Mealey's Copyright : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Copyright

September 30, 2024
Isaac Hayes Estate Drops Some Defendants From Trump Campaign Copyright Suit

ATLANTA — The estate of a songwriter and the company that manages his works on Sept. 27 voluntarily dismissed the Republican National Committee and other groups from a lawsuit accusing former President Donald J. Trump and associated entities of copyright infringement for their use of a 1960s soul song at campaign rallies.
September 27, 2024
Judge: Tattoo Artist Did Not Show How Game Makers’ Infringement Caused Damages

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge held that the developers of wrestling video games are not entitled to judgment as a matter of law after a jury determined that they are liable for copyright infringement of a tattoo artist’s work through their depictions in-game of a tattooed wrestling star, but they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on damages because the artist presented no evidence at trial to support the award of damages.
September 26, 2024
Company Says 5th Circuit’s Copyright Opinion Contradicts Other Recent Opinion

NEW ORLEANS — A defendant distribution company petitioned the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for en banc rehearing, arguing that a circuit panel’s affirmation of a Louisiana federal judge’s entry of final judgment in favor of the plaintiff company on copyright infringement claims cannot be squared with a recent Fifth Circuit decision in another copyright case.
September 26, 2024
Developers Of Video Game Cheat Again Appeal Copyright Case To 9th Circuit

SEATTLE — Only a month after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a Washington federal judge did not err in affirming a nearly $4.4 million arbitration award in a copyright infringement case involving video game cheating software, the case is headed back to the Ninth Circuit as the companies who created the software on Sept. 25 notified the district court that they were appealing the court’s decision to deny their motion for a new trial.
September 25, 2024
Judge: Outlet Can’t Claim Fair Use In Copyright Suit Over Congresswoman’s Photo

NEW YORK — A nonprofit media organization cannot use a fair use defense against a copyright infringement claim brought by a photojournalist who said the media outlet posted a screenshot of a copyrighted video he took of Rep. Alexandira Ocasio-Cortez at a New Yorker’s funeral, a New York federal judge held, denying the outlet’s motion to dismiss the journalist’s suit.
September 25, 2024
Judge: Man Owes Millions For Using American Airlines Marks In Hiring Grift

MIAMI — A man accused by American Airlines Inc. of trademark and copyright infringement for using the company’s intellectual property while allegedly running a scheme to trick job applicants into paying for fake background checks owes the company more than $3 million in damages and attorney fees, a federal judge in Florida held after granting summary judgment to the airline on most of its claims.
September 24, 2024
Music Publisher: Judge Must Reconsider Ruling In Copyright Fight Over 1986 Song

NEW YORK — A music publisher says a New York federal judge should reconsider an August holding in which the judge ruled that the publisher must pay royalties to a hip-hop group that created a 1986 hit single despite its concern that the song infringed the theme song of the long-running television show “Dragnet,” arguing that the judge’s order fundamentally and inappropriately changes the relationship between the rappers and the label.
September 20, 2024
Most Claims In Pesticide Trademark, Copyright Row Survive Motion To Dismiss

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio largely denied a defendant pesticide manufacturer’s motion to dismiss some trademark and copyright infringement claims brought against it by competitor plaintiff companies who allege that the defendant copied package design, holding that the plaintiff companies plausibly alleged infringement.
September 20, 2024
Judge Tosses Canadian Legal Code Copyright Fight After 5th Circuit’s Reversal

AUSTIN, Texas — After the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued its mandate reversing a Texas federal judge’s grant of summary judgment against a publisher accused by a Canadian developer of legal codes and standards of illegally republishing complete versions of the code because the code is effectively uncopyrightable “law” in Canada, the judge on Sept. 19 filed an order granting summary judgment in the publisher’s favor.
September 19, 2024
5th Circuit Agrees Art Education Company Did Not Infringe On Artist’s Work

NEW ORLEANS — A Texas federal judge rightly held that that a company selling art kits to students during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic did not infringe on an artist’s work by basing elements of the product on a series of dog paintings, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Sept. 18, determining that the fair use defense applied.
September 19, 2024
Judge: Professor Violated Dow Jones Copyrights With Article Distribution Emails

AUSTIN, Texas — In a mixed result for both parties on competing motions for summary judgment, a federal judge in Texas held that a professor infringed on copyrights held by Dow Jones & Co. Inc. by emailing his students, former students and others PDFs of stories from Dow Jones publications and breached the contract formed by his subscription to the publications but that Dow Jones failed to show that the professor violated the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).
September 18, 2024
Judge Consolidates Suits By Journalists Challenging AI, Denies Motions To Compel

NEW YORK — In a six-page order addressing more than 20 outstanding motions and letter briefs in six artificial intelligence copyright cases, a federal judge in New York consolidated two suits brought by news entities and others, granted motions to set and extend deadlines and otherwise generally denied requests to compel certain evidence, including a request that The New York Times Co. produce evidence demonstrating that its stories were original works.
September 17, 2024
Parties To Music Publishers’ AI Suit Brief Injunction, Motion To Dismiss

