Our colleague, Melissa Scott, recently wrote an alert on an opinion from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals about access to attorneys’ fees in copyright infringement cases. The underlying copyright dispute in Doc’s Dream, LLC, v. Dolores Press, Inc., et al. related to the video recordings of a deceased minister’s sermons, but the significant
Copyright for Annotations to Legal Text?
During this coming term, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an interesting case involving the State of Georgia’s ability to copyright the annotations to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (“OCGA”). The issue is framed as follows: “Whether the government edicts doctrine extends to—and thus renders uncopyrightable—works that lack the force of law, such as
In Adopting the Registration Approach to Copyright Suits, SCOTUS Highlights a Statute of Limitations Issue
SCOTUS has finally resolved the copyright registration debate but in doing so has emphasized a statute of limitations issue of which we should all be aware. This post follows up on my colleague’s prior posts (and here) regarding when a copyright holder can properly file a copyright infringement lawsuit.
Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §
Buyer, Keeper, Forever? Second Circuit Affirms Decision that Music Files Purchased Online Cannot Be Resold Online
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals returned a favorable ruling for major record companies in a copyright infringement case on December 12, 2018. The ruling came down in Capitol Records, LLC v. ReDigi Inc., a lawsuit involving an online platform (“ReDigi”) designed to enable the lawful resale of purchased digital music files. The Second
Monkey Selfie Decision Stands
Earlier this year, I authored a blog post about the so-called “Monkey Selfies” after the Ninth Circuit ruled that animals cannot sue for copyright infringement because, as nonhumans, they lack the required standing under the Copyright Act. Recently, following a single judge’s request for a vote, the Ninth Circuit did not vote in favor of
Shifting Law on Embedded Content
We do it all the time, but is it legal? Maybe. Maybe not.
Embedding content from one source, e.g., a website, into another source, e.g., another website, is not uncommon. News sites embed photographs from Instagram, twitter messages, and videos into their content. Businesses embed videos and photographs of their products into their websites. Embedding
Supreme Court to Decide Copyright Circuit-Split
Yesterday the United States Supreme Court announced that it was granting the petition for writ of certiorari in the copyright infringement case previously discussed on this blog here and here. The case is Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com LLC and involves the question of when a copyright holder can properly file a
A Monkey Could Do That!
Though apparently not when it comes to suing for copyright infringement. Earlier this week, the Ninth Circuit issued a ruling in a case involving photographs taken by a monkey on a camera left unattended by a nature photographer in Indonesia—aptly deemed the “Monkey Selfies.” The copyright infringement case was filed by People for the Ethical