a challenge by abortion opponents to the drug's federal regulatory approval. Women themselves "may choose to take custody of the remains and dispose of them as they please," that court added.

☆ Health Plan Coverage of Abortion and Related Services
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Practical Law Employee Benefits | Executive Compensation | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +36 min

The Dobbs ruling, which returned the regulation of abortion to the individual states, has led to legislation that restricts abortion, including medication abortion, in many states. In response to the rapidly changing post-Dobbs legal landscape, this article addresses health plan coverage of abortion, medication abortion coverage and litigation, abortion-related travel benefits, and related Practical Law resources concerning these topics. The insurer in a fully insured health plan, health maintenance organization (HMO), or similar arrangement:Assumes the risk of providing health coverage for insured events by paying medical costs for eligible claims incurred under the plan. Self-Funded Health PlansBy contrast, employers with self-funded arrangements may have more discretion in providing coverage for abortion and related services. Changes to plan coverage of medication abortion will likely require plan administrators to:(For more on coverage of medication abortion, see Newly Launched, ReproductiveRights.gov Website Addresses Access to Medication Abortion (Mifepristone) Using Telehealth on Practical Law.)

Jeremy Selwyn/WPA Pool/Getty Images Camilla stands next to Queen Elizabeth II during a Diamond Jubilee pageant on the River Thames in June 2012. Chris Jackson/Getty Images From left, Camilla, Charles, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attend the state opening of Parliament in May 2013. From left are Camilla, Charles, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Louis, Duchess Catherine, Princess Charlotte, Prince George and Prince William. Frank Augstein/WPA Pool/Getty Images In pictures: Britain's Queen Camilla Prev NextShe reportedly met Prince Charles at a polo match in Windsor in 1970 and they became friends. From left are Camilla, Charles, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Louis, Duchess Catherine, Princess Charlotte, Prince George and Prince William.

☆ Ed Sheeran says allegations in copyright infringement trial are ‘really insulting’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Nicki Brown | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Sheeran claimed Stewart altered elements from “Thinking Out Loud” in his analysis in order to prove his point. Sheeran is accused of copying “Let’s Get It On” by the heirs of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the 1973 hit with Gaye. Townsend’s daughter Kathryn Townsend Griffin, sister Helen McDonald and the estate of his former wife, Cherrigale Townsend, are the listed plaintiffs on the “Thinking Out Loud” case. Gaye died in 1984 and Townsend died in 2003. When asked on the stand Monday what he would do if the plaintiffs win the case and own the chord progression, Sheeran said, “If that happens, I’m done.”–CNN’s Chloe Melas contributed to this report.

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Salesforce, cold plunges, and Tesla's biggest Chinese rival
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Maybe I'll go to a coffee shop for something stronger than my usual Trader Joe's instant cold brew. How these OnlyFans creators used Reddit to grow their businesses. Tesla's biggest Chinese rival just released an $11,000 EV. Heinz promised to buy the infamous "ketchup boat guy" a boat with a GPS. But he said the money from Heinz only afforded him a small used boat and engines.

One silver lining of the stock market’s fluctuations in recent months: Individual investors say they have learned a thing or two about investing along the way. The S&P 500 has been stuck in a bear market—down more than 20% from its high—for 221 days. That is the longest such stretch since 1973, surpassing the selloffs that coincided with the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2001 and the financial crisis of 2008.

☆ Here's why Rolex watches are so expensive and how the brand gained its luxury status
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

With their precision manufacturing, specially sourced materials, and exceptional craftsmanship, Rolex watches have never come cheap, but neither were they out of financial reach for 1960s working professionals in search of perfect timekeeping and technical innovation. "Back then, anybody could afford a Rolex," Hess told Insider. Dealers would buy luxury watches in Switzerland to carry across the border and sell in Italy. That reputation has helped Rolex crush the competition with a quarter of the luxury watch market — more than double that of runner-up Omega. "They all buy the little wannabe Rolex brands in the beginning and finally, when they achieve success, they buy that Rolex."

☆ Biden set to address White House Correspondents Dinner
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Maegan Vazquez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

But undoubtedly, a White House official told CNN, his speech will address the issue of wrongfully detained Americans abroad. US President George W. Bush, left, waves with impressionist Steve Bridges at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2006. Roger L. Wollenberg/Pool/Getty Images The White House Correspondents' Dinner is held in 1923. It was started two years earlier by the White House Correspondents' Association, the organization of journalists who cover the president. Roosevelt was congratulating Brandt for winning the first Raymond Clapper Memorial Award, which was given by the White House Correspondents' Association for distinguished reporting.

☆ I was the first woman to be hired as a pilot by a major US airline in 1973. When I first started, they called me 'the little girl' and a uniform for women didn't even exist.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Bianca Giacobone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

When American Airlines hired her in 1973, Bonnie Tiburzi was the only woman among 214 new hires. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Bonnie Tiburzi, the first woman to fly with American Airlines as a pilot in 1973. A Boeing 727 jet in American Airlines livery similar to the one Tiburzi would have operated. Look like a female pilotWhen Tiburzi first started working for American Airlines, there was no uniform for female pilots. After 26 years with American Airlines, I retired in 1999.

☆ Comstock Act: The 150-year-old chastity law that may be the next big fight over abortion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Tierney Sneed | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

“Comstock is really the backdoor way to remove access to abortion across the whole country,” said Greer Donley, a University of Pittsburgh Law School professor who specializes in abortion law. Severino argued that, at least when it comes to the Comstock Act’s prohibitions on mailing abortion pills, Congress is well within its powers to regulate those shipments. Several towns, some in New Mexico and elsewhere, have passed local ordinances that cite the Comstock Act and prohibit business within those jurisdictions from shipping or receiving items used for abortions in the mail, as covered by the Comstock Act. The lawsuits in New Mexico state court that those ordinances have prompted may provide for another opportunity for courts to elaborate on what the Comstock Act means. The Supreme Court, in the emergency order it issued last week, did not say anything about the Comstock Act.

☆ Justice Alito says he has a 'pretty good idea' who leaked the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade but doesn't have the proof to name them publicly
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Justice Alito claims to have a "good idea" who leaked the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. He went on to argue that the leak made the justices who had signed onto the draft opinion "targets of assassination." The leak of the draft opinion — besides infuriating those who favor abortion rights — caused a political firestorm of its own at the time. Furthermore, Justice Alito has himself been accused of leaking the outcome of Supreme Court deliberations before. But when asked about the theory that someone on the right leaked the draft, Alito strongly rejected that notion.

☆ ‘Big George Foreman’ Review: Not the Biopic a Two-time Champ Deserves
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Glenn Kenny | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The former boxer George Foreman’s late-20th-century popularity as a television pitchman for a line of cooking products has enabled a collective amnesia. Boxing has given us many fighters who have won world champion titles more than once. But Foreman won his first heavyweight title bout in 1973. Too bad “Big George Foreman,” directed by George Tillman, Jr., is so shockingly flat. George, who can wallop like no other boxer, almost obliviously moves from strength to strength.

☆ Trump mocked John McCain and complained that he had the 'world's longest funeral:' 'Much like his wars, it never ended'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Trump again mocked John McCain in his new book, per an excerpt published by The New York Post. Trump claimed that McCain had "the world's longest funeral" back in 2018. Trump claimed that he, as president, granted McCain "the world's longest funeral," erroneously claiming that the mourning lasted 11 days, per The New York Post's published excerpt. Trump's claim that he gave permission for McCain's funeral also does not hold water. This was after she called Trump's daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner "funeral crashers" for showing up at John McCain's memorial service.

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