Should Copyright Preemption Moot Anti-Scraping TOS Terms? (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy Many characterize the law of copyright preemption of contracts as a circuit split. But that undersells the level of inconsistency in courts’ interpretations of the law of copyright preemption. It’s not that half of federal…
512(f) Doesn’t Restrict Competitive Gaming of Search Results–Source Capital v. Barrett Financial
This case involves two “hard money lending” competitors, Source Capital and Barrett. Allegedly on behalf of Barrett, an SEO vendor sent DMCA takedown notices to Google, alleging that Source Capital had copied some of Barrett’s copyrighted material. Source Capital alleges…
Now Available: the Published Version of My SAD Scheme Article
I’m pleased to share the final published version of my article, “A SAD Scheme of Abusive Intellectual Property Litigation.” The article explains how IP rightsowners are twisting the rule of law to obtain ex parte TROs that prompt online marketplaces…
Facebook’s LLaMa Defeats Copyright Claims–Kadrey v. Meta
This is another preliminary ruling in the copyright battle over generative AI. The stakes of this battle couldn’t be higher. Copyright law has the capacity to nix the entire generative AI category. Fortunately, Judge Chhabria easily rejects the copyright owners’…
Ninth Circuit Revives Choreography Copyright Claims Over Fortnite Emotes–Hanagami v. Epic
Hanagami is a celebrity choreographer. He has over 4.5M YouTube followers and nearly 1B video views. He posted a video entitled “CHARLIE PUTH – How Long | Kyle Hanagami Choreography” that contained 480 “counts” of choreography, composed of 96 counts…
This Blog Has Jumped the Shark: I’m Covering a Copyright Opinion About a Tattoo of Tiger King’s Joe Exotic–Cramer v. Netflix
In the early days of the pandemic, tattoo artist Cramer created this tattoo and tattooed it onto her husband: The tattoo depicts Joe Exotic of Tiger King “fame,” a can of Lysol, some coronaviruses, and the words “Quarantine 2020.” None…
Copyright Lawsuits Over Product Shots Are Still Stupid–SMS v. Pharmaaid
SMS has copyright registrations in photos of its pump dispensers. It claims that a rival, Pharmaaid, is selling identical products and displays SMS’s photos in its Amazon store and on product packaging. Here’s SMS’s purported visual proof of Pharmaaid’s infringements:…
Think Kiwi Farms Is Legally Unassailable? Copyright Law Might Disagree–Greer v. Moon
Kiwi Farms, operated by Joshua Moon, is best known for coordinating cyberattacks on individuals, especially people with disabilities. Few people would lament the site’s demise, but to date it has avoided legal exposure (1, 2) and survived multiple deplatformings (e.g.,…
Photo Licensing Service Qualifies for DMCA 512(c) Safe Harbor–McGucken v. ShutterStock
McGucken is a professional photographer who has appeared on the blog before. He claims that third party “contributors” uploaded his copyrighted photos to ShutterStock as part of ShutterStock’s licensing program. Specifically, McGucken claims that a total of 337 images were…
Schedule A (SAD Scheme) Plaintiff Sanctioned for “Fraud on the Court”–Xped v. Respect the Look
This is one of the thousands of “Schedule A” cases, a phenomenon I’ve labeled the “SAD Scheme.” (Technically, the defendants in this case are enumerated on “Exhibit 1” instead of “Schedule A,” but same thing). The court describes the phenomenon:…