Hollywood Studios Prevail Against Family-Friendly Video Streaming Site In a 3-0 ruling, a federal appeals court sided with Disney, Warner Bros., and Twentieth Century Fox by affirming an injunction that shut down movie filtering service VidAngel, Inc., saying that a ruling to the contrary would “create a giant loophole in copyright law”. VidAngel is a video filtering service that lets users stream films […] Continue Reading →
Surge in Patent Applications Related to 3D Printing: Is Yours One of Them? The USPTO recently released statistics that over 8,000 patent applications were filed in 2016 related to 3D printing (additive manufacturing). Some of the interesting 3D printing inventions that have been subject to publicity include,prosthetic hands and fingers for children without fingers, three-dimensional bioprinting of human-compatible vascularized tissue developed by graduate students at Harvard, and a […] Continue Reading →
Spotify Settles Class Action Lawsuit for $43.4 Million In February of last year, I wrote a blog discussing the filing of a class action lawsuit against Spotify seeking $150 million in unpaid mechanical royalties (Read the previous post here). In a settlement announced on Friday, Spotify has agreed to set up a fund worth $43.4 million to compensate songwriters and publishers whose compositions […] Continue Reading →
Prepping for Protection: First Steps to Developing an IP Strategy Whether you are an individual, a start-up company, or an existing business, two of the hardest (and most important) questions are: “Do I have intellectual property?” and “How do I protect it?” First, having a qualified attorney will help make answering these questions significantly easier and they can help guide you through the development of […] Continue Reading →
Let’s Go Crazy: Legal Battle Heats Up Over Unreleased Prince Recordings On the anniversary of Prince’s death, a battle is being waged over the late musician’s work. Last week, Prince’s estate sued a sound engineer who was planning to release a six-song EP containing previously unreleased Prince recordings. The estate alleged that this engineer, George Ian Boxill, was in unlawful possession of the recordings and did […] Continue Reading →
Three Cheers for Copyrights: SCOTUS Establishes New Standard for Determining Separability On March 22, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling aimed at resolving “widespread disagreement” over an important aspect of copyright law. Under U.S. copyright law, “original works of art” are capable of protection, whereas “useful articles” are not. However, the distinction between works of art and useful articles can often be hazy, particularly when […] Continue Reading →
When the Unthinkable Happens: IP Considerations for Bankruptcy In the event that the unthinkable happens and bankruptcy becomes the only course of action for businesses, having not only a good bankruptcy attorney, but also having an involved IP attorney is vital to ensure that rights in valuable intellectual property are appropriately addressed and maintained. A basic understanding of Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 […] Continue Reading →
Copyright Infringement and Fair Use in a Digital World In the most general sense, copyright infringement is copying, or using, a work protected by copyright without permission from the copyright owner. Almost inevitably, soon after you hear the words “copyright infringement”, you will also hear the words “fair use”. Fair use is one of the most frequently discussed defenses to copyright infringement but it […] Continue Reading →
Copyright Office Establishes New Electronic DMCA Agent Registration The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbor provision is one of the most important copyright laws of today’s online focused society. As of December 1, 2016, the Copyright Office has enacted a new set of rules one must follow to register a DMCA agent. The new system makes registration cheaper and easier but does […] Continue Reading →
Spinal Tap Goes To 11 As Co-Creator Sues Vivendi for $125,000,000 It is nearly impossible to be backstage at a concert and not hear at least one quote from, or a reference to, the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. The film, first released in 1984, has gone on to be considered one of the most popular and successful films of all time. It has been included […] Continue Reading →