Stanford Center for Internet and Society

On November 27th, BT and Thomas Dolby opened their “Sonic Duel for Virtual Supremacy” Tour at Red Devil in San Francisco. BT was kind enough to invite us, and the show was fantastic.

BT performed “This Binary Universe,” which you can listen to online at: thisbinaryuniverse.com.

Thomas Dolby performed an eclectic mix of songs, including a recent rendition of an old ditty adapted to tell the story of Dolby’s copyright infringement suit against K-Fed, whose recent song “America’s Most Wanted” sampled Mobb Deep’s “Got It Twisted,” which had sampled Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science.” Although Mobb Deep’s use of the song was licensed by Dolby, K-Fed’s wasn't. (K-Fed settled.)

On November 3, the motion for summary judgment on behalf of Brian Transeau (BT) was argued before Hon. William H. Pauley, federal district court judge for the Southern District of New York.

Plaintiffs conceded BT had no access to the copyrighted work that they allege he copied. They therefore attempted to prove that BT’s work in “Aparthenonia” was so "strikingly similar" to plaintiffs’ work as to preclude the possibility of independent creation.

Last August, film-maker Javier Prato received a cease and desist letter from Universal Music, who complained that his short film, “Jesus Christ: The Musical,” was infringing their copyright in Gloria Gaynor's “I Will Survive.