Another Tough Ruling for Print-on-Demand Vendors–Sid Avery v. Pixels
Sid Avery photographed celebrities in the 1950s-1970s. At issue are six of his photos, all governed by the 1909 Copyright Act. Pixels[.]com is a print-on-demand vendor. Like Redbubble, it functions primarily as a marketing front-end; it outsources all manufacturing to…
512(f) Claim Survives Motion to Dismiss–Brandyn Love v. Nuclear Blast America
[Remember that our country is facing multiple existential threats. PLEASE VOTE.] This case involves two “heavy metal” bands, “We Are the End” and “Rings of Saturn” (the Spotify bio describes Rings of Saturn as “a progressive, technical deathcore outfit”). I…
Copyright Owner Claims Ownership Over Depicting Emoji Symbols in Multiple Colors–Cub Club v. Apple
[Reminder: our country is falling apart. Focus on that until the election, then revisit this post.] My Emojis and the Law paper argued that: (1) the diversity of emoji depictions (sometimes called fragmentation) creates potential misunderstandings that cause a host…
Depicting Randy Orton’s Tattoos in a Video Game Could Be Copyright Infringement–Alexander v. WWE 2K
[To be honest, I’m struggling to blog new IP law developments during a time when we may be witnessing the last days of the American republic. Candidly, I’m hoping you won’t distract yourself from the urgent existential threats our country…
A Closer Look at a Troubling Anti-Scraping Ruling from Spring–Compulife Software v. Newman (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy Compulife Software, Inc. v. Newman is the first circuit court case in more than half a decade to expand liability for web scrapers under state and federal law. The two most recent circuit court opinions…
This Copyright Fair Use Opinion Discusses Jon Hamm’s Crotch 25 Times–Schwartzwald v. Oath
TL; DR: fair use supports another motion to dismiss a photo copyright case. A ruling of mild interest to copyright lawyers. However, the real reason you’re going to want to read this blog post is to learn why a court…
512(f) Claim Fails in the 11th Circuit–Johnson v. New Destiny Christian Center
This is a long-running and complex copyright takedown dispute that has been triggering my Westlaw alerts for years. I only blogged it once, in 2017, when the 512(f) claim survived a motion to dismiss. At that time, I wrote “given…
Infringing Polish Website Isn’t Subject to Personal Jurisdiction in the United States–AMA v. Wanat
AMA Multimedia sued Marcin Wanat, Maciej Madon, and MW Media, a Poland-based partnership. AMA was only able to serve Wanat, so he’s the only defendant in the lawsuit. He moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction in the United…
Want to Write a Story About Tardigrades in Space? Make It So!–Abdin v. CBS
This is a fun opinion for four reasons. First, it deals with the always-interesting idea/expression dichotomy. Second, it deals with tardigrades, the cute microscopic “water bears” with extraordinary physical properties. Third, it deals with Star Trek, one of my favorite…
Court Orders Rightsowner to Withdraw DMCA Takedown Notices Sent to Amazon–Beyond Blond v. Heldman
This case involves an Amazon seller, the plaintiff, who packages and republishes public domain cartoon videos, like Bugs Bunny, Popeye, and Mighty Mouse. The defendant is a rightsowner who claims that the Amazon seller infringes its rights. On that basis,…