Category: Copyright

In the June 2016 decision of Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2016), the Supreme Court held that in copyright cases, district courts should give “substantial weight” to the objective reasonableness of the losing party’s position when determining whether to award attorney’s fees. The Court vacated the Second Circuit’s ruling against awarding attorney’s fees […]

Virtual reality (VR) is a unique puzzle in copyright infringement because of its relative newness—at least, compared to other copyright-protected materials. Despite that, we have a pretty good idea of the technology’s potential, as anybody familiar with the Enterprise-D’s holodeck can testify to. A television show, book, or sculpture is presented to the viewer as […]

This week, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) net neutrality rules. The net neutrality rules in place prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking, disrupting, or diminishing internet traffic that may not be profitable. The rules effectively classify high-speed internet as a public utility, like water or […]

There is currently no federal law regulating the distribution of revenge porn, also known as nonconsensual pornography (NCP). The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative has created a model for what the federal government could eventually adopt. The model essentially lays out that if a person knowingly distributes sexually explicit material about another person, knowing they did […]

Chances are pretty high that if you have a Facebook account you’ve seen the ads for online clothing companies such as RoseGal, RoseWe, DressLily, SammyDress, and Choies. They have pictures of stunning dresses, swimsuits, sweaters, and other clothes, and their prices are incredibly low – often less than $20 for most items. Some people have […]

There are two sayings in particular that have become common phrases in today’s society. Because many of us are convinced that Google knows all, “Google it!” Second, and definitely growing in popularity is “There’s an app for that!” While the use of Google to help us understand and learn many new things is an invaluable […]

Over $30 million in damages, with an additional $6 million in interest and costs. That’s the price Clear Logic, Inc found itself paying after losing an infringement claim under the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act (“SCPA”). In 2005, the Ninth Circuit Court affirmed a case coming out of the Northern District of California regarding an infringement […]

Not really Copyright law and not really Patent law, but somewhere in between: this is where the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act (“SCPA”) stands in US intellectual property law. In 1992 a case came before the Federal Circuit Court that resulted in a detailed explanation of the SCPA and a look at what Congress really intended.Brooktree […]

The world of intellectual property law primarily focuses on protecting assets. And the law provides different forms of protection depending on the asset. In general, these protections are found in copyrights, trademarks, and patents. These …

It took Michelangelo over four years to complete the Sistine Chapel—it might take you four seconds to download a high-resolution picture of it from Google. In 2016, Michelangelo may have been a starving artist. Fortunately for Michelangelo, and many other great Renaissance artists, the church and rich merchants were able to pay so much money […]