Court Blasts “Copyright Troll” for Treating Courts “as an ATM”–Strike 3 v. Doe
Strike 3 produces pornography. The court calls it a “copyright troll.” It has filed nearly 2,000 copyright infringement cases in the past 13 months. With that many cases, it’s bound to run into a skeptical judge, and whoa, did Judge…
Reminder: Cutting-and-Pasting Photos from the Internet Is Hazardous to Your Legal Health–Grecco v. Valuewalk
This is a mostly straightforward case of cutting-and-pasting a photo from the Internet. These cases don’t normally produce detailed federal court rulings because the defendant usually doesn’t have great defenses and prefers to settle early. This defendant decided to fight…
An Analysis of Title II of Public Law 115-264: The Classics Protection and Access Act (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Tyler Ochoa On October 11, 2018, President Trump signed into law H.R. 1551, the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, which became Public Law 115-364, 132 Stat. 3676. The Act contains three titles pertaining to copyright law. Title…
How to Obtain a Global Injunction in a Copyright Infringement Case (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Marketa Trimble Prompted by the set of Canadian and U.S. court decisions in Equustek v. Google, the audience at a recent copyright conference discussed whether a plaintiff could obtain a global injunction in a copyright infringement case. In…
Another 512(f) Case Fails–Handshoe v. Perret
This is a long-running series of cases. I first blogged a related dispute in 2013 (plus a second blog post in 2013 as well). Regarding this case, Handshoe posted a YouTube video that included a photo apparently owned by a…
Section 230’s Success in Under-the-Radar Cases
For every high-stakes Section 230 case that gets widespread coverage, I see many other low-profile cases–often pro se–where Section 230 works as we all expect. These rulings usually aren’t super-interesting because they confirm the status quo. However, they provide a…
IP Address Subscriber Isn’t Liable for Copyright Infringement by Users Sharing That IP Address–Cobbler v. Gonzales
Plaintiff owns copyrights to “The Cobbler” movie and is trying to enforce its rights via litigation in courts around the country. Eric previously blogged about another The Cobbler enforcement suit that didn’t turn out well for the plaintiff. In this…
GoDaddy & Instagram Avoid Liability for Users’ Photos of Knockoff Goods–Franklin v. X Gear 101
The plaintiff owns copyright and trademark registrations in a bear logo. He claims a defendant created a similar-looking bear logo and marketed goods using that logo: I’ll focus on the court’s treatment of plaintiffs’ claims against GoDaddy and Instagram….
Trolling the Internet for Photos Creates Copyright Headaches for Ad Agency (and the Advertiser)–Laspata v. Rimowa
Laspata is “a boutique creative marketing agency” that charges a lot of money. For its client, Laspata created a 1920s-themed “lookbook” called “Speechless” that riffed on the Academy Award-winning movie The Artist. Rimowa makes luggage priced above my budget. Meire…
Q2 2018 Quick Links, Part 5 (Potpourri)
My email inbox has gotten out of control, and I had to declare partial email bankruptcy. In this post, I’m largely quoting highlights from 18 cases I had flagged for closer review or possible posting over the past 18 months…