LATEST COPYRIGHT WORLD; PS3 GOES GREY; PROCOL HARUM GOES EVEN GREYER

Latest Copyright World

The November issue of Informa's Copyright World, at just 34 pages, has a rather lean feel to it - but there's plenty of meat inside. The cover story features an interview with Christian Ahlert on the progress made by Creative Commons UK. Is this real progress or illusion, asks the IPKat, noting the choice of mist and clouds as the backdrop for this story's artwork. Owen Dean (Spoor & Fisher) relates his victory in the "Lion Sleeps Tonight" dispute, in which he tamed the might of Disney. There's also a good piece by Hogan & Hartson's Alla Naglis on problems and pitfalls you might have to deal with when either producing or acquiring rights in Russian films.

Full contents of this issue here


PS3 goes grey

Abel & Imray news sleuth Simon Haslam spotted this piece from the BBC about used PlayStation 3 consoles being sold for up to four times the retail price of the console when it went on sale in Japan last Saturday for about £270. There are also reports that homeless people were paid to queue for the console on behalf of people now selling them on at a higher price. The result of acute shortages for the European launch is that grey-goods importers are having to work round the clock to satisfy consumer demand, the IPKat notes.


Procol Harum goes even greyer

Here's another one from the BBC via Simon Haslam (thanks again, Simon!). Procol Harum's former organ player Matthew Fisher (left) appeared in court to play the keyboard in a bid to prove he wrote part of "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the band's greatest hits back in 1967. For almost 40 years the number one song has been credited to the lead singer Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid. Fisher claims he was inspired by the classical composer Bach but says he also had "his own ideas in his head".

The trial continues - and the IPKat will bring you the result.

Lyrics here. What do the words mean? Palers give their view here
Was this a copy of Bach's work? See here