Top Ten Internet Law Developments Of 2013 (Forbes Cross-Post)
A look back at the Internet law highlights of 2013: #10: Copyright Defendants Get High-Stakes Wins. 2013 saw several copyright defendants win long-running litigation affairs–and potentially crack open new markets, including (1) Google’s stirring win in its nearly decade-long Google…
Why Google’s Fair Use Victory In Google Books Suit Is A Big Deal–And Why It Isn’t (Forbes Cross-Post)
Last month, federal judge Denny Chin rejected a copyright challenge Google’s practices of scanning books into digital format and presenting snippets of those scans in search results because the practices qualify as fair use. It’s an exciting and hard-fought victory…
AFP & Getty’s Republication of Twitter/Twitpic-Sourced Photos Turns Out to Be Costly – AFP v. Morel
This is a long-running copyright infringement case that we’ve covered repeatedly. (My most recent post with a pre-trial recap: AFP v. Morel – Lawsuit Over Haiti Photos Taken From Twitter/Twitpic Goes to Trial.) AFP and (through AFP) Getty thought they had…
Did Monster Energy Make A ‘Dope’ Contract With DJ Z-Trip? Nope (Forbes Cross-Post)
What is the legal meaning of the word “Dope”? Monster Energy argued that the word “Dope!” granted it permission to publish copyrighted material. The court says nope. Monster Energy put together a promotional YouTube video that used a remix (the…
AFP v. Morel – Lawsuit Over Haiti Photos Taken From Twitter/Twitpic Goes to Trial
We’ve previously covered AFP v. Morel, the case where photographer Daniel Morel is suing AFP, Getty and downstream licenses for allegedly infringing on his copyrighted material. In a nutshell, he took some iconic photos following the Haiti earthquake. AFP sourced…
Lawsuit Over Google Hangouts Gutted–Be In v. Google
Be In v. Google, 12-cv-03373-LHK (N.D. Cal. Oct. 9, 2013) Be In developed “CamUP,” described as a “social entertainment consumption platform that allows a group of friends to simultaneously watch, listen, chat and collaborate around shared videos, music, and other…
No One Owns The Number ‘3.95%’ (We Think)–Banxcorp v. Costco (Forbes Cross-Post)
Banxcorp v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 09-CV-1783 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 17, 2013). Who owns a single number, such as 3.95%? The question probably sounds crazy. Numbers are just facts, and the Supreme Court said in 1991 that facts aren’t copyrightable. So of…
Calling Out Scraper for “Stealing” Data Is Not Defamatory – Tamburo v. Dworkin
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Tamburo v. Dworkin, 04 C 3317 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 26, 2013) This is an interesting dispute that brings together several legal doctrines we love to cover here. It’s the type of fact pattern a law school…
2013 Internet Law Syllabus and Casebook Now Online
By Eric Goldman I have posted my 2013 Internet Law syllabus and updated and expanded casebook ($8 DRM-free PDF download). It’s hard to believe this is my 19th year teaching the course! (For more background on the course, see this…
Perfect 10 Can’t Sue Yandex for Out-of-Country Activity (Catch-up Post)
By Eric Goldman Perfect 10, Inc. v. Yandex N.V., 2013 WL 3668818 (N.D. Cal. July 12, 2013) This case has sat in my blog queue for a few weeks because I’m still not sure what to make of it. I…