August 26, 2014 Copyright / Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark

No Copyright Protection in a Monkey ‘Selfie’

The U.S. Copyright Office responded to a somewhat unconventional photograph of a female macaque monkey. The Copyright Office stated that “a photograph taken by a monkey” is not eligible for copyright protection.

In 2011, British photographer David J. Slater spent three days in Indonesia to photograph black macaque monkeys. During the three days, a female macaque snatched Slater’s camera and snapped a few pictures. One picture in particular was a macaque smiling into the camera; thus, the first monkey ‘selfie’ was born.

Slater sold the …

August 22, 2014 Copyright / Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark

Declaratory Judgment Entered for Kanye Over Coinye

Kanye West has successfully defended his image, likeness, and brand by obtaining declaratory judgment over alleged copyright infringers.

In January, Kanye West filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, claiming that the founders of a new cryptocurrency, Coinye West, had “usurped [his] name and likeness for the sole purpose of propping up the perceived ‘value’ of the defendants’ ‘digital coin mine’ and its ‘crypto currency.’” The designers initially attempted to evade the suit by dropping West’s the last name from the currency …

August 15, 2014 Copyright / Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark

Court Says Kanye West Didn’t Steal Pryor’s “get down”

A California federal court dismissed most of the claims in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought against Kanye West. The court reasoned that an average listener would not recognize the saying “get down” because of the short length of the samples.

While it is well known that West’s big hit “Gold Digger” is buildt around “I Got a Woman” by Ray Charles, the lawsuit claimed it also contains samples of another song written by David Pryor and Thunder & Lightening. Last year two children of Pryor …

August 13, 2014 Copyright / Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark

Copyright Conundrum: Photographer Accuses Wikimedia of Monkey Business

British Photographer, David Slater is irate over Wikimedia’s inclusion of his photograph in Wikimedia Commons, an online archive of royalty-free images. Slater submitted a request for its removal but Wikimedia has adamantly refused to take it down, stating that Slater has no claim on the image as he did not take it; a monkey did.

In 2011, Slater traveled to Indonesia with his photography equipment to capture the crested black macaques in their natural habitat. After he left his camera unattended, some of the monkeys …

July 18, 2014 Copyright / Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark

Seth MacFarlane Sued for Stealing Teddy Bear Idea for the Hit Movie Ted

Bengal Mangle Productions (“Bengal”) filed a copyright infringement suit against Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the 2012 hit comedy Ted. The complaint alleged MacFarlane stole the idea of a foul-mouthed teddy bear living in an adult human world from a similar character named Charlie in Bengal’s 2008 screenplay Acting School Academy.

Bengal described the Charlie character as one that “lives in a human, adult world with all human friends. Charlie has a penchant for drinking, smoking, prostitutes, and is a generally vulgar yet humorous …

June 28, 2014 Copyright / Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark / TV

Supreme Court Shuts Down Aereo

The much anticipated Supreme Court decision came out today. The US Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that Aereo infringed on the copyrights of major TV networks when it transmitted their contents to its subscribers. Aereo rented out a miniature antenna to a subscriber who then received broadcast signals from major TV networks.

Writing for the majority, Justice Stephen G. Breyer found that Aereo was essentially acting like a cable company, not like “an equipment provider.” He further rejected Aereo’s argument that its transmission …

June 23, 2014 Copyright / Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark / Music

Judge Dismisses Copyright Lawsuit Against Lady Gaga

“Simply listening to the songs, as the law requires, reveals their utter lack of similarity,” wrote U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen in his decision to dismiss the lawsuit. Lady Gaga’s legal battle started back in 2011 when a Chicago singer Rebecca Francescatti sued the pop star alleging Gaga plagiarized parts of her 1999 song “Juda” for Lady Gaga’s hit “Judas” released in 2011.

In a copyright infringement case, the court looks at whether the defendant had access to the plaintiff’s work and how similar the …

June 19, 2014 Copyright / Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark

Sherlock Holmes is Ruled Public Domain

Judge Richard Posner of the 7^th Circuit US Court of Appeals authored an opinion on Monday, June 16, 2014, ruling that the brilliant detective “Sherlock Holmes” is mostly public domain.

Back in December 2013, Chief Judge Ruben Castillo of the District Court for the Northern Division of Illinois, ruled in favor of the plaintiff, Leslie Klinger. Mr. Klinger, co-editor of “A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon,” brought the suit after being threatened by the Conan Doyle estate when it …

The Jury Awards Beastie Boys $1.7 Million

The jury in the copyright infringement suit brought by the Beastie Boys awarded the band $1.7 million, a bit short of $2 million it was seeking but much higher than $125,000 defendant Monster said it may owe to the group.

The Beastie Boys sued an energy drink maker Monster for its unauthorized use of the band’s music in a promotional video. In the complaint filed for this case, the group stated that

“[t]he public was confused into believing that plaintiffs sponsored, endorsed and are associated

SCOTUS Holds Laches no Defense to Copyright Infringement in Raging Bull Case

On May 19, the U.S. Supreme Court revived a copyright lawsuit over the 1980 hit movie “Raging Bull,” a film about the famous boxer Jake LaMotta. The suit was originally brought against MGM Studios by Paula Petrella, the daughter of the now-deceased screenwriter Frank Petrella, but was dismissed by two lower courts who held that Petrella waited too long to sue. The Supreme Court disagreed and re-instated Petrella’s suit.

The original rights to the film were sold to an entity which was later purchased by …