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9th Cir. Appellate Arguments; FL Sup. Ct. Ruling on Pre-'72 Recordings
Just a few days after the Florida Supreme Court ruled the state's common law doesn't provide pre-1972 sound recordings with rights to public performance royalties, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments on whether remasterings inject pre-1972 sound recordings with federal copyright protection.
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How Defendant's Prior Conduct Can Impact Copyright Cases
In the context of a copyright case, a defendant's prior bad acts and prior conduct are more useful to a plaintiff than is typical in civil litigation. In many instances, copyright infringement lawsuits are brought against defendants who have been sued before for infringement, or related misconduct, or who have been the subject of allegations or informal complaints, or who simply have experience in copyright matters.
Features

Oral Appellate Arguments in 'Blurred Lines' Copyright Case
Lawyers for Marvin Gaye's heirs and recording artists Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke were singing past each other in court in October. But it wasn't clear which side was making the most headway with the appellate court.
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EU Push to Filter 'Illegal' Content Raises Alarms in Silicon Valley
The European Commission (EU) is ramping up pressure on tech companies to more aggressively use automated filtering to scrub "illegal" content from the Internet, a move that is drawing criticism from some lawyers and free speech activists in Silicon Valley.
Features

Children Book Versions of Classic Novels Not Fair Use
In 2016, Frederik Colting and Melisa Medina planned to launch a series of 50 children's books, each book summarizing a great novel. They called their colorfully illustrated summaries KinderGuides. In January 2017, the owners of the copyrights to the novels filed a copyright infringement suit against Colting and Medina, resulting in a useful tale for lawyers who advise publishers on either side of such a dispute.
Features

Books Rights Win For Daughter of Steinbeck's Widow
Susan Kohlmann, managing partner of Jenner & Block's New York office, has secured a shutout win for the stepdaughter of John Steinbeck in the latest installment of a long-running legal feud over book rights that has divided the late author's progeny.
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Technology That Filters Movie Content Infringes Studios' Copyrights
"Star Wars is still Star Wars, even without Princess Leia's bikini scene," said federal Circuit Judge Andrew D. Hurwitz in denying an appeal by the movie-filtering service VidAngel to lift an injunction that has kept its technology off the market since December 2016.
Features

Copyright Royalty Board Gets E-Filing System
The Library of Congress' Copyright Royalty Board, the panel of three judges who set copyright royalty rates and settle related disputes, announced the launch of an electronic filing and case management system in an effort to streamline its manual and cumbersome case management processes.
Features

The Uses of Prior Conduct in Copyright Cases
<b><i>The Lessons of History</b></i><p>In the context of a copyright case, a defendant's prior bad acts and prior conduct are more useful to a plaintiff than is typical in civil litigation.
Features

The Impact of <i>TC Heartland</i> on Copyright Venue
The Supreme Court sparked a seismic shift in patent litigation recently when it upset the long-standing interpretation of 28 U.S.C. §1400(b), the special patent venue statute. TC Heartland held that for the purposes of patent venue, the meaning of "resides" in Section 1400(b) is not supplemented by the broad definition of "resides" in the general venue provision, 28 U.S.C. §1391.
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