Addressing copyright fair use in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent guidance in Warhol, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit partially reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the...more
4/11/2024
/ Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc v Goldsmith ,
Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Derivative Works ,
Fair Use ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
The Copyright Act ,
Work-For-Hire
In February 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P., that lack of either factual or legal knowledge on the part of a copyright holder can excuse an inaccuracy in the...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit analyzed the fair use doctrine of US copyright law in a dispute for recognition of a 2001 French judgment relating to a finding of copyright infringement of certain photographic...more
7/21/2022
/ Appeals ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Diversity ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Fine Art ,
France ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Photographs ,
Reversal ,
The Copyright Act ,
Trials
The Supreme Court of the United States held that lack of factual or legal knowledge can excuse an inaccuracy in a copyright registration under a safe harbor contained in the Copyright Act. As a result, an applicant’s...more
Addressing fair use as an affirmative defense to copyright infringement, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit amended its recent opinion, reversing a district court’s summary judgment in favor of fair use. The Court...more
In a case spanning nearly 40 years of art and touching the estates of two of the world’s most well-known artists, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit clarified its position on the application of the fair use...more
In a dispute over the alleged infringement of a floral print textile design, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the plaintiff’s ownership of a valid copyright, but reversed and remanded for further...more
With the validity of a copyright registration at issue, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded a district court’s judgment after a jury trial and award of attorney’s fees in favor of the plaintiff...more
Vacating the district court’s order denying a defendant’s recovery of attorneys’ fees under the Copyright Act, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that, even when asserted as a claim for declaratory relief, any...more
In a non-precedential ruling by summary order, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against famed comedian Jerry Seinfeld, finding that the...more
Affirming a summary judgment in favor of defendant, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit determined that a copyright infringement lawsuit pertaining to the graphic design on a guitar made famous by a late heavy...more
Affirming a district court’s summary judgment in favor of various defendants, including the vocal music director and parent volunteers at Burbank High School (whose competitive show choirs reportedly inspired the television...more
Applying the Supreme Court of the United States’ 2017 decision in Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands regarding the copyrightability of non-utilitarian sculptural design features (IP Update, Vol. 20, No. 4), the US Court of...more
10/16/2019
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyrightable Subject Matter ,
First Impression ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Star Athletica v Varsity Brands ,
The Copyright Act ,
Trade Dress ,
Unfair Competition
Addressing § 504(c)(1) of the US Copyright Act, which permits an award of statutory damages in lieu of actual damages for copyright infringement, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit considered a question of first...more
Holding that reproduction of a digital file for purposes of resale does not fall under the “first sale” doctrine of the Copyright Act, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of...more
2/11/2019
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyright Ownership ,
Damages ,
Digital Media ,
Fair Use ,
Final Judgment ,
First Sale Doctrine ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Music Industry ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Right to Control ,
Summary Judgment ,
The Copyright Act
In a case involving the infringing download and distribution of plaintiff’s film through peer-to-peer BitTorrent networks, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s...more
Affirming a grant of summary judgment in favor of copyright defendants, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit took up the “often litigated issue” of whether a stock photography agency has standing under the Copyright...more
Reversing the district court’s partial grant of summary judgment in favor of an internet streaming service, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit relied on the US Copyright Office’s interpretation of § 111 of the...more
In a case stemming from a copyright dispute over photographs of the legendary hip hop group Run-DMC, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a music...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment of a Nevada district court when it determined that the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) of the US Copyright Act did not apply to a used school bus that had...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit convened an en banc panel to examine the Supreme Court’s “Raging Bull” decision in Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. in the context of deciding whether laches remains a...more
10/30/2015
/ Claims Limitations Period ,
Damages ,
eBay Test ,
En Banc Review ,
Equitable Estoppel ,
Injunctions ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Laches ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Petrella v. MGM ,
Prior Art ,
Raging Bull ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Royalties ,
SCOTUS ,
Separation of Powers ,
Summary Judgment ,
The Copyright Act
Citing the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit’s recent en banc decision in Garcia v. Google (IP Update, Vol. 18, No. 6), the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a summary judgment ruling that...more
8/11/2015
/ Appeals ,
Authorship ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Film Industry ,
Garcia v Google ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Summary Judgment ,
The Copyright Act ,
Work-For-Hire
Overturning a hotly debated district court decision, in a case involving numerous amicus curiae briefs, the en banc Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of a motion for a preliminary...more
7/10/2015
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyrightable Subject Matter ,
Emotional Distress Damages ,
First Amendment ,
Google ,
Irreparable Harm ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Prior Restraint ,
The Copyright Act ,
YouTube
In a ruling that could potentially increase the number of copyright infringement actions, the Supreme Court of the United States has resolved a conflict among the circuits, holding that the equitable defense of laches cannot...more