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Copyright

Court Grants Plaintiff Summary Judgment In Social Media Copyright Infringement Case

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. […]

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Copyright

Court Says Plaintiff Needs More Than IP Address To Prevail In Copyright Infringement Case

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 […]

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Copyright

Greg Young And Zazzle’s Reckless Four-Year Copyright Battle Gets Costly

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 […]

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Copyright

Bright House Earns Big Copyright Win Internet Service Providers

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 […]

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Copyright Trademarks

Hello I Am Elliot: The Startup’s IP Nightmare

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 […]

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Copyright

States Given Carte Blanche On Copyright Infringement, For Now

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 […]

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Copyright Entertainment

Lizzo Says The Truth Will Hurt People Who Claim Co-Ownership Of Her Song

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 […]

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Copyright

House Of Representatives Gives Green Light To Copyright Small Claims Option

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.

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Copyright

Chuck D Seeks To Bring The Noise To Michael Closter In Copyright Case

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 […]

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Copyright

What Is Fair Use For Parody Works Is A Central Issue In Logan Paul Copyright Case

Internet personality Logan Paul, who has millions of subscribers on his YouTube channel, has been sued for copyright infringement. The Complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that his composition “No Handlebars” willfully infringes on an original composition by Flobots titled, “Handlebars.” The original was written and recorded in […]