Category: Copyright

The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (“ACPA”) is a federal statute that creates a civil course of action under intellectual property. Specifically, the statute is for owners of certain marks pursuing civil action against registrants of domain names that can negatively impact those marks and their owners. To be successful under the ACPA, the owner of […]

As the app market speeds up, developers are rushing from app conception to coding to cross-platform publication. At the same time, developers are trying to navigate this new marketplace without losing any rights to their creative work. The Apple App Store presents a specific set of guidelines for developers to abide by while creating their […]

In City of Inglewood v Joseph Teixeira, the Court found that Teixeira’s use of City Council recordings in his personal critical commentary videos did not violate any kind of copyright laws. The Court’s decision to grant Teixeira’s motion to dismiss was not especially surprising. California state law creates a strong presumption supporting public access to […]

Last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a ruling in the “dancing baby” case that will affect every copyright holder that seeks to send out a DMCA takedown request. The court held that a copyright holder must consider an infringer’s fair use before sending out a takedown notice, or open itself up […]

A new copyright troll lawsuit has been filed in the Eastern District of Michigan by the owner of the copyrighted motion picture The Cobbler (Plaintiff). Plaintiff is gathering IP addresses of John Doe defendants that allegedly downloaded The Cobbler without permission using a BitTorrent platform. Plaintiff’s lawsuit is a classic example of copyright trolling, a […]

There are three types of intellectual property. They include: (1) trademark; (2) patent; and (3) copyright law. As discussed in Trade Dress Protection, “[a] trademark is a mechanism for identifying the source of a good or service and a technique for providing marketing advantages for the owner of the trademark.” Moreover, while a patent protects […]

An interesting debate is emerging in the US Copyright Office: what, if anything, should the US Copyright Office do about the materials that are used in 3D printers? Under Section 1201 of the Copyright Act, “No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.” In the […]

While the Copyright Act of 1976 (hereinafter Copyright Act) does not explicitly recognize indirect liability, courts have held third parties liable for copyright infringement under two common law doctrines. They include: contributory Infringement; and vicarious Liability. In the Copyright Act, “Congress recognized secondary liability, [also referred to as indirect liability], in the grant of rights […]

As stated in Statutory Damages Under Copyright Law, “an infringer of copyright is liable for either — (1) the copyright owner’s actual damages and any additional profits of the infringer; or (2) statutory damages.” 17 U.S.C. §504(a). In addition to the actual damages entitled to the copyright owner who suffered as a result of the […]

With viral videos racking in around four billion views per day on Facebook, several copyright infringement issues are becoming more apparent, and they are stemming from these popular videos. According to a recent article in the Business Insider, “There is more money than ever before in online video. YouTube stars like Zoella, [also known as […]