“Heisman Pose” Photographer Sues for Copyright Infringement – Masck v. Sports Illustrated, et al.

By Jake McGowan [writings][LinkedIn] Masck v. Sports Illustrated, et al., 2:13-cv-10226-GAD-DRG (E.D. Mich. complaint filed Jan. 18, 2013) On his journey to winning the Heisman Trophy for the 1991 season, University of Michigan’s Desmond Howard returned a punt 93 yards…

Israeli Court Says Full-Text RSS Feeds Create an Implied Copyright License (Guest Blog Post)

By Guest Blogger Jonathan J. Klinger Aggregation of content through RSS feeds has been a big issue every since websites began to use RSS to distribute their content. See, e.g., Prof. Goldman’s discussion of the issue in 2005. Still, we…

Territorial Implications of Antigua’s Internet-Based IP Sanctions Against the US (Guest Blog Post)

By Guest Blogger Marketa Trimble At the end of January 2013, the WTO authorized Antigua to suspend its intellectual property obligations toward the United States in retaliation for the United States’ breach of WTO rules. There are at least three…

Conference Announcement: A 15 Year Retrospective of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, SCU, March 15

By Eric Goldman On March 15, 2013 at Santa Clara University, the High Tech Law Institute is hosting a conference entitled “A 15 Year Retrospective of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.” Our co-sponsors include the advisory committee to the Congressional…

17 USC 512(f) Is Dead–Lenz v. Universal Music

By Eric Goldman Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., 2013 WL 271673 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 24, 2013). This is the long-running case involving a YouTube video of a baby dancing to a Prince song. Universal Music overzealously took the video down…

Court Definitively Rejects AFP’s Argument That Posting a Photo to Twitter Grants AFP a License to Freely Use It — AFP v. Morel

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] AFP v. Morel, 10 Civ. 02730 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 14, 2013) The court *finally* issued its ruling on the parties’ cross motions for summary judgment in AFP v. Morel, the Haiti photo case. Previous posts here and…

Top Ten Internet Law Developments of 2012 (Forbes Cross-Post)

By Eric Goldman I’m pleased to share my list of top 10 developments of 2012: #10: The Push Towards Anti-Class Action Arbitration Clauses.  In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion that businesses may be able to adopt mandatory…

Q4 2012 Quick Links, Part 1 (IP Edition)

By Eric Goldman Copyright * Author’s Guild v. HathiTrust, 1:11-cv-06351-HB (SDNY Oct. 10, 2012). James Grimmelmann’s take. * Hillicon Valley: ‘Shell-shocked’ lawmakers shy away from online piracy in new Congress * Ars Technica: Voters boot three SOPA-sponsoring Hollywood allies from…

Let’s Stop Using the Term “Soft IP”

By Eric Goldman You may have heard–or even used–the phrase “soft IP.” I’m not a fan of it, and I think we should retire the term. The term “soft IP” is inherently ambiguous. Sometimes, people use “soft IP” to refer…

The Problem of “International Orphan Works” (Guest Blog Post)

By Guest Blogger Marketa Trimble The U.S. Copyright Office recently extended the deadline by which the public may submit comments on issues related to orphan works until February 4, 2013. The Office is gathering suggestions for shaping future U.S. legislation…