Archives: Copyright Infringement

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The US Supreme Court Decides Oracle v. Google—The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

By Chad Rutkowski and Theresa Weisenberger on April 5, 2021 Posted in Copyright Infringement

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a remarkable opinion in the long-running dispute between Oracle America and Google over Google’s copying of Oracle’s Java SE API for use on the Android platform. BakerHostetler has followed this case for quite some time, and our prior blog posts providing extensive background can be found here, here and here. … Continue Reading

‘No One Can Own the Law’: Supreme Court Holds Annotations to State Statutes Are Not Protected by Copyright

By Christina Moser and Lesley Grossberg on May 1, 2020 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement, Federal Circuit

The Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision on April 27, 2020, in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, upholding the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling that the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (OCGA) is not entitled to copyright protection. The majority’s decision found that the OCGA falls under the “government edicts” doctrine: “government officials empowered to speak with the force … Continue Reading

Breaking Down the Briefing in Google v. Oracle: Respondent’s Brief

By Savannah Merceus and Theresa Weisenberger on March 25, 2020 Posted in Copyright Infringement

A decadelong dispute between Google and Oracle regarding Google’s alleged infringement of Oracle’s copyright in its application programming interface (API) will culminate in a Supreme Court decision that will have lasting effects on the copyrightability of software. This post, which summarizes Oracle’s opening brief, is the second installment in a series analyzing the briefing and … Continue Reading

Breaking Down the Briefing in Google v. Oracle: Petitioner’s Brief

By Theresa Weisenberger on February 27, 2020 Posted in Copyright Infringement

A decade-long dispute between Google and Oracle regarding Google’s alleged infringement of Oracle’s copyright in its application programming interface (API) will culminate in a Supreme Court decision that will have lasting effects on the copyrightability of software. This post, which summarizes Google’s opening brief, is the first in a series analyzing the briefing and issues … Continue Reading

Spanski Enterprises, Inc. v. Telewizja Polska, S.A.: How Far Is Too Far When It Comes to the Extraterritorial Reach of US Copyright Law?

By Robert Welsh on October 19, 2017 Posted in Copyright Infringement

As a general matter, acts of copyright infringement that occur outside the jurisdiction of the United States are not actionable under U.S. copyright law. “The Copyright Act, it has been observed time and again, does not apply extraterritorially.” Kirstaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 133 S.Ct. 1351, 1376 (2013) (Ginsburg, J. dissenting). The general … Continue Reading

Is There Copyright Infringement in Whoville?

By Peter Shapiro on February 14, 2017 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement

The name “Cindy-Lou Who” likely invokes thoughts of the holiday season and Dr. Seuss’s beloved How the Grinch Stole Christmas (“Grinch”), which reminds us that the holidays are not all about toys and trinkets. But what happened after the Grinch “carved the roast beast”? Matthew Lombardo’s play Who’s Holiday! (the “Play”) tells us that story … Continue Reading

Is hyperlinking copyright infringement? EU vs. US

By Maryanne Stanganelli on October 31, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement

Over in Europe, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has been hyperactive in the area of hyperlinking and copyright, at least as compared with the United States. The CJEU issued a much-anticipated ruling in September concerning hyperlinking’s legality in GS Media v Sanoma Media Netherlands and Others (C-160/15). It held that posting … Continue Reading

A Darker Shade of Red Flags: Second Circuit Raises the DMCA Bar for Proving Internet Service Providers’ Knowledge of Copyright Infringement

By Tatiana Markel and Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr. on July 5, 2016 Posted in Copyright Infringement

In a significant across-the-board victory for internet service providers hosting user-generated content (UGC), on June 16, 2016, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued its much anticipated decision in Capitol Records, LLC v. Vimeo, LLC. The ruling reaffirmed and clarified the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) safe harbor for hosting potentially infringing UGC when they … Continue Reading

A Circuit Split at Last: Ninth Circuit Recognizes De Minimis Exception to Copyright Infringement of Sound Recordings

By Lesley Grossberg on June 21, 2016 Posted in Copyright Infringement

For the past 10 years, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has stood alone in having addressed the issue of whether a de minimis amount of copying used in a song sample constitutes infringement of a copyrighted sound recording. While the Sixth Circuit’s admonition of “get a license or do not sample” has gained little … Continue Reading

Oracle v. Google: Are Juries Equipped To Decide Fair Use?

By Robert Welsh on June 15, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement, Fair Use

If you’re in the high-tech industry and are sued for copyright infringement, there are two words you need to remember (in addition to the phone number of your attorney, of course). Those two words are “fair use.” This week, we were once again reminded of the increasing willingness of courts – and now juries – … Continue Reading

“And if You Listen Very Hard” . . . Zeppelin Going to [Trial in] California

By Dominic Gentile and Tatiana Markel on April 13, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement

Central District of California Judge Gary Klausner ruled the founders of rock band Led Zeppelin – and more particularly, front men Jimmy Page and Robert Plant – must face a jury trial to determine whether the band’s most famous song, “Stairway to Heaven,” infringed a copyright belonging to the band Spirit. In 2014, the trustee … Continue Reading

Where’s the Beef?: Locating the Situs of Injury for Jurisdictional Purposes in Cross-Border Copyright Infringement Cases

