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Mealey's Copyright

June 09, 2023
9th Circuit Finds Zillow Infringed 2,700 Individual Photos, Not Compilation

SEATTLE — Affirming a trial court’s ruling, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that Zillow Group Inc.’s unauthorized online use of real estate photos constituted 2,700 separate acts of infringement, rather than infringement of a single compilation of photos.
June 09, 2023
Google, Lyrics Website Spar Over ‘Atypical’ Contract Claim In High Court Briefs

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a supplemental brief further supporting its opposition to a petition for certiorari by a song lyrics website operator, Google LLC tells the U.S. Supreme Court that questions about the enforceability of the website’s terms of service (TOS) bolster the U.S. government’s position that the case presents a poor a vehicle for the court to decide whether the petitioner’s “atypical” contractual claims are preempted by federal copyright law.
June 09, 2023
Panel Sends Fee Award For Copyright Class Counsel Back To Trial Court

SAN FRANCISCO — A $1.7 million award of attorney fees to counsel for a class of copyright holders was unreasonable where their action against a music streaming service recovered just over $50,000 for the class members, according to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
June 06, 2023
Meta Again Wins Dismissal Of Copyright, Lanham Act, DMCA Putative Class Action

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California granted a motion to dismiss a photographer’s amended class complaint against Meta Inc. alleging claims of copyright infringement and violation of the Lanham and Digital Millennium Copyright acts, this time without leave to amend, finding that the claims “fare no better” under the plaintiff’s new theories related to “a convoluted combination of the ‘check-in’ and ‘prefetching’ functionalities on Facebook.”
June 02, 2023
Industry Orgs Back Music Publishers In High Court Direct Copyright Liability Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The day after the Motion Picture Association Inc. (MPA) filed an amicus curiae brief supporting a petition for certiorari by a group of music publishers, a coalition of three music industry associations teamed up on another amicus brief, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify whether direct copyright liability rests solely on the individual that “presses the button” to make infringing copies of a copyrighted work or also on the party who directs or authorizes such infringing activity.
June 01, 2023
Publishers Ask Supreme Court To Resolve Limitations Period For Copyright Damages

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Presenting what they call “an obvious candidate” for certiorari, two music publishers ask the U.S. Supreme Court to provide guidance on whether the three-year statute of limitations period in the Copyright Act limits whether a plaintiff can seek damages under the discovery accrual rule for damages sustained more than three years before a complaint was filed.
June 01, 2023
DOJ: Lyrics Website’s Copyright Claims Preempted; Certiorari Should Be Denied

WASHINGTON, D.C. — State law contractual claims brought by a song lyrics website operator against Google LLC are indistinguishable from federal copyright infringement claims and are, therefore, precluded by Section 301(a) of the Copyright Act, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) argues in an amicus curiae brief in which it recommends that the U.S. Supreme Court deny the company’s petition for certiorari in which it seeks clarification on application of the statute.
May 22, 2023
COMMENTARY: Intellectual Property Legal Issues Impacting Artificial Intelligence

By Edward D. Lanquist and Dominic Rota
May 31, 2023
Vietnamese App Maker Denied Certiorari For Website Jurisdiction Issue

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Vietnamese music app creator will have to face copyright infringement claims brought against it by a music distributor because the U.S. Supreme Court denied the company’s petition for certiorari in its May 30 order list, declining to weigh in on a question of when a website can confer jurisdiction over a foreign party.
May 19, 2023
Dispute Over Hendrix Catalog Ownership Stayed In New York

NEW YORK — Litigation in England will proceed before a New York court weighs in on a declaratory judgment action over releases purportedly signed by two individuals who now assert copyright ownership in sound recordings by the late Jimi Hendrix, a federal judge in New York has ruled.
May 18, 2023
Relief Entered In Cirque Du Soleil Copyright Case Vacated By 9th Circuit

SAN FRANCISCO — An injunction entered by a Nevada federal judge in a choreography copyright infringement action by two brothers who were replaced in the Cirque du Soleil by two sisters following the COVID-19 pandemic must be revisited, according to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
May 18, 2023
Divided High Court Says Fair Use No Defense In Warhol Copyright Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 18 found that the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals correctly ruled in favor of a photographer in her copyright infringement case against a foundation that holds the copyright in Andy Warhol’s “Prince Series” prints and illustrations.
May 16, 2023
DMCA, UCL Claims Against Microsoft, GitHub Over AI Tools Largely Dismissed

