Can Tattoos Infringe Copyrights, and If So, What Happens Then?–Sedlik v. Kat Von D
Can tattoos infringe copyrights, and if yes, what remedies are appropriate? This is a venerable question–I remember evaluating it as a possible law review note topic 30+ years ago. This opinion is the first I can recall that answers the…
Too Rusty For Krusty–Nickelodeon v. Rusty Krab Restaurant (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Prof. Alexandra Jane Roberts Remember the Fifth Circuit case from 2018 holding that a real restaurant’s name could infringe trademark rights in the name of a fictional restaurant from the TV show SpongeBob SquarePants, the Krusty Krab?…
Section 512(c) Protects Pinterest Despite Its Algorithms–Davis v. Pinterest
“Plaintiff contends that Pinterest has infringed the copyrights of 51 of his works by displaying these works in proximity to advertisements and by displaying and distributing them to users via notifications.” The court gives this screenshot as an example. Davis’…
Instagram Embedding Cases Continue to Vex the Courts–McGucken v. Newsweek
This is a summary judgment ruling in a case where a photographer (McGucken) argues that embedding by a third party (Newsweek) of a photo posted to Instagram is an unauthorized display and therefore infringing. The court previously denied Newsweek’s request…
Second Circuit Confirms Fair Use on Motion to Dismiss–Yang v. Mic
This is a case initially filed by Richard Liebowitz that’s still clogging the courts, which explains why it is so transparently unmeritorious. I previously described the case: The photo at issue depicted a man in a bar named Dan Rochkind….
Wouldn’t It Be Great if Internet Services Had To License Technologies Selected by Hollywood? (Comments on the Very Dumb “SMART Copyright Act”)
A new entry in Congress’ parade of terrible Internet bills: the ‘‘Strengthening Measures to Advance Rights Technologies Copyright Act of 2022’’ or ‘‘SMART Copyright Act of 2022.’’ The SMART Copyright Act is being pitched as a light update of the…
YouTube Defeats Copyright Lawsuit For Not Removing Users’ Videos Quickly Enough–Business Casual v. YouTube
The plaintiff posted videos to YouTube. It claims that TV-Novosti, which runs the RT Arabic channel, infringed its copyrights. The plaintiff sent takedown notices to YouTube for the allegedly infringing RT Arabic videos. “YouTube removed the First RT Video nine…
Court Mistakenly Thinks Copyright Owners Have a Duty to Police Infringement–Sunny Factory v. Chen
Fuxi, the putative copyright owner, has a registration for an image of printed sage leaves (the left image): The alleged infringer, the Sunny Factory, sells the candles on the right on Amazon. Fuxi’s lawyer, Haoyi Chen of Arch & Lake,…
First Circuit Says Mirroring Qualifies for Section 230–Monsarrat v. Newman
I previously blogged this case last year. I summarized the facts: This case involves a LiveJournal community (the Davis Square community for Somerville, MA). In 2017, LiveJournal changed its policies. In response, Newman, the community moderator, copied all of the…
U.S. Supreme Court Fixes Ninth Circuit’s Test for Mistakes in Copyright Registrations—Unicolors v. H&M (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa On February 24, the U.S. Supreme Court held 6-3 that the Ninth Circuit erred in invalidating a copyright registration for failure to comply with the Copyright Office’s “single unit of publication” regulation, where the copyright…