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Music publishers said an artificial intelligence company’s motion to dismiss is “rife with misdirection” and urged a court to impose a narrow preliminary injunction that would protect their rights while not unduly imposing restrictions on the company. But in its own briefing, Anthropic PBC said there is no evidence that its AI ever produced copyrighted works as portrayed by the plaintiffs and that there is certainly no evidence that its newest models would do so while urging the court to dismiss ancillary claims it says have not fared well in similar cases.
September 17, 2024
AI Copyright Plaintiffs Want Midjourney’s Trade Dress Clarification Reply Stricken

SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiff artists asked a federal judge in California to strike a reply brief that artificial intelligence creator Midjourney Inc. filed in support of its motion for clarification about what “concrete elements” the judge saw in the plaintiffs’ trade dress claim, with the artists saying local rules do not permit such a filing.
September 16, 2024
Parties To GitHub AI Suit Involving DMCA Ruling Brief Need For Immediate Appeal

OAKLAND, Calif. — Plaintiffs in an artificial intelligence copyright suit involving code posted to online coding repository GitHub and related defendants wrapped briefing over whether a federal judge in California’s ruling requiring identicality under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) warrants interlocutory appeal of a federal California judge’s ruling.
September 16, 2024
Google, Author Wrap Briefing On Dismissal Of Trimmed AI Copyright Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — An author and Google LLC grappled in briefing on a motion to dismiss filed in a federal court in California, with the woman saying her amended complaint sufficiently alleges that the company illegally took and used her copyrighted work to train artificial intelligence. However, Google responded by saying that while the second amended complaint appears to try to strip away irrelevant allegations, it only serves to point out the ongoing problems with the Copyright Act claims.
September 16, 2024
Judge: Trump Liable For Infringing Use Of ‘Electric Avenue’ In Campaign Video

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Sept. 13 granted singer Eddy Grant’s partial motion for partial summary judgment against former President Donald J. Trump and his re-election campaign, holding that the singer adequately showed that Trump’s use of Grant’s song “Electric Avenue” in a video on Twitter does not constitute fair use; the judge also denied a motion for partial summary judgment from the Trump team.
September 12, 2024
Federal Judge Enjoins Trump Campaign From Further Uses Of Soul Song

ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia on Sept. 11 partially granted a motion from the estate of a songwriter and the company that manages his works to bar former President Donald J. Trump and associated entities from using a soul tune from the 1960s at future campaign appearances, but the judge held that the estate and the company are not harmed by videos of the song being used at past campaign stops.
September 12, 2024
Judge Won’t Bar Nonprofit From Using Contested Trademark In Economic Report

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California denied a plaintiff nonprofit organization’s bid for a temporary restraining order against another nonprofit organization, saying “there are significant questions regarding ownership” of the trademark LATINO GDP, which the plaintiff organization claims to own.
September 12, 2024
11th Circuit: Marvel Did Not Infringe On Artist’s Hero Design

ATLANTA — For the second time, a panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a Georgia federal judge’s dismissal of a copyright infringement suit brought by a comic book artist against Marvel Entertainment and its parent the Walt Disney Co., holding that the artist failed to show how designs of two Marvel characters themed around birds infringe upon his owl-themed superhero.
September 11, 2024
AI Copyright Plaintiffs Oppose Midjourney’s Request For Trade Dress Clarification

SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs in an artificial intelligence image copyright suit told a court its ruling on several motions to dismiss already rejected AI creator Midjourney Inc.’s arguments, leaving nothing to address in the company’s motion for the court to clarify what “concrete elements” are in the plaintiffs’ trade dress.
September 11, 2024
11th Circuit: Real Estate Company Not ‘Prevailing Party’ In Copyright Case

ATLANTA — A Florida federal judge was correct to deny attorney fees to a real estate company accused by a photography company of infringing a photo’s copyright, a panel of judges in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in an unpublished opinion, saying that the real estate firm is not the “prevailing party” as defined by the Copyright Act because the photography studio voluntarily dismissed its claims.
September 09, 2024
2nd Circuit: Internet Archive’s Book Lending Infringed On Copyrights

NEW YORK — The Internet Archive (IA) did not have the right to engage in a process it called “controlled digital lending” in which it digitized books and loaned them to individuals online, a panel of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, affirming a New York federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of several publishers.
August 30, 2024
7th Circuit: No Enforceable Contract To Support Company’s Securities Claims

CHICAGO — A panel of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that an Illinois federal judge was correct to dismiss claims of securities fraud and other claims brought by a company against a software startup, holding that the plaintiff company failed to show that an enforceable agreement regarding an exchange of ownership interest for an investment existed.
August 29, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms Arbitrator Award In Copyright Fight Over Video Game Cheats

SAN FRANCISCO — A Washington federal judge did not err by approving an arbitrator’s award of nearly $4.4 million against the creator of a video game cheating software on copyright claims brought by the developer of a game, a panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, finding that the arbitrator committed no errors in litigating the case.