By Gonzalo Zeballos on March 25, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement

In spring 2015, plaintiffs Pablo Star Ltd. and Pablo Star Media Ltd., each a company organized under the laws of Ireland and the United Kingdom, sued the Welsh government and various content-providing companies for copyright infringement. At issue were two photographs of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, allegedly improperly used by the Welsh government as part … Continue Reading

The Beastie Boys Fight for Their Rights and Win

By Michelle Usitalo on March 11, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement, Music Industry

On Wednesday Judge Alison J. Nathan of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York ordered record label TufAmerica, Inc. to pay the Beastie Boys (Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz, and Adam Yauch), Universal-Polygram International Publishing, Inc. and Capital Records LLC, $845,597.23 in attorneys’ fees and costs. TufAmerica brought suit in 2012 against … Continue Reading

Copyright Content & Platforms – This Week’s Odds & Ends

By Oren J. Warshavsky on February 26, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement

Fear the Walking Dead. Popularity and piracy go hand in hand. The most tormented television shows are Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. In many instances, episodes of those shows are available for illegal download before they air. This week, AMC took action by rolling out a new watermarking technology, which will not directly … Continue Reading

Russia’s Primary Social Network in Hot Water Again Over Failure to Police Infringement

By Tatiana Markel on February 24, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement

Russia’s Facebook, vKontakte, is under fire for its allegedly poor handling of pervasive copyright infringement on its platform (literally translated from Russian, “v kontakte” means “in contact”). The Association for the Protection of Copyright on the Internet, or AZAPO, has sued vKontakte in Moscow City Court on behalf of author Zahar Prilepin for his book “Resident.” … Continue Reading

Copyright Content Platforms – This Weeks Odds & Ends

By Maryanne Stanganelli on February 19, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement, Trademark

A Loss for FilmOn. FilmOn.com Inc., a company that offers a service identical to the one held infringing by the Supreme Court in Aereo, tried to argue that it should be treated like a cable company. The district court disagreed and this week the Second Circuit also agreed, and sanctioned FilmOn for failing to abide … Continue Reading

Timberlake & Will.I.Am Sued by Disco Artist’s Estate

By Oren J. Warshavsky on February 19, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement, Music Industry

In a new case that is sure to draw comparisons to the “Blurred Lines” lawsuit, Justin Timberlake and Will.I.Am have been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit from the estate of a disco artist. The suit alleges that key portions of their pop hit “Damn Girl” were taken from the relatively obscure 1969 jazz song … Continue Reading

Copyright, Content, and Platforms – This Week’s Odds and Ends

By Eric Hiatt on February 12, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement, Music Industry

Copyright Office May Get $15 Million Budget Increase for 2017 The increase—about twenty-five percent over this year’s budget—could help towards the Copyright Office’s goal of making registration and other transactions simple, transparent, and technologically savvy, as laid out by the 5-year plan released by Maria Pallante, United States Register of Copyrights. It will also help … Continue Reading

1 in 5,000: How John Doe Defeated Porn Producer Malibu Media

By Oren J. Warshavsky and Tatiana Markel on February 12, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement

Litigation-friendly pornography producer Malibu Media has suffered a rare loss, which may spell trouble as it proceeds with more cases. According to the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Malibu Media has filed 5,207 copyright lawsuits in the past four years, only two of which have reached judgment. Malibu Media typically brings its cases as “John Doe” … Continue Reading

Buzzfeed Sued for Copyright Infringement

By Jessie Kuhn on February 8, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement

News and entertainment website BuzzFeed, Inc., known for its quizzes and listicles, was hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit last week in California district court. Photographer Jennifer Rondinelli Reilly sued BuzzFeed and five unidentified (or “Doe”) defendants for allegedly displaying, reproducing, distributing, and creating derivative works of her copyrighted photograph of guitarist Carlos Santana, taken … Continue Reading

Copyright, Content, and Platforms – This Week’s Odds and Ends

By Oren J. Warshavsky on February 5, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement

Copyrights in Tattoos? Can tattoos be copyrighted? That will be the central question in a new lawsuit filed by Solid Oak Sketches, which brought a copyright infringement claim against Take Two Interactive. According to the lawsuit, Solid Oak owns the copyrights to many of the tattoos visible in the NBA 2K14, NBA 2K15, and NBA … Continue Reading

Artist Richard Prince Sued for Use of Photo from Instagram

By Maryanne Stanganelli on January 6, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement, Copyright Protection, Fair Use, Social Media

It is not the first time artist Richard Prince has made headlines for appropriating others’ artwork into his own without attribution or license. But this time, he has done so in a way that may have implications on the use of photographs posted on social media. He is being sued on one of the 37 … Continue Reading

FilmOn and the Copyright Act §111 Compulsory Licensing

By Dmitry Dymarsky on November 27, 2015 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement

Web-based television streaming services have been dealt another blow in their campaign to transmit large broadcasters’ copyrighted programs. In the latest decision on the issue, a federal judge rejected FilmOn X LLC’s claims that the company could stream protected broadcasts without committing copyright infringement. Fox Television Stations, Inc. v. FilmOn X LLC, No. 13-758-RMC (D.D.C. … Continue Reading