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Mealey's Copyright

  • October 17, 2024

    1st Circuit Won’t Reconsider Order Of New Trial In Copyright Case

    BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 16 rejected a guitar seller’s petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc, leaving in place a First Circuit panel’s July opinion ordering a new trial in a New Hampshire federal court on claims that the company infringed on a guitar manufacturer’s photo of guitar headstocks by uploading the photo to its own website.

  • October 16, 2024

    10th Circuit: Judge Wrongly Tested If Amazon Is ‘Found’ In Utah In Copyright Case

    DENVER — A federal judge in Utah applied the wrong test in a copyright case to determine whether Amazon’s website “may be found” within the state of Utah when determining whether to enter default judgment against two Chinese companies accused of selling counterfeited baby doll products through Amazon, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Oct. 15.

  • October 14, 2024

    Magistrate: Dental Product Maker Can’t Add Copyright Claim To Trademark Suit

    GREENSBORO, N.C. — A plaintiff dental hygiene company cannot amend its trademark infringement complaint to add an allegation that defendant companies that make similar products also infringed on the plaintiff company’s copyright, along with other allegations, a federal magistrate judge in North Carolina held Oct. 11, saying that granting the motion would be prejudicial to the defendant companies.

  • October 11, 2024

    7th Circuit: New Issues On Appeal Doom Claims For Intellectual Property Royalties

    CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed an Indiana federal judge’s dismissal of a breach of contract suit brought by a plaintiff manufacturer who claimed that a defendant manufacturer allegedly failed to pay royalties for a lung-expansion therapy device required by a licensing agreement; the panel noted that the plaintiff company predicated its arguments on appeal on a new theory not raised before the district court.

  • October 10, 2024

    ‘AI’ Isn’t License To Copy Creative Human Works, Thomson Reuters Says

    WILMINGTON, Del. —  After prevailing on California unfair competition law (UCL) antitrust counterclaims in a federal court in Delaware, a news company argues in a pair of briefs in support of summary judgment that the evidence is clear that a company knowingly copied large quantities of unique and creative copyrighted data to train its artificial intelligence and cannot claim the conduct falls under fair use or innocent infringer protections.

  • October 10, 2024

    5th Circuit Affirms ISP’s Copyright Infringement But Reverses Damages Award

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 9 affirmed a Texas federal jury’s finding that an internet service provider (ISP) was vicariously liable for copyright infringement by failing to prevent the piracy of plaintiff music labels’ copyrighted works, but the panel reversed a finding that the ISP was separately liable for the infringement of each of 1,403 songs.

  • October 10, 2024

    Judge Sets Date For Settlement Stipulation For Photo Infringement Suit

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge set a date for parties in a copyright infringement dispute between a plaintiff photography licensing company and a defendant spa to file a stipulation of settlement after the parties filed a notice of settlement in the wake of an order denying the spa’s motion to dismiss the complaint.

  • October 09, 2024

    AI Entities Want Consolidation, Tout Dramatic Overlap, ‘Complex Discovery’

    NEW YORK — Saying that pleadings will “overlap dramatically” with two previously consolidated media artificial intelligence copyright actions and that a unified process promises an efficient path forward, OpenAI entities and Microsoft Corp. urged a federal judge in New York to add a third case to the grouping.

  • October 04, 2024

    Judge Denies Code Publisher’s Injunction Bid, Citing Likely Fair Use

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania denied a motion for a preliminary injunction brought by a publisher of technical standards for a number of industries, holding that the publisher is unlikely to prevail on claims of both copyright and trademark infringement it brought against a company it said posted copies of its codes to its website without permission; the judge agreed with the defendant company and certain of its executives that a fair use defense likely applies.

  • October 03, 2024

    Photographer’s Copyright Suit Over Wu-Tang Photo Largely Survives Dismissal Bid

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York mostly denied an arts and entertainment outlet’s request to dismiss a copyright infringement complaint brought against it by a photographer who claims that the company shared a photo he took of two rappers without his permission, only ruling against the photographer for failing to show that the outlet shared the photo with false copyright management information (CMI).

  • October 02, 2024

    Judge: No Jurisdiction For Artist’s Class Copyright Claims Against Online Store

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on Oct. 1 issued an opinion confirming an August “bottom-line” order dismissing a putative class action complaint brought by an artist alleging that an e-commerce company infringed on his copyrighted work and that of many other artists, holding that the New York federal court does not have personal jurisdiction based in part on customers’ locations.

  • October 02, 2024

    Photo Licensing Firm’s Copyright Infringement Suit Not Time-Barred, Judge Holds

    NEW YORK — A spa accused by a photography licensing company of infringing on copyrights by posting multiple photos to the spa’s social media pages without permission was incorrect to argue that the licensing company’s suit was time-barred, a federal judge in New York held, denying the spa’s motion to dismiss the complaint.

  • October 02, 2024

    Judge Won’t Clarify AI Copyright Trade Dress Ruling

    SAN FRANCISCO — While it portrays its motion as one for clarification, artificial intelligence company Midjourney actually seeks reconsideration of a ruling finding that a plaintiff adequately alleged trade dress claims, a federal judge in California said in denying the motion.

  • October 01, 2024

    Only Copyright Claim Survives In Atari’s Arcade Cabinet Row With State Farm

    DALLAS — A federal judge in Texas said a copyright infringement claim brought by Atari Interactive Inc. against the State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. and advertising companies that worked with it for allegedly using an Atari arcade cabinet in a commercial without Atari’s permission can survive a motion to dismiss; however, the judge held that all other claims brought by the video game company fail.

  • October 01, 2024

    Order Lays Out Security Details For ChatGPT Discovery

    SAN FRANCISCO — Discovery in plaintiffs’ consolidated copyright litigation over the data used by OpenAI Inc. to train its large language models (LLMs), including ChatGPT, will occur in a secure room at a computer isolated from the internet and other networks, a federal magistrate judge in California said in adopting stipulated protocol.

  • October 01, 2024

    DMCA AI Ruling Heads To 9th Circuit After Grant Of Immediate Appeal

    OAKLAND, Calif. — Plaintiffs with copyright claims against GitHub Inc. and others stemming from the training of artificial intelligences may file an interlocutory appeal of a ruling requiring identicality under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) and dismissing the claims, a federal judge in California said.

  • October 01, 2024

    Man Calls AI-Assisted Art A Human Creation, Faults Copyright Office Denial

    DENVER — Comparing his artificial intelligence-assisted work to that of Jackson Pollock, a man alleges in a federal court in Colorado that the Copyright Office acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner when it denied his application for a copyright of a work he says he spent in excess of 100 hours tweaking and improving.

  • September 30, 2024

    California Governor Signs 17 AI-Related Laws, Creates Task Force

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who recently signed 17 bills governing artificial intelligence, took yet another step toward regulation on Sept. 29, announcing the creation of new initiatives designed to ensure safe and responsible use of the technology.

  • 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.