Heitner Legal
Under 17 U.S. Code § 505 the prevailing party in a copyright infringement case may be entitled to an award of its reasonable attorney’s fees. It is not an absolute right but, instead, the court must make a case-by-case assessment and look at various relevant factors such as: (1) whether the claim was frivolous; (2) the party’s motivation; (3) […]
A new ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York addresses a hot topic of copyright infringement surrounding the posting of copyrighted material on social media. U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil ruled in favor of plaintiff photographer Mark Iantosca on his motion for summary judgment against Elie Tahari, Ltd. […]
Earning a judgment against an individual allegedly infringing on one’s copyright is not as simple as obtaining information attaching an IP address to the supposed infringer and connecting the dots for the judge. The court denied a plaintiff’s motion for default judgment in a case pending before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District […]
Greg Young Publishing and Zazzle resumed the parties’ battle over willful copyright infringement this past Thursday, July 9 in California federal court. This copyright battle goes back to June 23, 2016, when Greg Young, a publisher of visual arts brought legal action against Zazzle, a website allowing its users to upload images of artwork to […]
Defendant Bright House Networks LLC has been granted its motion to dismiss music rights holder UMG Recordings, Inc., et al., (Plaintiffs) vicarious infringement claims because Plaintiffs failed to sufficiently allege a direct financial benefit. Bright House Networks LLC is one of the “largest internet service providers (“ISPs”) in the country.” UMG Recordings, Inc. et al […]
On July 2, in New York’s Southern District, global e-commerce startup (“Hello I Am Elliot”) brought an action into Court for trademark and copyright infringement against Derek J. Sine and Vander Group, another e-commerce company. Sine was Vice President of Vander Group, and together the parties were business affiliates of Hello I Am Elliot, licensed […]
Are states completely immune from federal copyright infringement actions brought by individuals? That question was just answered by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Allen, et al. v. Cooper, Governor of North Carolina, et al. Frederick Allen recorded videos and captured photographs of a shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina. He registered those works […]
When you are threatened with litigation, whether it be in the realm of intellectual property or otherwise, you don’t need to sit around waiting and wondering if/when an action will be filed against you. Instead, there is a type of action called a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment that allows you to go on offense, essentially […]
On October 22, 2019, the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act (the CASE Act), was approved by a 410-6 vote in the House of Representatives. The intention of the Act is to establish a small claims court for content creators to more easily take legal action against alleged infringers.
Carlton Ridenhour, better known as the rapper Chuck D., who founded hip-hop group Public Enemy, has filed a Complaint for declaratory relief regarding the ownership of copyrights, as well as causes of action for fraud and conversion against Michael Closter and Closter’s fully owned Reach Global, Inc. He claims that the defendants used false copyright […]