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Stanford Copyright & Fair Use – Key Overview Updates

Q: Thank you for updating the copyright overview on this site. What are the most important changes that you want us to know? A: Because the update reflects changes from 2014 through 2016 it includes a few decisions that readers may be familiar with such as the Google book scanning decision (Author’s Guild v. Hathitrust, […]

How much of a photo do you need to alter to avoid copyright infringement? Hint: Cheshire Cat

Bloggers and artists often ask, “how much of a photo do you need to alter to avoid copyright infringement?” Five changes? Fifteen? The Seventh Circuit addressed the issue in the Kienitz v Sconnie Nation case recently. According to the court, Sconnie Nation made t-shirts displaying an image of Madison Wisconsin mayor Paul Soglin, using […]

Guidance on websites and copyright registration from the U.S. Copyright Office

As part of its new draft Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition, we have guidance on registration for websites. The draft of the full compendium is over 1200 pages and covers publication, recordation, notice, deposits, along with other topics. Members of the public may make comments anytime before (or after) the Third Edition […]

Who’s the Owner: A White Paper on “Improving Copyright Information Management: An Investigation of Options and Areas for Further Research”

The U.S. Copyright Office came to Stanford Law School yesterday to conduct a roundtable on Recordation Reengineering, The Stanford Law School Law and Policy Lab submitted comments and a thoughtful White Paper, and live tweeted the proceeding along with us (see @slspolicylab and @fairlyused). The Law and Policy Lab was represented at the roundtable by Peter Holm, third year law […]

Deadline: April 14th. Public invited to weigh in on orphan works – US Copyright Office

ORPHAN WORKS is red hot again. After a number of failed legislative attempts and a couple of high profile court cases, its back to the drawing board, albeit a better defined drawing board. On the one hand, most everyone agrees that for true orphans, it would be great for us all to be able to […]

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Copyright Case Opinion Summaries

Source: Justia Daily Opinion Summaries (feed)

Independent Producers Group v. Copyright Royalty Board

Published on: July 21, 2020

IPG, an agent for royalty claimants in these proceedings, filed suit challenging Copyright Royalty Judges’ denial of most of its clients’ royalty fee claims for programming in the devotional and program suppliers’ categories that was retrans…

Zahourek Systems v. Balanced Body University

Published on: July 21, 2020

These appeals involves a sculptural work called “the Maniken,” which portrays the human body. The defendant, Balanced Body University, bought several Manikens and used them to advertise and instruct students on human anatomy. Jon Zahourek an…

Imapizza, LLC v. At Pizza Limited

Published on: July 17, 2020

IMAPizza, which operates the “&pizza” chain of restaurants in the United States, filed suit under the Copyright and Lanham Acts as well as D.C. common law against At Pizza, operator of the “@pizza” restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The DC …

Digital Drilling Data Systems, LLC v. Petrolink Services, Inc.

Published on: July 2, 2020

Digidrill filed suit against its competitor, Petrolink, alleging that Petrolink hacked into its software at various oil drilling sites in order to “scrape” valuable drilling data in real time. The district court granted Petrolink’s motion fo…

UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Kurbanov

Published on: June 26, 2020

Plaintiffs, twelve record companies, filed suit against defendant alleging claims for five separate violations of the Copyright Act. Plaintiffs are Delaware corporations, with eight having their principal place of business in New York, three…

Copyright Case Dockets

Source: Justia Dockets and Filings (feed)

D.P. Technology Corp. v. Asturies Manufacturing Company, Inc. et al

July 31, 2020

Filed: July 31, 2020 as 2:2020cv06950

Defendant: DOES 1-10, Luis M. Perez, Asturies Manufacturing Company, Inc.

Plaintiff: D.P. Technology Corp.

Cause Of Action: Copyright Infringement

Court: Ninth Circuit › California › US District Court for the Central District of California

Type: Intellectual Property › Copyright

D.P. Technology Corp. v. Ricaurte Precision, Inc. et al

July 31, 2020

Filed: July 31, 2020 as 2:2020cv06951

Defendant: Luis Ricaurte, Hernan Ricaurte, DOES 1-10 and others

Plaintiff: D.P. Technology Corp.

Cause Of Action: Copyright Infringement

Court: Ninth Circuit › California › US District Court for the Central District of California

Type: Intellectual Property › Copyright

Kirk Kara Corp. v. Gabriel Bros Inc et al

July 31, 2020

Filed: July 31, 2020 as 2:2020cv06911

Defendant: Gabriel Bros Inc, DOES 1 through 10, inclusive

Plaintiff: Kirk Kara Corp.

Cause Of Action: Copyright Infringement

Court: Ninth Circuit › California › US District Court for the Central District of California

Type: Intellectual Property › Copyright

Minden Pictures, Inc. v. Cartan Tours, Inc.

July 31, 2020

Filed: July 31, 2020 as 2:2020cv06912

Plaintiff: Minden Pictures, Inc.

Defendant: Cartan Tours, Inc.

Cause Of Action: Copyright Infringement

Court: Ninth Circuit › California › US District Court for the Central District of California

Type: Intellectual Property › Copyright

Tylor v. Luxurious Destinations, LLC

July 31, 2020

Filed: July 31, 2020 as 1:2020cv00337

Defendant: Luxurious Destinations, LLC a Hawaii Limited Liability Company doing business as Luxurious Destinations doing business as Hawaii Dream Vacations, Doe Associations 1-10, Jane Does 1-10 and others

Plaintiff: Vincent Khoury Tylor

Cause Of Action: Copyright Infringement

Court: Ninth Circuit › Hawaii › US District Court for the District of Hawaii

Type: Intellectual Property › Copyright

Published on: January 30, 2019

For the first time in twenty years, published works in the U.S. expired into the public domain. This anomaly was the direct result of the Copyright Term Extension Act that extended the length of copyright for works still in their renewal term at the time of the Act to 95 years. This effectively froze the […]

Stanford Copyright & Fair Use – Key Overview Updates

By Mary Minow

Published on: April 11, 2017

Future of Libraries – Need First Sale for ebooks

By Mary Minow

Published on: February 19, 2017

How will libraries hold onto ebooks and other digital files like mp3s so that readers and scholars in the future can still read them? The current state of affairs relies on license agreements with publishers who in turn license to vendors, who in turn, license to libraries. Hardly sustainable when files can and do disappear […]

protect your site from copyright lawsuits

By Mary Minow

Published on: November 16, 2016

Everyone who thought they were protected from copyright lawsuits based on user postings, read this and take action on December 1st 2016 and no later than December 2017. lawofthelevel.com/2016/11/articles/intellectual-property/dont-lose-dmca-safe-harbor-protection/

Happy Birthday – ruling plus full court docket filings

By Mary Minow

Published on: September 25, 2015

Justia has made the full docket of legal filings in the Happy Birthday case available for free online at https://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/cacdce/2:2013cv04460/564772