Features
Soul Men Ruling Latest to Demonstrate Courts' Shift To Transformative Use Test In Publicity Rights Cases
Celebrities often turn to the Lanham Act and state right of publicity laws to protect against exploitation of their name, image or voice in connection with the promotion of products or services. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently considered both Lanham Act and right of publicity claims in an action that pitted a Grammy winning musical artist against a major motion picture studio over the alleged use of the musician's likeness in a movie.
Columns & Departments
Net News
LinkedIn Post Likely Did Not Violate Non-Compete Clause <br>Virtual Currency Is Real Dough
Features
The Evolution of Litigation Management Technology
For decades, litigation was typically associated with large paper files piled on conference tables and oversized boxes being wheeled into courtrooms. The closest thing to technology that many people ever connected to litigation was a Dictaphone used to narrate notes for transcription.
Columns & Departments
Court Watch
Franchisor's Operation of Online Store does not Violate Exclusivity <br>Federal Court Declines To Enjoin Franchisee from Violating Non-Compete
Features
Court Approves Settlement of Suit Over NFL Players Publicity Rights
A federal judge in Minnesota signed off on a hotly contested $50 million settlement between the National Football League and former players who said the league infringed their publicity rights. The ruling was a blow to a group of plaintiffs' lawyers who lodged objections to the deal, calling it inadequate.
Columns & Departments
IP News
New Patent Litigation Reform Bills Introduced <br>U.S. Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument on Burden Of Proof for Licensee-DJ Plaintiff<br>A Split Federal Circuit Denies En Banc Rehearing In Case Involving Finality Of a Judicial Decision<br>Federal Circuit Explains Exhaustion of Method Patents
Features
Establishing Copyright Damages When Party Moves for Summary Judgment
Section 504(b) of the Copyright Act allows a copyright owner to obtain both the owner's actual damages as well as an infringer's profits attributable to the infringed work that weren't included in the actual damages award. What are the burdens of proof when a copyright infringement plaintiff seeks this recovery after a pre-trial summary judgment motion has been filed? How does an expert's report work into this?
Features
Expanding Defenses To Inducing Infringement
On Oct. 25, 2013, the Federal Circuit, by a vote of six-to-five, denied rehearing <i>en banc</i> in <i>Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Sys., Inc.,</i> (<i>Commil II</i>). That decision left intact the panel's holding, in a case of first impression, that an alleged indirect infringer's "good-faith belief of invalidity may negate the requisite intent for induced infringement."
Features
DJ Dropped from Dispute Over Use of Beastie Boys Music
After the Beastie Boys sued over the unlicensed use of several of the rap group's tracks in a remix on the soundtrack to a promotional video, defendant energy-drink maker Monster Energy Co. tried to shift the blame onto an unsuspecting disc jockey. That tactic didn't sit well with Southern District Judge Paul Engelmayer, who dismissed the DJ from the litigation.
Features
Protecting Digital Database Content
The Fourth Circuit's ruling in <i>Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc. v. American Home Realty Network, Inc.</i> is an important court decision relating to e-commerce and protecting digital database content. The ruling relates to a multiple-listing copyrighted database of real estate listings.
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