Tenth anniversary of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act On October 28, 1998, President Clinton signed the Digital Millenium Copyright Act into law. The Act is probably best known for two of its provisions: (1) the anti-cirumvention provsion, which prohibits circumventing a "technological measure that effectively controls access to" a copyrighted work, and (2) the online "safe harbor" provision, which generally insulates parties that […] Continue Reading →
Ninth Circuit: Absent evidence of intent to the contrary, custom software purchaser retains license In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court's decision that a software developer's delivery of customized software includes a grant of an unlimited, non-exclusive, implied license to use, modify, and retain the source code of the programs in the absence of written agreements to the contrary. The Ninth Circuit also affirmed the […] Continue Reading →
Eleventh Circuit: No DJ jurisdiction in copyright case when copyright unregistered In a recent decision, the Eleventh Circuit vacated a district court's grant of summary judgment in a copyright infringement declaratory judgment action. The court determined that the district court was without subject matter jurisdiction to entertain the alleged infringer's declaratory judgment action. This was because the district court would have lacked jurisdiction to hear the […] Continue Reading →
Ninth Circuit: First sale doctrine doesn’t apply to goods purchased abroad and imported to US In a decision last week, the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's grant of summary judgment to a copyright defendant on the basis of the "first sale" doctrine, codified at 17 U.S.C. § 109(a). The defendant obtained the products bearing the copyright from a third party who legally purchased them outside the United States. The […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit: Breach of open source license conditions can lead to copyright infringement In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit addressed some of the copyright issues involved with the open source movement. Often open source software is distributed under a so-called copyleft license, which permits others to use the work, subject to certain restrictions. The GNU general public license is the most well-known of these licenses. The license […] Continue Reading →
Second Circuit: Remote DVR system does not infringe content providers’ copyrights In a decision last week, the Second Circuit reversed a lower court's grant of summary judgment holding that the defendant's remote-storage DVR system violated the plaintiffs' rights of reproduction and public performance. The Plaintiffs were various content providers, and the defendant was a cable company. The remote-storage DVR system lets customers store recorded television shows […] Continue Reading →
Patry copyright blog is no more It's a sad day in the blogosphere, as Bill Patry, author of Patry on Copyright and the Patry Copyright Blog, has announced he is shutting down his blog. We've linked to Professor Patry's commentary on copyright law on many occasions, and his additional insight into copyright issues will be missed. Other blogs noting his departure: […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit addresses scope of immunity waiver for copyright and DMCA claims In a decision Friday, the Federal Circuit affirmed a decision from the United States Court of Federal Claims dismissing a copyright holder's claims for lack of jurisdiction on the ground that the Government had not waived sovereign immunity. The suit arose from alleged copyright infringement and an alleged violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act […] Continue Reading →
Eleventh Circuit: Laches presumed not to apply in copyright case filed during limitations period In a decision last week, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part a district court decision granting summary judgment in a copyright infringement action. The central disagreement between the parties was over the scope of copyright protection in a book about sales techniques. The district court granted the defendant's motion for summary […] Continue Reading →
Ninth Circuit: Termination of rights allows Lassie to come home to author’s heir In a decision last week, the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's denial of summary judgment in a copyright case. The district court held the heir of an author had, by agreement, "given away" the termination right granted by 17 U.S.C. § 304(c).The Ninth Circuit reversed, stating that the district court had gone against the […] Continue Reading →