Same terms, same meanings, unless specification indicates otherwise In an appeal by Porta Stor, Inc. of a judgment in favor of PODS, Inc. for, among other things, patent and copyright infringement, the Federal Circuit reversed the judgment of patent infringement finding no literal infringement and finding that infringement under the doctrine of equivalents was barred by prosecution history estoppel. The court also reversed […] Continue Reading →
Wall Street Journal on Viacom v. YouTube Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal has a column discussing the Viacom v. YouTube case (previously blogged about here). Mr. Mossberg thinks the problem is not confined to the particular dispute between Viacom and YouTube/Google, but rather is indicative of a need for greater guidance in copyright law from Congress. The Digital Millennium Copyright […] Continue Reading →
Seventh Circuit issues a stinker of an opinion in copyright case The Seventh Circuit succinctly sums up the field of commerce of its decision today in JCW Investments, Inc. v. Novelty, Inc.: Somewhat to our surprise, it turns out that there is a niche market for farting dolls, and it is quite lucrative. The case presents some interesting issues, such as whether the copyright in such […] Continue Reading →
Viacom sues YouTube, Google for copyright infringement In a press release today, Viacom, owner of the MTV and Comedy Centraltelevision networks (among others), announced it is suing YouTube and its parent company, Google, for copyright infringement. The lawsuit seeks over $1 billion in damages. The parties had been in negotiations for YouTube/Google to have a license to provide Viacom’s content on YouTube, […] Continue Reading →
Fourth Circuit a “maddening mixture of getting some things right and some things very very wrong” William Patry, author of a treatise on copyright law, has an interesting post on his copyright law blog about a decision yesterday in the Fourth Circuit. The facts of the case are relatively simple the plaintiff owned a copyright on some architectural plans that the defendant obtained an unauthorized copy of. The defendant used the […] Continue Reading →
Are wedding receptions full of copyright infringers? Maybe, if you ask Richard Silver. Mr. Silver claims to have invented the dance known as the “Electric Slide” at a disco in 1976. He registered a copyright on his performance of the dance in 2004. While Mr. Silver’s claims may seem dubious (such as, for example, his claims on his website that he also […] Continue Reading →
Audiobooks can be rented without publisher’s consent: first sale exception does not apply Today the Sixth Circuit considered an issue that has not yet been addressed by any other United States Court of Appeal: whether the record rental exception to copyright law’s first sale doctrine codified in 17 U.S.C. § 109(b)(1)(A) applies to all sound recordings or only to recordings of musical works. A divided panel held that […] Continue Reading →
MIT Offers Free Course Materials on United States Copyright Law The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is offering an introductory course to Copyrights via its OpenCourseWare website. The website describes the course as “an introduction to copyright law and American law in general.” Topics covered include: 1) Structure of federal law 2) Basics of legal research 3) Legal citations 4) How to use LexisNexis? 5) […] Continue Reading →
New Tool for Copyright Owners The Wall Street Journal has posted an article highlighting a new internet tool that tracks copyrighted works being used on the internet. Privately held Attributor Corp. of Redwood City, California offers a search service that scans billions of pages of the internet looking for infringing uses of copyrighted material. Attributor Corp describes its self as […] Continue Reading →
Prepaid cellular phone seller sues over DMCA exception TracFone Wireless, the largest seller of prepaid cellular phone service in the United States, has sued the Librarian of Congress and Register of Copyrights, alleging that one of the DMCA exemptions granted last month is unlawful. Specifically, TracFone is upset about the exemption permitting cellular phone users to "unlock" their phones in order to use […] Continue Reading →