Fair Use Likely Protects Discussion of Blog Post and Comments
This is a lawsuit between pro se parties. As the court notes, the feud between the parties largely took place online, but eventually “found its way into federal court”. Plaintiff is the publisher the “Hogewash!” blog. Defendant is a “retired…
Q2 2014 Quick Links, Part 1 (IP)
Trademark * Barton Beebe has posted a new free casebook, Trademark Law: An Open-Source Casebook. Quite possibly the new gold standard of trademark casebooks. Check it out! * Hollywood, Esq.: Chubby Checker Settles Penis Size App Lawsuit. Prior blog post. *…
Another Blogger Wins a Fair Use Defense For a Photo–Leveyfilm v. Fox Sports
Danielle Wysocki blogged at “The Jersey Catcher,” a sports blog for women. On December 6, 2010, she blogged about a lawsuit over the 1985 novelty rap song “The Super Bowl Shuffle,” sung by members of the Chicago Bears football team….
Four Unanswered Questions From Aereo’s Supreme Court Loss (Forbes Cross-Post)
The Supreme Court ruled that Aereo infringed broadcasters’ copyrights by transmitting, in near-real-time, the stream of over-the-air television broadcasts, even when it did so at viewers’ direction. Adopting a pragmatic and functional assessment of Aereo’s activities, the majority held that…
Republishing Litigation Brief Is Fair Use–White v. Westlaw
It’s a perennial question in copyright law: to what extent does copyright law protect attorney-drafted documents such as litigation briefs or contracts? Despite the venerability of the issue (I tested on copyrightability of contracts in my 2002 copyright class), we…
Griping Blogger Can Show Photo Of Griping Target–Katz v. Chevaldina
Chelvadina griped about Raanan Katz on her blog. As is common practice for bloggers, Chelvadina included a headshot photo of Katz. The court says the photo is unflattering (I’ll let you decide). Chevaldina found the photo on an Israeli website…
How The DMCA’s Online Copyright Safe Harbor Failed
[Eric’s introductory note: I’m continuing my Spring housecleaning of blog posts that got stuck in draft mode for more than a half-year. I wrote this post in September intending it for Forbes, and some of it got obliquely incorporated into…
Fair Use Protects Video Republication To Demonstrate Speaker’s Inconsistent Statements–Caner v. Autry
As recounted by the court’s order, Caner was raised in Ohio. His father was a devout Muslim. After his parents divorced, Caner “spent weekend visitation at the mosque in Columbus, Ohio.” At some point, Caner started attending a church and…
Another Attempt to Scrub Unflattering Posts Fails
This is another social media defamation case. (Last week’s edition: Another Questionable IP Lawsuit Over a Derogatory Twitter Account.) Plaintiffs were husband and wife. One of the plaintiffs (Hassan Miah) was involved in a business dispute involving a business he founded…
Defendant Gets Attorneys’ Fees For ‘Frivolous’ DMCA Copyright Management Information Claim
In March, a district court in Virginia examined in-depth the justifications for awarding attorney’s fees with respect to weak copyright and DMCA claims. Background Ross Builder and Boathouse Creek Graphics (BCG) are custom home designers. In 2010, Ross filed a…