Archives: Fair Use

Oracle v. Google: Are Juries Equipped To Decide 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

Fair Use Is Not a Defense – 9th Circuit Refuses to Rehear Dancing Baby Notice and Takedown Under the DMCA

By Shannon McCue on March 25, 2016 Posted in Fair Use

For those unfamiliar with Stephanie Lenz’s case against Universal Music, here’s a summary. Lenz posted on YouTube a video of her infant son reacting to the song “Let’s Go Crazy” as it played during the halftime show of the National Football League’s 2007 Super Bowl. Universal Music Corporation found this video and issued a notice, … 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

A New Lenz: Google Weighs In on Fair Use

By Regina Culbert on November 24, 2015 Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement, Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Fair Use

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act creates a liability “safe harbor” for online service providers that post content that may be protected by copyright. It facilitates the takedown of an infringing work by providing a relatively simple “notice and takedown” procedure. However, the DMCA has been criticized for making it more difficult for individual creators to … Continue Reading

Fox News LLC v. TVEyes, Inc.—Does the Courts’ Expansion of Fair Use Copyright Protection Promote the “Progress of Science and useful Arts” When It Requires Increasing Judicial Oversight Over Activities That Otherwise Would Be Regulated By the Marketplace?

By Robert Welsh on November 18, 2015 Posted in Copyright, Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Fair Use

In 2014, when District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York upheld TVEyes, Inc.’s (“TVEyes”) monitoring service as “fair use” in the face of a copyright infringement claim brought by Fox New Network LLC (“Fox News”),[1] the decision was seen as yet another step in the federal courts’ limitations of the … Continue Reading

Second Circuit Finds That, Once Again, Book Scanning Is Fair Use

By Peter Shapiro on June 12, 2014 Posted in Copyright Infringement, Fair Use

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has delivered a resounding reaffirmation of fair use principles in the latest decision to go against the Authors Guild in its longstanding battle against book digitization. The unanimous opinion of the three-judge panel in Authors Guild, Inc. v. HathiTrust, No. 12-4547-cv (2d Cir. June 10, 2014) affirmed nearly all … Continue Reading

GoldieBlox and the Three Beastie Boys

By Maryanne Stanganelli on December 2, 2013 Posted in Copyright Infringement, Fair Use

It was the ad video gone viral of three young girls proudly showing off their elaborate Rube Goldberg machine made of repurposed pink toys. They sang “it’s time to change, we deserve to see a range” and called for girls “to code the new apps” and “to grow up knowing that they can engineer that.” … Continue Reading

Google Prevails in the Latest Chapter of the Google Books Litigation

By Maryanne Stanganelli and Elizabeth Stamoulis on November 26, 2013 Posted in Copyright Infringement, Fair Use

On November 15, Judge Chin of the Southern District of New York issued a long-awaited decision in the Google Books case, Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google Inc. Google Books—the project through which Google provides access to over twenty million books to the public—obtained some of its books from libraries without permission from the copyright owners. … Continue Reading

Supreme Court Declines Opportunity to Review Test for Copyright Fair Use

By Maryanne Stanganelli on November 19, 2013 Posted in Copyright Infringement, Fair Use

After the Second Circuit ruling in Cariou v. Prince, which we wrote about on this blog here, photographer Patrick Cariou felt that the decision was too subjective, calling it an “I know it when I see it” approach for determining when a work is transformative—or, in other words, when a work that appropriates copyright material … Continue Reading

Appropriation Art Alive and Well after Second Circuit Ruling in Cariou v. Prince

By Maryanne Stanganelli on April 25, 2013 Posted in Copyright Infringement, Fair Use

Today, the Second Circuit handed down its much anticipated decision in Cariou v. Prince regarding the legality of appropriation art by artist Richard Prince. Just over two years ago, in federal district court in New York, Judge Batts ordered that paintings by Richard Prince be destroyed. She did so on the basis that the art, … Continue Reading

The Use and the Fury: Faulkner Estate’s New Enforcement Efforts

By Jessie Schweller and Oren J. Warshavsky on November 4, 2012 Posted in Copyright, Fair Use, Trademark

In a pair of lawsuits filed about a week ago, Faulkner Literary Rights, LLC (“Faulkner Literary”), the owner of the literary rights to the late William Faulkner’s works, sued Sony Picture Classics (“Sony”), as well as Northrop Grumman Corporation (“Northrop Grumman”) and Washington Post Company (“Washington Post”) in the federal district court for the district … Continue Reading