My New Article on Abusive “Schedule A” IP Lawsuits Will Likely Leave You Angry
I’m pleased to share a draft of a new paper, “A SAD New Category of Abusive Intellectual Property Litigation.” The abstract: This paper describes a sophisticated but underreported system of mass-defendant intellectual property litigation called the “Schedule A Defendants Scheme”…
A Preliminary Analysis of Trump’s Copyright Lawsuit Over Interview Recordings (Trump v. Simon & Schuster) (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa [Eric’s note: Prof. Ochoa calls this a “preliminary” analysis, but that doesn’t mean it’s short!] Two weeks ago, former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against journalist Bob Woodward and his publisher, Simon & Schuster…
If You Ask Your Friend to Take Your Photo Using Your Camera, Who Owns the Copyright?–Shah v. NYP
Vivek Shah attended several Hollywood parties. While there, he preset the settings on his phone camera (including shutter speed, white balance, ISO, metering type, and exposure value) and asked friends or bystanders to use his phone to take photos of…
2022 Internet Law Year-in-Review
Three dynamics combined to make 2022 a brutal year for Internet Law. First, the techlash is taking its toll. There is widespread belief that the major incumbents are too big, too rich, and too capricious to avoid pervasive government control….
2H 2022 Quick Links, Part 3 (Copyrights and More)
Copyright * Wallster, Inc. v. Redbubble, Inc., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 198181 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 21, 2022): this Court rejects Wallshoppe’s argument that recklessness is enough to meet the knowledge requirement for contributory copyright infringement… Wallshoppe alleges Defendant has a…
Another Copyright Owner Learns Why It’s Better to Send DMCA Takedown Notices Before Suing–BMG v. Likee
Likee is a TikTok-like app that allows users to publish short videos, often set to music. Without sending DMCA takedown notices, BMG sued it for direct and contributory copyright infringement. The court dismisses those claims. Direct Infringement. The court says…
512(f) Plaintiff Must Pay $91k to the Defense–Digital Marketing v. McCandless
It’s typically pointless to bring a 512(f) claim because the law makes it almost impossible to win. Plus, 512(f) plaintiffs have to consider the possibility of a costly fee shift against them. The plaintiff in this case claims that the…
Another Rough Copyright Ruling for Internet Access Providers–Bodyguard v. RCN
This is another lawsuit against IAPs for subscribers’ BitTorrent activity. As I wrote previously: lawsuits against IAPs are problematic for many reasons, including the failure of 512(a), the danger of assuming that notices of claimed infringements (NOCIs) actually reflect infringing…
How Copyright Law Fosters Anti-Competitive Behavior, Part Infinity–Bayam v. ID Tech
Bayam and ID Tech run rival online jewelry businesses. Both use Shopify as a service provider. ID Tech believed that Bayam copies too much of its copyrighted website content and pursued a whirlwind of enforcement activity, including filing two lawsuits…
A 5 Month Check-In on the Copyright Claims Board (CCB)
I prepared these statistics on November 18, 2022, roughly 5 months after launch. Total number of cases: 247. This continues to imply a run rate of about 600 cases per year, or less than 2 cases per day. According to…