While copyright registration normally constitutes prima facie evidence of copyright ownership, the court noted that the estate had registered the song copyright 31 years after it was originally published and only in response to the defendants' sampling of the song on Drake's album.
First the copyright infringement case over the use of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First" routine in a Broadway play was dismissed by a New York federal judge. Then it rounded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, but was tagged out again. Now, in its third at bat, the lawsuit struck out with the U.S. Supreme Court declining to review the case.
A Miami company's decision to defend a small-potatoes copyright case all the way to trial paid off when the case was dismissed after a few hours — by an angry federal judge.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals is gearing up to hear argument in BMG Rights Management v. Cox Communications, one of the first attempts by the music industry to hold an ISP liable for unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing by its subscribers.
An enlarged print of an Instagram post containing a copyrighted photo counts as a transformative use, an attorney for "appropriation artist" Richard Prince — whose use of other artists' material in his own works has made him no stranger to the courts — argued before a New York federal judge in April.
Fashion, furniture, and other design-oriented companies will take note of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc., which resolved a division among the federal circuits on the issue of the separability of designs of useful articles under the Copyright Act.
Team Angry Filmworks' lawsuit seeking public domain status for science fiction hero "Buck Rogers" adventures is set to blast off now that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania denied a request to dismiss filed by the trust that licenses Rogers material.
One day after a federal judge in Atlanta ruled that the state of Georgia may copyright its official legal code and pursue infringers, a California public records activist who had made Georgia's code available for free to the general public began work on an appeal.
A few days before the Second Circuit published its decision ordering the dismissal of Flo & Eddie's closely watched class-action lawsuit against Sirius XM Radio over the use by the satellite provider of pre-1972 sound recordings, the Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments in a class action case against iHeartMedia over its use of pre-1972 sound recordings.
The creative story-telling that fueled the passion of fans inspired a number of them to expand the Star Trek universe on their own through "fan films," which can challenge the property owners' efforts to maintain the integrity and appeal of their franchise. If unchecked, unauthorized derivatives could lead to an eventual loss of the copyright and trademark rights that underlie the value of the property.
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