The Briefing: What Is Fair Use and Why Does It Matter?
The Briefing: The Wrong Argument – Why Authors Lost Against Meta and What Comes Next
The Briefing: The Supreme Court Dodges the Discovery Rule Question—What That Means for Copyright Enforcement
The Briefing: The Ninth Circuit Puts the Brakes on Eleanor’s Copyright Claim
Why Can't I Clean the Graffiti Off My Walls? — No Infringement Intended Podcast
The Briefing: When a TikTok Costs You $150,000 - Copyright Pitfalls in Influencer Marketing
Can Tattoos Be Copyrighted? The Legal Battle Over Mike Tyson's Iconic Ink — No Infringement Intended Podcast
The Briefing: No CTRL-ALT-DEL For the Server Test
JONES DAY TALKS®: Women in IP – AI and Copyright Law Need-to-Knows
The Briefing: Sequel, Spin-Off, or Something Else? The Legal Battle Over "ER" and "The Pitt"
The Briefing: ER Redux? The Anti-SLAPP Motion That Didn’t Stick
The Briefing: Diana Copeland – “Surviving R. Kelly” But Not Netflix’s Motion to Dismiss
Can You Copyright AI-Generated Content? - On Record PR
(Podcast) The Briefing: Turkey, Trademarks, Copyright, and Cranberry Sauce – IP and Recipes
The Briefing: Turkey, Trademarks, Copyright, and Cranberry Sauce – IP and Recipes
(Podcast) The Briefing: Millions at Stake – How 2 Live Crew Beat Bankruptcy to Reclaim Their Music
The Briefing: Millions at Stake – How 2 Live Crew Beat Bankruptcy to Reclaim Their Music
Introduction to No Infringement Intended Podcast - No Infringement Intended
(Podcast) The Briefing: The Dark Side of Halloween – Unlicensed Costumes and the Legal Haunt
The Briefing: New California Laws for Digital Replicas Both Live and Dead
We have talked about this in other blogs; ASCAP is getting aggressive in enforcing their legal rights when restaurants, bars, fitness centers and other establishments play copyrighted music without having the proper BMI,...more
A recent lawsuit against actor and comedian Marlon Wayans underscores the practical value created by securing a copyright registration early and the associated risk doing so creates for a third-party user....more
There are times when Strike 3 cannot prove its case and may be forced to dismiss the case. In these instances, the defendant may well be deemed the "prevailing party" in the case, which can support an award of costs and...more
No matter what type of business you are in, trademark and copyright law can have significant effects on success and growth of your business. Both of these areas of law provide important rights over the intellectual property...more
FIFA is demanding attorney fees from plaintiffs for misusing artificial intelligence in an antitrust suit against the soccer federation in Puerto Rico, with a formatting error revealing that it is seeking more than $50,000...more
If your handle is on this list, give us a call to discuss. Do not panic; Vondran Legal® can defend you and help you achieve an early settlement without expensive litigation to follow. We have helped many in your situation....more
The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a district court’s ruling that a copyright holder’s voluntary dismissal of its claims did not render the defendant a prevailing party entitled to attorneys’ fees under...more
This blog is written by Arizona copyright lawyer Steve Vondran. Vondran Legal has handled hundreds of federal court litigation cases since its founding in 2004. One important area we practice is restaurant IP law, which...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed a district court’s award of attorneys’ fees and its determination that trivial additions to existing documents were not copyrightable. UIRC-GSA Holdings, LLC v. William...more
Addressing the symmetrical fee-shifting provision of the Copyright Act and whether a prevailing defendant was entitled to fees even when the plaintiff moved to dismiss the case in response to a change in law, the US Court of...more
The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit agreed with the trial court regarding the reasonableness of the plaintiff’s legal positions and found that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the defendants,...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded a $1.7 million award of attorneys’ fees, finding the amount unreasonable compared to the benefit the plaintiffs received. Lowery v. Rhapsody International,...more
A recent Ninth Circuit decision clarified that the benefit to the class is the “touchstone for determining the reasonableness of attorneys’ fees in a class action.” Under this decision, the fee should not be based on the...more
Copyright owners now have another venue for enforcing copyrights: the Copyright Claims Board (CCB). Established by the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (CASE Act), the CCB aims to provide...more
[co-author: Ivy Attenborough, Summer Associate] Thank you for reading the June 2022 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we discuss the differences between Copyright Claims Board and federal...more
The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted certiorari to tackle a technical copyright registration question: when a defendant alleges knowing inaccuracies in a copyright registration, does 17 U.S.C. § 411 require referral to the...more
We recently discussed a new trend in celebrity copyright litigation on our YouTube channel and podcast (The Briefing on YouTube). Specifically, we discussed celebrities taking a stand and defending copyright claims brought by...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a grant of summary judgment on the issue of copyright infringement and an award of attorneys’ fees against the plaintiff under the Copyright Act. Although the Court noted...more
In a decision that opens the door wider for winning parties to seek awards of attorney's fees in copyright disputes, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that a declaratory action alleging copyright...more
It is no secret about the proliferation of copyright lawsuits that have been filed over the past four years over the unauthorized use of photos online, many against media companies that seek to shield themselves from...more
The so-called Big Three record companies—Universal, Sony, and Warner—have sued to hold an internet service provider liable for facilitating its customers’ copyright infringement....more
In This Issue - A Looming AI War: Transparency v. IP Rights - As artificial intelligence systems become more prevalent in daily life, efforts to create a unifying set of AI principles have intensified. In the past few...more
You may have heard: infringing a viral photo of the current President of the United States will only cost you $750. Setting aside whether that valuation was at all related to the subject matter of the photo, let’s talk about...more
As we wrote previously, the Federal Circuit sitting en banc held that a patent applicant can seek district court review of a PTO rejection of its application without having to pay for the time the PTO’s attorneys spent on the...more
NOSB Votes to Continue Allowing Hydroponics - The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) has reportedly voted to continue allowing food grown in water-based nutrient solutions to be labeled “organic,” rejecting a...more