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed most of the claims brought by two John Doe plaintiffs against Microsoft Corp., GitHub Inc. and OpenAI LP over the purported misuse of open-source code in artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including alleged violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL), with the judge finding failures to establish standing and plead injuries, among other things.
May 16, 2023
Copyright, Contract Claims Against Target Will Proceed In Delaware

WILMINGTON, Del. — Amended allegations by the operator of an online nursery-planning tool that Target Corp. copied its website graphics are sufficient to survive the retailer’s latest motion to dismiss, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judge sitting by designation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware ruled.
May 12, 2023
Panel Agrees: Reopening Copyright Case Would Prejudice Defendant

CINCINNATI — A Tennessee federal judge did not err in finding that a copyright owner willfully and recklessly disregarded its infringement lawsuit when it went six years without a filing in the case, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled.
May 11, 2023
1st Circuit: ‘Alternative-Determinations’ Doctrine Applies To Copyright Row

BOSTON — In what it said presents a case of first impression, the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 10 found that the “alternative-determinations” doctrine is recognized by federal res judicata law and applies in a copyright infringement dispute that has spawned four separate lawsuits.
May 11, 2023
Conference Set For Vietnam Firm’s Cert Petition Over Foreign, Website Jurisdiction

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its May 25 conference, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider a petition for certiorari by a Vietnamese tech firm that argues that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should have dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit over purported illegal downloading and streaming by users of its Zing MP3 mobile music app.
May 10, 2023
In Cheats Software Row, Video Game Maker’s Request For Award Largely Granted

SEATTLE — In a May 9 judgment, a federal judge in Washington said a copyright and trademark infringement plaintiff is entitled to a more than $6.7 million award in connection with sales of software that allows users to cheat while playing the video game “Destiny 2.”
May 09, 2023
Music Publishers Ask High Court To Decide When Direct Copyright Liability Attaches

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A person who directs employees to commit infringing acts should be found liable for copyright infringement, a group of music publishers tell the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for certiorari, arguing that the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in finding that liability attaches to the person who “presses the button” in making an infringing copy.
May 09, 2023
Fair Use Shields Defendant From Apple Copyright Claim, 11th Circuit Affirms

ATLANTA — A federal judge in Florida correctly granted a maker of virtualization software, which runs the Apple Inc. iOS operating system, summary judgment because the accused product qualifies as a fair use, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled May 8.
May 05, 2023
Jury Sides Squarely With Singer Ed Sheeran In Copyright Case

NEW YORK — Jurors in a New York federal court on May 4 reportedly deliberated just three hours before rendering a verdict in favor of Ed Sheeran, accused in 2017 of copyright infringement by the heirs of a co-writer of the Marvin Gaye hit “Let’s Get It On.”
May 05, 2023
Amended Lanham Act Claims Against Meta Survive Motion To Dismiss

SAN FRANCISCO — Allegations by a copyright owner that advertisements on Facebook mislead customers into thinking that the advertisers sell her artwork will proceed, a federal judge in California ruled May 4 in denying a motion to dismiss by Meta Platforms Inc.
May 05, 2023
Videogame Developer Wins $111,900 Fee Award Over Failed Copyright Claim

SAN FRANCISCO — The creator of the mobile app “Cannon Shot!” game was awarded $111,900.69 in attorney fees May 4 by a federal judge in California in connection with a copyright infringement action by the maker of “Crazy Jump 3D.”
May 04, 2023
Discovery On Fee Request In Dispute Over Copyrighted Beetles Art Partly Stayed

CHICAGO — Discovery in a copyright infringement dispute over two-dimensional nail polish artwork depicting The Beetles was stayed in part by a federal magistrate judge in Illinois on May 3.
May 04, 2023
Panel Says Jurisdiction Lacking In ‘Baby Shark’ Copyright, Trademark Row

NEW YORK — A July 2021 ruling by a federal judge in New York denying entry of a default judgment in a copyright and trademark infringement case was neither a “final decision” nor an order that can be appealed on an interlocutory basis, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said May 3.