The SHOP SAFE Act Is a Terrible Bill That Will Eliminate Online Marketplaces
[Note: this blog post covers Rep. Nadler’s manager’s amendment for the SHOP SAFE Act, which I think will be the basis of a committee markup hearing tomorrow. If Congress were well-functioning, draft bills going into markup would be circulated a…
Instagram Defeats Copyright Claim Over Its Embedding Feature–Hunley v. Instagram
“In-line linking” uses the Internet’s magic to let a web page incorporate a file, such as a photo or video, into a page’s display without actually hosting it. In 2007, in Perfect 10 v. Amazon, the Ninth Circuit ruled that…
When is it Fair Use to Use a Photo to “Illustrate” an Article?
One of the practices that has generated a sizeable number of disputes and rulings is the use of photos to illustrate articles. There is no shortage of articles being generated online, and often those content producers simply canvass the web…
A Seismic Ruling Undone: California’s Sound Recording Copyright Statute Does Not Include Public Performance Rights—Flo & Eddie v. Sirius XM (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that California Civil Code section 980(a)(2), which grants “exclusive ownership” of a sound recording fixed before February 15, 1972, to its “author,” provides…
Judge Rakoff: Embedding Social Media Content is a “Display” Under the Copyright Act
Paul Nicklen is a highly acclaimed nature photographer. He posted a video of an emaciated polar bear wandering the Canadian Arctic to his Facebook and Instagram accounts to sound the alarm on climate change. Nicklen “urged his social media followers…
Satirical Depiction in YouTube Video Gets Rough Treatment in Court
Goodman made and posted a YouTube video called the “Crony Awards,” bestowing honors on countries that downplayed the COVID-19 virus. Because the court says Goodman’s company “traffics in wild conspiracy theories,” it’s likely the video actually celebrates countries for COVID…
![A Summary of the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) [Excerpt from my Internet Law casebook]](https://blog.ericgoldman.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/mark-konig-mx94V7uE1eU-unsplash-150x150.jpg)
A Summary of the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) [Excerpt from my Internet Law casebook]
[The 2021 edition of my Internet Law casebook is coming soon. This excerpt is a new note on the CCB. TL;DR: I’m not a fan.] Before mid-2022, the Copyright Office will deploy a new adjudicatory function called the Copyright Claims…
Should We Adopt a Notice-and-Takedown Scheme for Deepfakes and Other Inauthentic Media?
Prof. Christa Laser (Cleveland-Marshall) and I engaged in a point/counterpoint about legal mechanisms to address inauthentic recordings and photos, including AI-assisted forged videos (a/k/a “deepfakes”). She argued for a notice-and-takedown scheme in some circumstances, including those creating fake pornographic images….
1H 2021 Quick Links, Part 1 (IP)
Trademarks and Domain Names * Kid Car NY, LLC v. Kidmoto Techs. LLC, 2021 WL 466975 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 9, 2021): “At the motion to dismiss stage, Kidmoto has plausibly alleged more than just the purchase of a competitor’s mark as…
RedBubble Gets Another Favorable Ruling–YZ Productions v. RedBubble
Rebecca Zamolo appears to be a YouTuber/influencer who merchandises her brand in multiple ways. She claims that RedBubble users are infringing her IP and counterfeiting her offerings. The complaint includes many images showing the alleged infringements, such as: The court…