A Critique of the NMPA’s and RIAA’s Joint Brief in the “Stairway to Heaven Case” As I explained last time, in their joint friend-of-the-court brief in the “Stairway to Heaven” case, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and the...
Oh! Inverted Ratio! On Monday, the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) jointly filed a friend-of-the-court1Do you prefer Latin? The cool lawyers call it “amicus curiae.” Except, when pressed by a Roman...
The Obligatory City Skyline Richard Bell1NOT to be confused with Keith Bell, another copyright plaintiff I blogged about recently. is a former attorney who took photographs of his law firm’s hometown, Indianapolis, particularly its skyline. There’s a natural...
Earlier this month I attended the Pharmaceutical Trade Mark Group (PTMG) annual conference in Cavtat, Croatia. Yes, there are worse places to be in the fall. A presentation was given at this conference on recent updates at the USPTO, specifically the pilot program...
Led Zeppelin Probably Would’ve Won Anyway, But Some Mistakes Can’t Be Wished Away Last time, I explained why I thought the Ninth Circuit’s recent reversal1The verdict was actually “vacated”—thrown out—and “remanded”—sent back down for a new trial....
I Know They Look the Same, But the “Stairway to Heaven” Court Gets Something Very Important Right We interrupt the regularly-scheduled blog post about copyright in public murals in Nashville with this counter-intuitive defense of the Ninth Circuit’s recent surprising...
