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Mealey's Copyright

  • January 28, 2025

    Judge Tosses Designer’s Copyright Claims For Use Of Character On Album Art

    LOS ANGELES — A designer who accused a hip-hop producer of copyright infringement for using a character he designed on multiple album covers since 1999 failed to show that the implied license granted to the producer had any kind of expiration date, a federal judge in California held, granting a motion from the producer and related entities for judgment on the pleadings.

  • January 24, 2025

    Judge Says First Sale Doctrine Doesn’t Apply To Software Keys

    SEATTLE — The first sale doctrine does not apply to software product keys, a federal judge in Washington held Jan. 23, because those keys are not themselves copyrightable works, granting partial summary judgment as to a single affirmative defense in favor of the Microsoft Corp. against a Canadian entity and several individuals Microsoft called “prolific distributors of black market access devices to Microsoft software that they unlawfully advertise to consumers as genuine software.”

  • January 23, 2025

    11th Circuit: Judge Wrong To Toss Architect’s Copyright, Contract Claims

    ATLANTA — A federal judge in Florida was wrong to dismiss copyright infringement and breach of contract claims brought by an architect and firms he controls against multiple entities in a relationship that soured over a condominium construction project, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 22, vacating the judge’s order.

  • January 23, 2025

    9th Circuit: No Rehearing For Playwright In Copyright Row With Studio

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 22 denied a playwright’s motion for en banc rehearing, standing by its affirmation of a federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a film studio and related entities the writer accused of copying elements from a stage production she wrote.

  • January 22, 2025

    OpenAI Isn’t Entitled To Discovery Of All AI Usage, New York Times Says

    NEW YORK — OpenAI Inc.’s contention that its fair use defense requires The New York Times Co. (NYT) to produce any and all evidence related to its use of artificial intelligence of any kind and in any manner seeks to “distract from its own massive copyright infringement” and was properly rejected by a magistrate judge, the company says in responding to an objection to a ruling denying a motion to compel.

  • January 21, 2025

    Magistrate Judge Rejects Meta’s ‘False Dichotomy,’ Faults Some AI Discovery

    SAN FRANCISCO — Meta Platforms Inc.’s “false dichotomy” about the possible answers regarding its use of copyrighted material in an artificial intelligence case is based on minor quibbles about the extent of the copying and does not “justify the hopelessly vague” answers it offered about what its search of the training data revealed, a federal magistrate judge in California said Jan. 17 in partially granting motions to compel.

  • January 21, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Consider If Canadian Codes Are Uncopyrightable ‘Law’

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rejecting the petition for a writ of certiorari from a developer of Canadian legal codes on Jan. 21, the U.S. Supreme Court left in place a holding from the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a publishing company did not infringe on the developer’s copyrights because the codes are effectively uncopyrightable “law” in the country.

  • January 21, 2025

    Sushi Restaurant Could Not Have Been Unaware Of Copyright Claims, Judge Rules

    NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey sushi restaurant either recklessly or willfully ignored copyright infringement claims brought against it by an artist who claimed that the restaurant used an unauthorized copy of his work in advertising, a federal judge in the state held, denying the restaurant’s plea to vacate an entry of default.

  • January 17, 2025

    8th Circuit: Floor Plans Don’t Infringe On Home Designer’s Copyright

    ST. LOUIS — Two real estate agents’ use of floor plans of homes in resale listings was a noninfringing fair use, a panel in the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held; the panel rejected arguments from the designer and his company that a Missouri federal judge should have found copyright infringement.

  • January 16, 2025

    9th Circuit: Kinetic Sculpture Company’s Copyright Claim Survives Dismissal

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that a plaintiff company adequately alleged that another company infringed on copyrighted elements of its kinetic sculptures that could be manipulated into various shapes to survive a dismissal motion; the panel reversed a California federal judge’s order dismissing the copyright infringement claim.

  • January 14, 2025

    2nd Circuit Agrees: Vimeo Protected By DMCA Safe Harbor For Posts

    NEW YORK — A group of record labels failed to show that video sharing website Vimeo Inc. had “red flag” knowledge that user-uploaded videos contained copyrighted musical recordings, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 13, affirming a New York federal judge’s finding that the company is covered by a safe harbor in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that offers protection from infringement liability to some websites for user behavior.

  • January 13, 2025

    High Court Won’t Consider Fee Award In Copyright Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 denied a copyright defendant’s petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place a finding from the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that he was not the “prevailing party” under federal copyright law in the face of the copyright owner’s voluntary dismissal of the case.

