Germany's competition regulator Bundeskartellamt has cleared the merger of Bertelsmann's music division BMG with Great Mountain Partners-backed music company Concord. The authority ruled that despite being of a significant scale, the merged company will face competition from even larger companies. In its assessment the authority said it took particular account of "the growing importance of the catalogue business, which is expanding especially due to the new digital distribution channels associat...

Yoon Seong-cheon, the former Head of the Cultural and Arts Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), has been appointed for a three-year term as Director of the Korea Copyright Protection Agency (KCOPA), the government agency created in 2016 "to promote copyright protection, prevent infringement, and support cultural and creative business development." He replaces Park Jung-youl who was appointed in 2022. "The Korea Copyright Protection Agency must innovate as the fro...

The US House of Representatives has passed by voice vote on June 8 the bill known as the Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act (HR 6028), which will redefine the way the Librarian of Congress and the Register of Copyrights/Director of the US Copyright Office (USCO) are appointed. The bill will now be sent to the Senate for further consideration. Under the new legislation, introduced by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), the Librarian of Congress will be appointed by Congress’ leader...