Making Room in Copyright Law for Creativity
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 Recording Industry...
Music Publishers and the RIAA Have Issues with the Inverse Ratio Rule. They’re Not Wrong
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...
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I Found it on the Internet, So it's Fair Use, Take Three
by | Oct 26, 2018
The Obligatory City Skyline Richard Bell[ref]NOT 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...
USPTO starts auditing trademark renewals, and apparently doesn’t really tell anybody
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...
Why "Stairway to Heaven" Verdict Was Reversed
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 reversal[ref]The verdict was actually “vacated”—thrown out—and “remanded”—sent back down for a new trial. “Reversal” would...
Stairway to Heaven Is Not Blurred Lines
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...
The Curse of the Handshake Deal: Software Edition
We Don't Need a Written Contract Because We're Such Good Friends. Here’s a link to the decision I’m discussing. Plaintiff, xTomic, is a software developer—and a fairly small one, as is usually the case. Defendants teach others how to carry out certain therapies to...
Is Fair Use Normal? Do You Have the "Mental Conditioning" to Get This One Right?
If You Find it on the Internet, Unattributed, Anyone Can Use it, Right? Trevor Moawad runs a consulting group called…. The Moawad Consulting Group. It’s a “mental consulting firm,” which is, I don’t know what it is. Here’s how they describe what they do: “In the field...
Secondary Education: Sometimes it Isn't Enough to Be First
Annoying Party Vehicles Drop More Trademark Wisdom Down here in Nashville, we have “pedal taverns,” which are bicycle-powered, street-legal moving bars, favored by bachelorette parties. Only they’re not generically “pedal taverns,” even though that’s what everyone...
If You Can’t Win a Lawsuit, at Least Cover the Spread
The Twists and Turns of Offers of Judgment in Copyright Cases Several years ago, Kayne Capital Advisors did a bad, bad thing. It had one of its employees subscribe to the Oil Daily newsletter, then copied and distributed that one copy to multiple...
How a Facelift Cost the U.S. Postal Service $3.5 Million
Mistakes—Even Hilarious Ones—Are Inevitable. What You Do After Often Matters More. In 2008, the U.S. Postal Service was looking to update its “Forever” stamps. For an entire year, Forever Stamps bore the image of the Liberty Bell, and the public was just tired of it....
Blurred Lines: The Ninth Circuit's Opinion Is Slightly Less "Crazy"
Last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an amended opinion in the "Blurred Lines" case. You can read it here. The holding is the same: the jury verdict of copyright infringement is affirmed. But it makes one substantive change to its analysis: it...
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Do you prefer Latin? The cool lawyers call it “amicus curiae.” Except, when pressed by a...
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I Found it on the Internet, So it's Fair Use, Take ThreeThe Obligatory City Skyline Richard Bell[ref]NOT to be confused with Keith Bell, another copyright plaintiff I blogged about recently. |
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