  • January 10, 2025

    Judge: Defendants Don’t Show Invalidity Of Baby Bag Trade Dress, Copyright

    MIAMI — A federal judge in Florida dismissed counterclaims brought by two companies accused of trade dress and copyright infringement by the maker of baby carrier products, holding that the defendant companies failed to show that the plaintiff company’s trade dress or copyright were invalid.

  • January 10, 2025

    3rd Circuit: Hockey Merch Items In Copyright Fight Not Similar

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge was right to dismiss a copyright infringement complaint brought against a sports memorabilia company, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said, holding that a man who designed a piece of hockey-themed merchandise failed to show what part of his copyrighted design was infringed.

  • January 08, 2025

    Federal Circuit OKs $154K Judgment Against United States For Infringing Software

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 7 upheld the U.S. Court of Federal Claims’ entry of $154,400 in damages against the United States to be paid to a software company that accused the U.S. Navy of infringing on its software; the panel rejected the company’s arguments that damages should have been calculated based on individual instances of infringement and not on a hypothetical licensing contract.

  • January 06, 2025

    Music Publishers, Anthropic Agree To Lyric Output Injunction

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted a stipulated preliminary injunction in a music industry lawsuit over the use of lyrics to train artificial intelligence, requiring Anthropic PBC to keep in place existing guardrails preventing output of lyrics owned by music publishers.

  • January 03, 2025

    9th Circuit Accepts Appeal In GitHub DMCA AI Case

    OAKLAND, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed to hear an appeal in an artificial intelligence (AI) copyright case alleging that the defendants ignored or removed licenses from software published on the online repository GitHub.

  • January 02, 2025

    Rap Producer Appeals Dismissal Of Trademark Suit To 2nd Circuit

    NEW YORK — A producer of rap music appealed to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a New York federal judge’s decision to dismiss with prejudice his copyright and trademark claims stemming from a dispute over ownership of intellectual property associated with a seminal hip-hop group; the judge held that the producer failed to show that the relevant trademark was valid.

  • December 18, 2024

    9th Circuit Agrees No Similarity Between Stage Show, Television Show

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge rightly granted summary judgment in favor of a defendant film studio and associated entities that were accused by a writer of copying elements of a stage play and derivative works she wrote in their ongoing television drama series, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, agreeing with the trial judge that there was no substantial similarity between the works.

  • December 18, 2024

    OpenAI Seeks Dismissal Of YouTube UCL Claims, Says Injury, Conduct Lacking

    SAN FRANCISCO — Copyright law preempts a man’s California unfair competition law (UCL) claims in an artificial intelligence action, and the vague allegations about using YouTube videos in training ChatGPT lack any economic injury or deceptive conduct on which they could be brought and would fail anyway, OpenAI entities tell a federal judge in California in seeking dismissal with prejudice.

  • December 17, 2024

    9th Circuit: Judge Wrongly Held Software Was ‘Derivative’ In Copyright Row

    SAN FRANCISCO — A partially split panel in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 16 vacated or reversed large portions of a Nevada federal judge’s finding in a long-stewing copyright case between two software companies, holding that much of the judge’s decision was based on an erroneous understanding of “derivative work.”

  • December 17, 2024

    Special Master Appointed In Music Industry AI Copyright Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York overseeing a music industry copyright suit involving artificial intelligence appointed a special master to the case, saying outstanding issues related to electronically stored information require more attention than the court can provide and that the appointment will help resolve the litigation.

  • December 16, 2024

    Publisher: High Court Must Reject Canadian Code-Maker’s Copyright Cert Bid

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Dec. 13 opposition brief, a publication company tells the U.S. Supreme Court that the court should reject a petition for a writ of certiorari from a developer of Canadian legal codes and standards, arguing that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was correct to hold that the codes are effectively uncopyrightable “law” in Canada when it reversed a Texas federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in the Canadian developer’s favor.

  • December 11, 2024

    OpenAI Challenges Ruling Denying Evidence Of New York Times’ AI Use

    NEW YORK — OpenAI Inc. objected to a magistrate judge’s decision denying the company access to evidence of how the New York Times Co. uses artificial intelligence, saying the ruling permits the newspaper company to speak “out of both sides of its mouth” by allowing it to seek billions of dollar in damages while embracing the same technology it denigrates.

  • December 10, 2024

    5th Circuit Rejects Rehearing Petitions From ISP, Labels In Copyright Fight

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected petitions for rehearing from parties on both sides of a copyright infringement suit, standing by its October decision to affirm 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 to reverse the judge’s holding that the ISP was separately liable for infringement for each of more than a thousand songs.