Tag Archives: copyright

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

Photo of Eric HiattBy Eric Hiatt on 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

Photo of Oren J. WarshavskyPhoto of Tatiana MarkelBy Oren J. Warshavsky and Tatiana Markel on 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

Author’s Family Gets an Early Christmas Gift and Wins Back Rights to Song

By Dominic Gentile on Posted in Copyright
Back in October, the Second Circuit reversed a district court’s ruling that the heirs of John Frederick Coots, the author of the song “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town,” could not terminate the copyright assignment currently held by music publisher EMI.  (Baldwin v. EMI Feist Catalog, Inc.)  In doing so, it held that EMI’s copyright … Continue Reading

Buzzfeed Sued for Copyright Infringement

By Jessie Kuhn on 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

Photo of Oren J. WarshavskyBy Oren J. Warshavsky on 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

SoundExchange to Audit Pandora and Others to Ensure Accurate Reporting of Music Plays

Photo of Tatiana MarkelBy Tatiana Markel on Posted in Copyright, Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Music Industry, Royalties
On January 22, 2016, the Copyright Royalty Board published SoundExchange’s notices of intent to audit broadcasters — including Beasley Broadcast Group Inc., Greater Media Inc., Saga Communications Inc., Townsquare MediaBroadcasting, and Univision Communications Inc. — and commercial webcasters — including Pandora Media Inc., Batanga, DMX, and Muzak Inc. — for payments each made to SoundExchange … Continue Reading

The Monkey in the Machine

Photo of Chad RutkowskiBy Chad Rutkowski on Posted in Copyright, Copyright Protection
In 2011, a Celebes crested macaque took a shot that was heard ’round the world. In a jungle in Indonesia, it depressed the remote trigger button of a photographer’s camera, effectively taking a selfie. The “monkey selfie” has ignited a great deal of commentary musing on the nature of copyright ownership. The human photographer claimed … Continue Reading

Department of Commerce Issues Recommendation on Statutory Damages

Photo of Oren J. WarshavskyBy Oren J. Warshavsky on Posted in Copyright
Last week, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a long-awaited report titled White Paper on Remixes, First Sale, and Statutory Damages, which recommends amendments to U.S. copyright law. The task force report makes recommendations on three separate issues referenced in its title, though with respect to remixes and the first-sale doctrine, the recommendation is to … Continue Reading

Artist Richard Prince Sued for Use of Photo from Instagram

By Maryanne Stanganelli on Posted in Uncategorized
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

Artist Richard Prince Sued for Use of Photo from Instagram

By Maryanne Stanganelli on 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

Pandora Enters Into License Agreements With ASCAP and BMI

By Jessie Kuhn on Posted in Copyright
Following the Copyright Royalty Board’s ruling to raise Pandora’s royalty rates, last week Pandora announced new licensing agreements with the country’s two largest performing-rights societies, Broadcast Music Inc. and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Although the precise terms remain under wraps, these blanket licenses will govern Pandora’s right to play ASCAP’s and … Continue Reading

Greater liability for ISP’s?

By Regina Culbert on Posted in Uncategorized
In a sure-to-be-appealed verdict last week, a federal court jury in the Eastern District of Virginia found Cox Communications liable to pay $25 million to music publisher BMG Rights Management for contributory copyright infringement. Does this case add anything new to the debate over whether the Digital Millennium Copyright Act strikes the right balance in … Continue Reading

Copyright Royalty Board Issues Rate Increase to Pandora

By Jessie Kuhn on Posted in Copyright
On December 16, 2015, the Copyright Royalty Board released its much-anticipated ruling, increasing the royalty amount that Pandora and other digital streaming services must pay to stream music in 2016. The CRB’s ruling, which will be released in full after the parties redact confidential information, distinguishes between nonsubscription and subscription services. The CRB cracked down … Continue Reading

FilmOn and the Copyright Act §111 Compulsory Licensing

Photo of Dmitry DymarskyBy Dmitry Dymarsky on 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

FilmOn and the Copyright Act §111 Compulsory Licensing

Photo of Dmitry DymarskyBy Dmitry Dymarsky on Posted in Uncategorized
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

A New Lenz: Google Weighs In on Fair Use

By Regina Culbert on 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

A New Lenz: Google Weighs In on Fair Use

By Regina Culbert on Posted in Uncategorized
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 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

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 Posted in Uncategorized
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

Anne Frank’s “Diary of a Young Girl”: a Derivative Work with a Co-Author

Photo of Oren J. WarshavskyBy Oren J. Warshavsky on Posted in Co-authorship, Copyright, Copyright Term
On January 1, 2016, Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and Joseph Goebbels’ diaries will both enter the public domain in most of Europe, where the term of protection ends 70 years after the death of a work’s author. One of the Nazi’s most famous victims, Anne Frank, died the same year as Hitler and Goebbels – … Continue Reading

The Give and Take of the 2015 Library of Congress Sec. 1201 Copyright Exemptions

Photo of Chad RutkowskiBy Chad Rutkowski on Posted in Copyright
I used to love working on cars. As a teenager I had a 1972 Karmann Ghia, which I could repair, MacGyver-like, with rubber bands, tinfoil, and sticks of chewing gum. But as automotive technology advanced, the prospect of making my own repairs to fuel, emission, or transmission systems dimmed. Installation of electronic control units (ECUs) … Continue Reading
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