Copyrights

The Ninth Circuit ruling in Flo & Eddie may turn out to be last stop on the long and winding road the owners of pre-1972 recordings have traveled in their efforts to obtain compensation for public performances through platforms like Sirius.

When and how can you display someone else's visual content on your website without running afoul of copyright law? When and how can someone else display your visual content? A recent ruling out of the Southern District of New York may upend the current paradigm.

When and how can you display someone else's visual content on your website without running afoul of copyright law? When and how can someone else display your visual content? A recent ruling out of the Southern District of New York may upend the current paradigm.

The 'Unicolors' case highlights the value of copyright registration, not only for creators who rely on the exclusivity of their content for making a living, but also for anyone with copyright eligible works in their IP portfolio.

When Atlanta filmmaker-turned-plaintiff Raymond Pirtle Jr. filed a copyright infringement suit against CA-based Netflix in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, he pitted him against seasoned attorneys, representing a corporate giant in a case that has both sides claiming early incremental victories.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling that its judges said could have come straight out of a telenovela, or Spanish soap opera.

Approval of all the co-owners of a copyrighted work is needed to grant exclusive rights to third parties. Despite that, any co-owner can sell that co-owner's exclusive ownership share to third parties without the permission of the others The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California recently released an opinion that considered the interplay of these copyright issues.

To survive preemption under §301 of the Copyright Act, courts consider whether a state law claim in a lawsuit has an "extra element" that qualitatively distinguishes it from a federal copyright claim. Courts typically find that state law claims, such as breach of contract, have an extra element. Other state law claims, such as conversion, get varying court determinations as to whether they are preempted.