Supreme Court Sides With Jack Daniel's Against Doggy Chew Toy Company
It's not a broad attack on free expression, but Thursday's ruling is certainly a victory for brands that can't take a joke.
Copyright
Supreme Court: Andy Warhol's Prince Prints Not 'Transformative' Enough for Fair Use
The case could have long-term implications for how broadly fair use can be applied.
A Fake Drake Song Shows the Potential for A.I.'s Future
Meanwhile, content creators and corporations want copyright regulations for artificial intelligence.
Internet Archive Loses Lawsuit Over National Emergency Library, Will Appeal
Plus: "Sensitivity readers" rewrite Agatha Christie, a Little Free Library battle, and more...
Feds Say A.I.-Generated Art Is Ineligible for Copyright
Copyright law is just one area that must adapt to account for revolutionary A.I. technology.
Copyright Is the Latest Battle in the War Over A.I.
The U.S. Copyright Office determined that images produced by artificial intelligence cannot be copyrighted, even though they are generated by user-written prompts.
Copyright Office: No Copyright Protection for Certain AI-Generated Works
Law from the dawn of the dawn of the AI age.
Did Biden Just Commit America to Another Forever War in Ukraine?
Plus: the editors field a listener question on intellectual property.
Don't Let Disney Monopolize A.I.-Generated Art
The indie artists suing Stable Diffusion may not realize it, but they're doing the Mouse's dirty work.
Why the Tabletop Role-Playing World Is Furious About Changes to Dungeons & Dragons' Open Game License
For 20 years, D&D has offered third-party publishers an open, royalty-free license to create new works using its game. A leaked revision would end all of that.
Now Anybody Can Write a Sherlock Holmes Story
Nearly a century after author Arthur Conan Doyle's death, the character is finally free.
Netflix Files Copyright Lawsuit Against Creators of Unofficial Bridgerton Musical
The company alleges the composers ignored multiple warnings to cease commercial production of the musical.
Why Ryan Reynolds Can Use Winnie-the-Pooh To Sell You a Phone Plan
As pop culture icons enter the public domain, a strange new era of copyright begins.
"May Be The Most Helpful Brief I've Ever Read,"
said Judge Vince Chhabria (N.D. Cal.) about this amicus brief from Paul Alan Levy (Public Citizen).and Phillip R. Malone of the Juelsgaard I/P and Innovation Clinic (at Stanford).
Josh Hawley Targets Disney With Copyright Legislation
Despite the senator's clear culture war animus, there are things to like about his bill.
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Musk? And Yes, Taxation Is Still Theft.
Plus: A short debate on intellectual property
Police Play Disney Songs To Keep Citizen Recordings Off YouTube
A Santa Ana police officer is the latest official to use YouTube's copyright infringement algorithm as a means to evade accountability.
In Threatening Disney Over Copyrights, House Republicans Are Right for the Wrong Reasons
By blaming their reasoning on culture war grievances rather than the best interests of the law, the GOP risks undermining a completely defensible position.
Motivational Speaker Loses Copyright Lawsuit Against High School
And has to pay $10K in attorney fees to the high school as well.
"The Law Has Already Sawed That Claim in Half"
The latest from Paul Alan Levy (Public Citizen), pushing back against threats of trademark litigation over parody.
Abolish Intellectual Property Rights?
Patent lawyer Stephan Kinsella debates Law Professor Richard Epstein
Abolish Copyrights and Patents? A Soho Forum Debate
Patent lawyer Stephan Kinsella debates law professor Richard Epstein
Some Thoughts on Google v. Oracle, from Prof. Rebecca Tushnet (Harvard)
"Categories, microworks, and market circularity."
University Trying to Block Distribution of Faculty Senate Meeting Video Excerpts Using Copyright Law
An interesting controversy involving Portland State University.
Publishing Another Newspaper's Spiked Story: Copyright Infringement or Fair Use?
Likely fair use, at least under the Second Circuit's precedents.
Fair Use to Republish, in Annotated Form, Drone-Taken Photograph Used in a Political Argument
As with all fair use claims, the analysis turns on the particular facts.
Creating a Version of a Work Solely for "Artistic Experimentation and to Seek License Approval from the Copyright Holder" = Fair Use
So holds Judge Virginia A. Phillips (C.D. Cal.) in Tracy Chapman's lawsuit against Nicki Minaj.
Sargon of Akkad Wins Attorney Fees in We Thought She Would Win/SJW Levels of Awareness Copyright Lawsuit
"[T]he Court has little difficulty concluding that Hughes's dual goals in bringing her baseless suit were to inflict financial harm on Benjamin and to raise her own profile in the process."
More in the Richard Liebowitz Saga
"The Movants are undoubtedly correct in asserting that 'nationwide sanctions' are rare, but that is only because they are rarely warranted."
More Massive Sanctions on Richard Liebowitz, "Copyright Troll" and "Legal Lamprey"
"One of the most frequently sanctioned lawyers, if not the most frequently sanctioned lawyer," in the Southern District of New York.
Supreme Court Rules That Georgia Can't Copyright Its Annotated Code
A long-running legal battle ends with a victory for open government.
Hospital Technicians Ignore Copyright Law to Fight COVID-19
They trade tips and manuals through a decentralized information-sharing network. Biomedical technicians say it's the fastest and easiest way to get life-saving information.
Last Monday: Second Circuit Fair Use Day (Drake + Sargon of Akkad)
Four Second Circuit judges gave fair use victories (separately) to rapper Drake and blogger Sargon of Akkad, concluding that defendants' uses of plaintiffs' work to comment on it and criticize it were fair use and thus not copyright infringement.
Google v. Oracle
The Supreme Court now has before it a case in which some very important copyright principles are at stake.