The expression "bad facts make bad law" comes to mind when reading the news reports about Righthaven LLC and the Las Vegas Review-Journal ("Las Vegas Review"). Namely, the Las Vegas Review has partnered with Righthaven to sell their copyright interest in articles after the articles in whole or part are attached as hyperlinks to blogs. Righthaven registers the copyrights it purportedly acquires from the Las Vegas Review and then sues the blogs without sending the standard "cease and desist" letter beforehand.Continue Reading Blog Hyperlinks to News Stories = Copyright Infringement or Not?

On August 6, 2010 Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), introduced a bill entitled the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act ("IDPPPA") (S. 3728), which represents a compromise between the American Apparel & Footwear Association ("AAFA") and the Council of Fashion Designers of America ("CFDA") in an effort to afford protection to American designers for new and original fashion designs.[1]Continue Reading The Innovative Design Protection and Privacy Prevention Act: Will Design Protection Be In Vogue in Congress?

A change in the rules on copyright licensing may be coming in the near future and from an unexpected and unanticipated source. The rules deal with whether the owner of an exclusive copyright license may sublicense such right without the approval of the licensor. The clear and unequivocal answer in the Ninth Circuit has long been, "No." See, Gardner v. Nike, Inc., 279 F.3d 774 (9th Cir. 2002). The answer in other circuits is somewhat less clear. Most licensors, however, have long sought contractual clarity by providing for "assignment" or "license" provisions in any contract for copyrights, trademarks or patents. Congress, however, may soon be changing the Ninth Circuit’s answer at a time when few may even be aware of the pending change.Continue Reading Sublicenses By Exclusive Licensees Of Copyrights – Copyright “Clarification” May Change The Law

On April 19th, 2010, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to consider whether, in the context of a copyright infringement claim, the first sale doctrine applies to imported goods manufactured abroad. The first sale doctrine, codifed at 17 U.S.C. § 109(a), works as a defense to a copyright infringement claim where the copyright owner consents to the first sale of its copyrighted work.Continue Reading Supreme Court Grants Certiorari To Better Define The First Sale Doctrine

The Ninth Circuit recently stayed an injunction entered against MGA Entertainment, Inc., that would have otherwise required MGA to ensure that none of its popular Bratz dolls, the subject of a copyright dispute with toy giant, Mattel, Inc., are available on store shelves as of January 21, 2010. The injunction’s requirement that MGA also turn over its portfolio of Bratz related trademarks to Mattel was stayed as well. Mattel obtained an injunction against MGA after a jury found that a former Mattel employee, Carter Bryant, came up with the Bratz doll idea while under Mattel’s employ, that Mattel owned the copyrights in the Bratz doll designs, and that MGA, who hired Carter Bryant after he left Mattel, infringed Mattel’s copyrights.Continue Reading It’s Not Over For MGA’s Bratz Doll Line Yet

On June 17, 2009, Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the Southern District of New York dismissed the copyright claims of jeans maker Do Denim against rival manufacturer Fried Denim Inc., holding that the mere filing of the copyright applications, fees and deposits did not satisfy the jurisdictional requirement that a copyright be registered before a lawsuit is initiated. Do Denim v. Fried Denim, No. 08Civ.10947, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51512, at *7 (S.D.N.Y. June 17, 2009). This decision highlights the importance of copyright registration, as a jurisdictional prerequisite for plaintiffs hoping to protect their designs.Continue Reading What Is the Jurisdictional Pre-Requisite for Copyright Litigation?: Do Denim v. Fried Denim

On April 3, 2009, the District Court for Colorado entered a groundbreaking copyright decision, treading on new judicial territory by directly applying the First Amendment to invalidate a provision of the Copyright Act. The case, Golan v. Ashcroft, Civil Case No. 01-cv-01854-LTB, found that, at least as applied to the plaintiffs, the copyright restoration provisions found in Section 104A of the Copyright Act violated rights to material permanently in the public domain by restoring full copyright protection as of January 1, 1996, to such material.Continue Reading Copyrights: First Amendment Trumps Copyright Restoration

The pressure to cut production costs for media works is larger than ever. One expense that should not be slashed, however, is the expense of registering a copyright in the work soon after it is created — whether that work is a written script, motion picture, a television episode, a commercial or a song. Considering that the standard Copyright Office filing fee for registration is between $35 (if filing electronically) and $45 (if filing the old fashion way on paper, which many still do), registration arguably provides a substantial dollar- to-dollar return on investment.Continue Reading For Artists with Original Works, It’s Buy Now or Pay Later

Hot News! … for IP lawyers. Hot news is still good law. After 90 years, a dusty 1918 Supreme Court case (International News Service v. Associated Press, 248 U.S. 215 (1918)), often overlooked and generally ignored, was resurrected from the judicial cobwebs by Judge Castel. The case before Judge Castel involved the same news gathering icon and was styled Associated Press v. All Headline News Corp. (decided on February 17, 2009, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, 08 Civ. 323(PKC)). As an added attraction, Judge Castel also weighed in on an increasingly diverse debate over what constitutes protected "Copyright Management Information," or "CMI," under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).Continue Reading Hot News Meets DMCA

In a recent case, UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Veoh Networks, Inc., 89 U.S.P.Q.2d 1449 (C.D. Cal. 2008), the Central District decided a question of first impression—whether certain activities of a website operator fit within the section 512(c) safe harbor of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") (found at 17 U.S.C. § 512).Continue Reading UMG Records v. Veoh Networks: Central District Decides Certain Activities Fall Within A DMCA Safe Harbor