By Keith Randall on Posted in Copyright,Entertainment,TechnologyIn this day and age where an innocuous home video or the latest news story can explode into an internet phenomenon, game developers looking to cash in on the popularity of the latest memes need to carefully consider the potential copyright ramifications of using protected images without permission. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and 5th Cell, … Continue Reading
By Keith Randall on Posted in CopyrightA federal judge has dismissed claims that online services that provided access to legal briefs filed in federal court were infringing the copyright in those briefs. Earlier this month, in one of the most highly watched copyright cases of the last few years, Judge Rakoff of the Southern District of New York issued a ruling … Continue Reading
By Keith Randall on Posted in Copyright,Patent,TechnologySony Computer Entertainment Japan recently filed for a new patent which has peaked the curiosity of the gaming world. From the published patent application we can gather that Sony’s new technology links each game sold to the console (PlayStation) upon which it is first played. After this initial imprint, the game would be unplayable on … Continue Reading
By Robb S. Harvey on Posted in CopyrightThe 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) has some new exemptions, under a final rule published by the United States Copyright Office in the Federal Register that went into effect on October 28. The Act provides that, upon the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights (which is a division of the Library of Congress), the … Continue Reading
By Keith Randall on Posted in Copyright,Internet,TechnologyOn August 3, 2012, Electronic Arts filed a copyright infringement complaint against Zynga, Inc. for infringing its copyrights in the Sims franchise, specifically for infringing on the game The Sims Social with Zynga’s The Ville. As the complaint details, The Sims Social launched in August 2011 on Facebook. The Sims Social allows players to create … Continue Reading
By Robb S. Harvey on Posted in Copyright,PatentAs discussed on TIPS a few months ago, a number of publishers of scientific journals have launched copyright lawsuits against a handful of law firms, alleging that the firms’ photocopying in connection with patent submissions constitutes infringement. That dispute has now proceeded to the motion to dismiss phase, with U.S. District Judge Kyle of the … Continue Reading
By Laura Merritt on Posted in CopyrightYoga poses and sequences of poses are exercises and not subject to copyright law protection, announced the United States Copyright Office recently. “Exercise is not a category of authorship in section 102 and thus a compilation of exercises would not be copyrightable subject matter,” according to the Office’s statement of policy. The policy made clear … Continue Reading
By Heather J. Hubbard on Posted in Copyright,InternetLast week, I had the pleasure of spending time with some of my favorite copyright lawyers at the Copyright Society of the USA (CSUSA) annual meeting. On Tuesday morning, Jay Rosenthal of NMPA, Mitch Glazier of RIAA, professor Robert Brauneis and author Robert Levine discussed the politics of copyright. The following is a summary of … Continue Reading
By Justin F. McNaughton on Posted in CopyrightCreators of copyrightable works (and their lawyers) tend to think of the transfer of Copyright as a solemn and formal event. This is partly due to custom and partly to the requirement in 17 U.S.C. 204, which states that “A transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of law, is not valid unless an … Continue Reading
By Robb S. Harvey on Posted in Copyright,PatentPatent lawyers are in the crosshairs of some scientific journal publishers for alleged copyright infringement. In recently filed lawsuits, publisher John Wiley & Sons and the American Institute of Physicists claimed that lawyers and their Chicago-and Minneapolis-based law firms had wrongfully copied journal articles. The plaintiffs made good on their threats to pursue lawyers who … Continue Reading
By Heather J. Hubbard on Posted in CopyrightOn Friday, February 24, Shepard Fairey pled guilty to the misdemeanor charge of criminal contempt for destroying and altering documents in his civil lawsuit against The Associated Press. Fairey filed a declaratory action against the AP in 2009, seeking an order declaring that he did not infringe the AP’s copyright in a photograph of Barack … Continue Reading
By Keith Randall on Posted in Copyright,First AmendmentThe Supreme Court this week upheld the power of Congress to restore copyright protections to public domain work against challenges based on the Copyright Clause of the U.S. Constitution. In a nutshell, the ruling opens the door for Congress to restore, or remove, copyright protections from any work so long as it has a rational … Continue Reading
By Emily J. Zibart on Posted in Copyright,InternetWebsites including the English version of Wikipedia, Reddit and BoingBoing have gone dark for a period of twenty-four hours today, in protest of anti-piracy bills currently making their way through the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. According to a statement posted by Wikipedia, the Stop Online Privacy Act (“SOPA,” as the House version … Continue Reading
By Emily J. Zibart on Posted in Copyright,InternetIt should come as no surprise that IP infringement is rampant on the internet—we regularly assist our clients with Internet-related legal issues. But even we were taken aback after recently coming across a website that, on first glance, appeared to be highly professional, but which in fact consisted of nothing more than large blocks of … Continue Reading
By Emily J. Zibart on Posted in CopyrightIt is estimated that portions of the Old Testament were written approximately 3,500 years ago. Yet, you may be surprised to learn that a number of versions of the Bible, as well as translations of many other ancient texts, are currently protected under US copyright law. Religious texts have been the subject of a significant … Continue Reading
By Justin F. McNaughton on Posted in CopyrightCreators of copyrightable works (and their lawyers) tend to think of the transfer of copyright as a solemn and formal event. This is partly due to custom and partly to the requirement in 17 U.S.C. 204, which states that “[a] transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of law, is not valid unless an … Continue Reading
By David C. Scott on Posted in Copyright,TechnologyAfter a several-month cease-fire, filings from both parties over the past month indicate that Viacom and Time Warner fully intend to litigate the issue of whether the parties’ contracts give Time Warner the right to stream Viacom programming over iPads and other devices. Viacom’s lawsuit stems from Time Warner’s iPad app, which allows Time Warner … Continue Reading
By Heather J. Hubbard on Posted in Copyright,Entertainment,Internet,TechnologySteve Jobs first announced the concept of iTunes Match in June, and its launch is expected any day now. For only $25 a year, you can subscribe to iTunes Match to have access to all of your music, not just music purchased from iTunes. It will pull songs from CDs uploaded to your computer, songs … Continue Reading
By David C. Scott on Posted in Copyright,Entertainment,First AmendmentThough the talk of the Supreme Court’s current term will be the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Court’s fall docket includes several highly-anticipated First Amendment decisions. The following two decisions could prove definitive for the First Amendment legacy of the Roberts Court, which has been on balance rather media-friendly so … Continue Reading
