Posts under ‘Intellectual Property’

A big ruling for copyright fair use. This one, in an academic setting, springs from events that took place at Georgia State University (GSU).
In a move not uncommon at universities, GSU permitted students to share digital copies of academic texts the school “housed” in its electronic library system.
Based on this, several publishers, including heavy hitters [...]

The first shot is a direct hit. And possibly to the heart.
Victor Willis, one of the original Village People, prevailed this week in copyright case brought under Section 203 of the Copyright Act. (Scorpio Music SA et al. v. Willis, case number 3:11-cv-01557.)
That’s the section that – where certain stringent conditions are met – the [...]

Here’s an interesting situation: song writer creates song based on a musical transcription of pi, and is then sued by another musician who had previously done the same thing.
As you will recall, pi begins with 3.14159, but then goes on forever (interestingly, with no discernable pattern).
As this story goes, one artist, Michael Blake, released [...]

I’ve got a new hero.
He’s this guy in Vermont named Bo Muller-Moore.
Apparently he’s a folk artist, and is known for the tee shirts he makes that proclaim “Eat More Kale.” In fact, according to what I’ve read, he’s known as the “Eat More Kale” guy. But really, how much kale can [...]

It seems enough people pinned about Pinterest’s copyright problem that Pinterest decided to changes its Terms of Service and, more importantly, ditch it anti-self-promotion policy.
Pinterest is a UGC site that allows members to “pin” images they’ve found online and share those images with other Pinterest users (including visitors to the site; you don’t [...]

Every so often, someone reads my blog. Here’s a response I received from one of the counsel in the Bon Jovi case that I reported on about a month ago. (The email is reprinted in its entirety, with permission from the author.)
Mr. Pink – I tried to post a comment on your fine [...]

Sort of surprised at all the (P)interest in Pinterest, or at least in the copyright issues surrounding it.
I was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about the use of non-user generated content posted as UGC on the site. That is, taking someone else’s images and pinning them to the Pinterest user’s on [...]

You’ve got to admire Louis Vuitton. They aggressively pursue alleged infringers of their trademarks.
There’s the recent case of Louis Vuitton Malletier, S.A. v. Akanoc Solutions, Inc., 658 F.3d 936 (9th Cir. 2011) in which the Ninth Circuit held that a web-hosting company was liable for contributory copyright and trademark infringement when it failed [...]

All too frequently, I encounter plaintiffs whose claims never should have been filed, would never have been filed, if they or their counsel had conducted an adequate pre-filing investigation of the merits of their claim.
Even worse, and particularly untenable, are those who continue to maintain their claim once the material defect that an [...]

I recently had a very pleasant conversation about the death of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). On the other side of the table (quite literally) was a record company exec: a charming and intelligent man with whom it was great fun to converse.
SOPA (and its sister, PIPA), faced some stiff opposition [...]