Eleventh Circuit: One-satisfaction rule applies to copyright infringement awards In a decision this week, the Eleventh Circuit reversed the decision of a district court, holding the "one-satisfaction rule" does apply to infringement claims under the Copyright Act.This appeal arose out of a jury award to copyright plaintiff of almost $1.6 million against two defendants who infringed the plaintiff's rights in its used boat price […] Continue Reading →
Seventh Circuit: Dismissal with prejudice makes defendant “prevailing party” and eligible for fees In a decision yesterday, the Seventh Circuit clarified what is required for a party to be considered a "prevailing party" in a copyright case, and therefore be eligible for an award of attorneys' fees under § 505. In this case, the plaintiff asked for a voluntary dismissal without prejudice under Rule 41(a)(2), as the case […] Continue Reading →
Tenth Circuit: Submitting eBay VeRO notice confers jurisdiciton in alleged infringer’s home state In a recent decision, the Tenth Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal of a copyright case for lack of personal jurisdiction. The case arose out of the efforts by a copyright holder to have an eBay auction for allegedly infringing products removed via eBay's VeRO program. After the auction was removed, the alleged infringer filed […] Continue Reading →
EU highest court rules ISPs not required to identify P2P users allegedly infringing copyrights In a decision released today, the highest court in the EU, the European Court of Justice, ruled that under EU law, internet service providers (ISPs) are not required, in the course of a civil lawsuit, to disclose the identity of an individual subscriber associated with a particular IP address. The case arose out of an […] Continue Reading →
Sixth Circuit: Some claims relating to license agreement with arbitration clause not arbitrable In a recent decision, the Sixth Circuit considered the scope a mandatory arbitration clause in a software license agreement, and specifically whether the clause mandated arbitration of certain copyright infringement and other claims arguably related to the agreement. The district court entered an order compelling arbitration.The Sixth Circuit partially reversed. According to the court, given […] Continue Reading →
Seventh Circuit: Injunction against use of plaintiff’s copyrights and trade secrets too vague In a decision last week, the Seventh Circuit vacated and remanded a district court's preliminary injunction in a copyright and trade secret case. The court addressed the degree of specificity necessary for an injunction against misappropriating trade secrets and infringing copyrights, and vacated the injunction because it failed to detail the substance of the trade […] Continue Reading →
Fifth Circuit: Prevailing defendant in file sharing copyright case not entitled to attorney fees On Friday, the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court finding denying an award of attorney's fees to a defendant who had been sued for copyright infringement by several recording companies, as part of the industry's ongoing litigation efforts to curb file sharing. In doing so, the court upheld the notion that, although attorney's fees are […] Continue Reading →
Ninth Circuit: Karaoke is audiovisual work, so not fully covered by – 115 compulsory license In a decision yesterday, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court's dismissal of a complaint for declaratory judgment by a karaoke device manufacturer without leave to amend for failure to state a claim. The complaint sought a declaration that a compulsory license under § 115 of the Copyright Act was a sufficient license for a […] Continue Reading →
Fifth Circuit: Beyonce song does not infringe songwriter’s copyright In a decision last week, the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court's grant of summary judgment of no copyright infringement. A plaintiff brought suit against the singer Beyoncé Knowles and several parties with whom she is associated alleging that Beyoncé's song "Baby Boy" infringed the plaintiff's work. The district court granted summary judgment of noninfringement […] Continue Reading →
First Circuit: Copyright statute of limitations applies to accounting claims between joint authors In a decision last week, the First Circuit held that a purported assignee of a joint author of a copyrighted work was barred by the Copyright Act's three-year statute of limitations from seeking an accounting of profits, even though the state statute of limitations for seeking such an accounting had not yet run.The plaintiff had […] Continue Reading →