Mealey's Copyright
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July 30, 2021
2nd Circuit Affirms Monetary Sanctions Against Copyright Attorney
NEW YORK — Weeks after upholding, via unpublished summary order, nonmonetary sanctions issued against an attorney who brought baseless copyright infringement claims, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 23 upheld a nearly $100,000 sanction against the same attorney and his firm.
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July 29, 2021
News Firm Tells 2nd Circuit Reposting Of Photograph Was Noninfringing Fair Use
NEW YORK — An online news organization defends its republication of a copyrighted photograph as fair use, asking the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a June 16 appellee brief to affirm a trial court’s ruling that dismissed a photographer’s copyright infringement claim against it.
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July 27, 2021
Record Labels Ask 4th Circuit To Affirm $1 Billion Copyright Award Against ISP
RICHMOND, Va. — A jury correctly found an internet service provider (ISP) contributorily and vicariously liable for its subscribers’ online infringement of copyrighted songs due to its failure to prevent the infringement, a group of record labels tells the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a July 23 appellee brief, asking the court to uphold the jury’s $1 billion award to them.
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July 23, 2021
Copyright Claim Survives Dismissal Request In Illinois Federal Court
CHICAGO — Allegations that a record label and one of its artists fraudulently represented to the U.S. Copyright Office that they are the true owners of four musical recordings will proceed, a federal judge in Illinois ruled July 21.
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July 20, 2021
Dismissal Of Copyright Claims Over ‘Billions’ Affirmed By 2nd Circuit
NEW YORK — The developers of the Showtime series “Billions” prevailed July 19 before the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a challenge by an author and copyright owner to the dismissal of their allegations of infringement.
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July 19, 2021
Copyright, False Designation Of Origin Claims Over Science Kits Dismissed
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on July 16 rejected allegations of copyright and false designation of origin leveled by a manufacturer of Smithsonian Institution-branded educational activity kits for children.
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July 15, 2021
Copyright Row Over ‘Pond House’ Photographs Survives Dismissal Request
NEW YORK — Allegations of copyright infringement leveled over publication by the New York Observer of photographs taken of “Pond House” — an East Hamptons, N.Y., estate that was later purchased by celebrity couple Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Jay-Z — will proceed, a federal judge in New York ruled July 8.
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July 15, 2021
Nonmonetary Sanctions In Copyright Dispute Upheld By 2nd Circuit
NEW YORK — In a June 25 unpublished summary order, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals left intact a New York federal judge’s order directing an attorney and his firm to notify their current and future clients of a nearly $100,000 sanction stemming from their participation in a failed copyright infringement case.
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July 15, 2021
Copyright, Patent Disclosures Don’t Doom Trade Secret Claims
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on July 14 rejected as premature allegations by various trade secret misappropriation defendants that the claimed information is unentitled to trade secret protection because it was disclosed in patent applications and a copyright deposit.
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July 15, 2021
N.Y. Copyright Dispute Stayed In Favor Of Bankruptcy Proceeding
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on July 14 agreed with a copyright infringement defendant that the litigation should be stayed while a federal bankruptcy judge assesses ownership of various photographs displayed without permission in grocery stores.
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July 14, 2021
Copyright Claims Against Brokerage Firm Should Proceed, Magistrate Says
AUSTIN, Texas — A federal magistrate judge in Texas on July 13 recommended that a motion by a real estate brokerage firm to dismiss a photographer’s allegations of copyright infringement be denied.
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July 12, 2021
Publisher’s Copyright Claims Against Photography Company Survive In New York
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on July 9 refused to dismiss allegations that Shutterstock Inc. committed copyright infringement when it failed to remove 2,300 photographs from its database after its agreement with a magazine publisher was terminated.
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July 08, 2021
2nd Circuit Upholds Damages, Injunction In ‘Mafietta’ Copyright Case
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York did not err in declaring Damon Dash and a co-defendant infringers of the copyrighted film “Mafietta,” the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled July 7.
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July 02, 2021
Man Tells 1st Circuit Defamatory Posts Also Infringed Copyright
BOSTON — A Massachusetts man filed an opening appellant brief in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 23, arguing that he sufficiently alleged prima facie cases for defamation, related to an online chat page operator’s reposting of comments from another platform that contained false accusations against him, and for copyright infringement of one of his comments that was reposted without permission.
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June 28, 2021
New York Federal Judge: Right Of Publicity Claims Preempted By Copyright
NEW YORK — Allegations by John Melendez, known professionally as “Stuttering John,” that Sirius XM Radio Inc. violated his right of publicity when it made available for streaming recordings of Melendez’s appearances on “The Howard Stern Show” (HS Show) fail as a matter of law, a federal judge in New York ruled June 24.
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June 28, 2021
In ‘Jersey Boys’ Copyright Row, Supreme Court Denies Certiorari Bid
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Allegations that the adoption by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of a new “asserted truths doctrine” that conflicts with existing copyright principles and case law will not be reviewed, the U.S. Supreme Court announced June 28.
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June 23, 2021
New York Federal Judge Denies Stay Of Copyright, Trademark Litigation
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Efforts by two pro se copyright and trademark infringement plaintiffs to stay the litigation while they await a ruling by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on their request for mandamus relief were rejected June 21, when a federal judge in New York said the petition is “unlikely to succeed.”
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June 22, 2021
9th Circuit: Fee Award In Dispute Over Musical Works Must Be Recalculated
SAN FRANCISCO — Although upholding a California federal judge’s determination that a copyright infringement claim was objectively unreasonable, thereby entitling a defendant to an award of attorney fees under federal copyright law, the award included fees incurred by the defendant in her pursuit of a declaratory judgment counterclaim and must be vacated, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled June 21.
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June 18, 2021
Rapper Asks 9th Circuit To Uphold Verdict In Katy Perry Copyright Dispute
PASADENA, Calif. — A trial court used the incorrect standard and did not properly consider all the evidence when it reversed a jury verdict that found that a song by pop singer Katy Perry made infringing use of an ostinato from a Christian rap song, the recording artist tells the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a May 19 reply brief.
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June 18, 2021
Asserted Truths Doctrine Debated In Supreme Court ‘Jersey Boys’ Copyright Suit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a June 10 reply brief supporting her petition for certiorari, the rights holder of an autobiography of a member of The Four Seasons tells the U.S. Supreme Court that fictional elements of the work are protectable and should have led to a finding that the musical “Jersey Boys” infringed the book, arguing that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals improperly adopted a new “asserted truths doctrine” that conflicts with existing copyright principles and case law.