The United States Supreme Court recently brought final resolution to Mandeville-Anthony v. Walt Disney Co., a dispute over the ownership of Disney and Pixar’s animated movies “Cars” and “Cars 2,” and the spin-off television series “Cars Toon.” The plaintiff originally filed the case in 2011 in the Central District of California alleging two claims. First,… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: infringement
Hulkamania is Running Wild: Let the Battle Begin (in Court)
Posted in UncategorizedTerry Bollea, better known as the professional wrestler with the stage name Hulk Hogan (“Hogan”), is involved in an unattractive legal battle that presents an unusual intersection of the First Amendment, copyright law, and privacy/publicity issues. Hogan filed two lawsuits arising out of a 2006 sexual encounter with Heather Clem (“Heather”), then the wife of… Continue Reading
Whoa Nelly: Furtado and Timbaland Defeat Copyright Claim as Plaintiff Fails to Show Evidence
Posted in UncategorizedIn what might have otherwise been a legitimate case of copyright infringement, Kernel Records–the plaintiff in Kernel Records Oy v. Timothy Mosley et al., had its case tossed out because of an evidentiary failure. Section 411 of the Copyright Act is clear: absent special circumstances, a plaintiff must attain a copyright registration, as discussed here. One… Continue Reading
Illegal Music Downloaders Beware
Posted in UncategorizedFor the second time in under a month, a court has confirmed a large statutory damages award against an illegal music downloader. In the latest development in a six-year long dispute over illegal music downloads, the Eighth Circuit issued a unanimous decision last week and reinstated a $220,000.00 jury verdict against Ms. Jammie Thomas-Rasset. Ms. Thomas-Rasset… Continue Reading
An Expensive Lesson: 30 Illegal Song Downloads Cost $675,000.00.
Posted in UncategorizedIn 2005 the parents of Joel Tenenbaum, then a college student, received a notice directing them to call the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to arrange payment of $5,250 for pirated music downloaded to their home computer. The songs were downloaded by Mr. Tenenbaum. Neither he nor his parents met the demand. In 2007, Sony Music… Continue Reading
Madonna Sued in Sampling Lawsuit
Posted in UncategorizedVMG Salsoul LLC filed a complaint for copyright infringement on July 11, 2012 in California District Court against Madonna, Shep Pettibone, and other music industry-related defendants. At the heart of the complaint is a claim for copyright infringement based on illegal sampling. According to the complaint, the timeless Madonna classic, “Vogue” contains intentionally hidden illegal… Continue Reading
Louis’ Hangover
Posted in UncategorizedA federal judge has dismissed Louis Vuitton Malletier SA’s trademark infringement suit against Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. over the studio’s use of a knockoff bag in “The Hangover Part II.” U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. granted Warner Bros.’ motion to dismiss after finding that public confusion as to the bag’s origin was unlikely,… Continue Reading
Google Takes Action Against MP3 Conversion Sites
Posted in UncategorizedGoogle fired a warning shot across the world of Internet piracy by threatening legal action against conversion giant YouTube-MP3.org as well as Music-Clips.net and potentially other websites. As reported by torrentfreak.com, a letter was sent out by Google demanding that the popular websites cease using the YouTube API (Application Programming Interface) to allow users to “separate,… Continue Reading
Authors Guild v. Google: Defining Issues of Associational Standing and Adequacy in Class Certification
Posted in UncategorizedA new post on one of our sister blogs, the Class Action Defense Blog, explains Authors Guild v. Google, Inc. from a class action perspective.
Ninth Circuit to Consider the Impact of Viacom
Posted in UncategorizedThe Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court might re-examine the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the “DMCA”) copyright infringement safe harbor standards. The Ninth Circuit ruled last year in UMG vs. Veoh, a case dealing with user-uploaded music videos, that Veoh, a video-sharing website was protected under the safe harbor provision of the DMCA. Now,… Continue Reading
Megaupload Challenges U.S. Indictment
Posted in UncategorizedIn the latest twist in one of the largest Internet piracy actions brought by the U.S. Government to date, attorneys for Megaupload.com and its founder, Kim Dotcom, are challenging whether the United States had the right to bring the action waged against Megaupload and its executives this past January. On May 30, 2012, Megaupload’s legal… Continue Reading
Copyright Law 101: The Registration Requirement
Posted in UncategorizedThe U.S. Copyright Act has certain formalities; one of the simplest and easiest to understand is the so-called “registration requirement.” This is an important requirement—it governs when a copyright owner can bring a lawsuit for copyright infringement. Section 411(a)‘s terms are clear and unambiguous: no action for may be instituted until registration has been made… Continue Reading
Viacom v. YouTube: A Question of Fact
Posted in UncategorizedViacom recently asked a federal court to order YouTube to pay it more than $1 billion in damages for about 150,000 videos that Viacom claims it owns and YouTube users have shared. It accused YouTube of harnessing video-sharing technology permitting users to infringe copyright on a massive scale, harming not only Viacom but also “one… Continue Reading