Features

Copyright Issues In Online Content
Publication of content online impacts the duration of copyright protection among other purposes, including optimizing creative and ownership rights and the availability of statutory damages and attorney fees. Thus, it is important to determine when Internet distribution constitutes publication.
Features

9th Cir. Finds No Fair Use In Dr. Seuss/Star Trek "Mashup"
In Dr. Seuss Enterprises L.P. v. ComicMix LLC, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit held in December that ComicMix's illustrated book combining elements of several Dr. Seuss children's books with characters, themes and other features of the popular sci-fi series Star Trek was not a fair use of the Seuss material from which it had admittedly been "slavishly" copied.
Features

Legal Issues and Monetization Strategies In a Quarantine-Streaming Music World, Part Two
Part Two of a two-part article While the livestreaming of music performances is not an entirely new phenomenon, the COVID crisis has transformed the live performance landscape, compelling artists from around the world to reach their fanbase by producing "quarantine streams," in which they livestream their sets on social media platforms. Given this sudden pivot to livestreaming over social media, unsurprisingly many questions have arisen.
Features

Legal Issues and Monetization Strategies In a Quarantine-Streaming Music World
Part One of a Two Part Article While the livestreaming of music performances is not an entirely new phenomenon, the COVID crisis has transformed the live performance landscape, compelling artists from around the world to reach their fanbase by producing "quarantine streams," in which they livestream their sets on social media platforms. Given this sudden pivot to livestreaming over social media, unsurprisingly many questions have arisen.
Features

To Embed, or Not to Embed, that is the Question
Would Shakespeare Post Hamlet on Instagram in 2020? While the sound distracting you hear from this article may well be William Shakespeare rapidly turning in his grave like the Mad Hatter Teacup Ride at Disneyworld, recent legal and procedural developments associated with the ubiquitous Instagram social media site have created significant practical and legal risks for both copyright owners and account holders that would have even vexed the Bard himself.
Features

Legal Issues and Monetization Strategies In a Quarantine-Streaming Music World
Part One of a Two Part Article While the livestreaming of music performances is not an entirely new phenomenon, the COVID crisis has transformed the live performance landscape, compelling artists from around the world to reach their fanbase by producing "quarantine streams," in which they livestream their sets on social media platforms. Unsurprisingly many questions have arisen.
Features

Fair Use Applied to Embedded Photograph
The extremely flexible character of social media has required equal flexibility in courts' intellectual property analysis. Happily, under U.S. copyright law, that kind of flexibility is possible.
Features

What 11th Circuit Ruled in Copyright Suit Over Netflix's Narcos Series
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled in favor of Netflix in finding that one of its shows didn't infringe the copyright of a Colombian journalist who wrote a memoir about her affair with drug kingpin Pablo Escobar and the rise of the Colombian drug trade.
Features

Fifth Circuit's Decision in Sampling Case Considers Automatic Liability Controversy
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of internationally successful hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis in a music sampling suit brought against them by New Orleans jazz musician Paul Batiste.
Features

'Asserted Truths' Doctrine Used to Decide Jersey Boys Copyright Dispute
In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit held that materials taken from an autobiography of Tommy DeVito — an original member of The Four Seasons music group — and used in the Broadway musical Jersey Boys depicting the band's history and hits, comprised facts and other noncopyrightable expression.
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