216 results for 'nos:"Copyrights - Property Rights"'.
J. Trauger partially grants the dismissal motion filed by X Corp. in this lawsuit concerning copyrighted works being posted on the company's social media platform, which was formerly known as Twitter. The plaintiff music publisher's claims for direct and vicarious infringement will be dismissed in their entirety, though the court will allow it to proceed with certain parts of its contributory infringement claim, including an allegation that X Corp. "enforces its copyright policies less stringently" against its verified users.
Court: USDC Middle District of Tennessee , Judge: Trauger, Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv606, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Copyright
J. Newbern recommends that the defendant company's dismissal motion be granted in this lawsuit brought by a small business owner alleging libel and trademark infringement. The pro se plaintiff fails to state a plausible claim for relief against the defendant company, Alphabet, and the complaint should be dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6).
Court: USDC Middle District of Tennessee , Judge: Newbern, Filed On: March 4, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv52, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Trademark, Defamation
J. Mosman grants the seminar attendee and the former student $376,700 in attorney fees against the doctor's complaint that the former two made and sold Chinese medicine courses that infringe on the doctor's copyrighted pulse diagnosis method. The seminar attendee and the former student are entitled to attorney fees, because the doctor claims that those two infringed on his PowerPoint slides used to teach his technique, but his expert only identified 15 out of 120 slides as substantially similar to the doctor's, and the doctor's claim ultimately tries to protect unprotectable ideas.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Mosman, Filed On: March 4, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv1694, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Experts, Attorney Fees
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J. Christel grants a software builder’s motion for partial summary judgment copyright claims brought by the owner of a managing and aligning chart that was allegedly copied without permission. The evidence shows that the aligning chart was not similar to the owner’s chart, but there is an issue of material fact regarding the owner has a valid copyright regarding the managing chart. Therefore, the owner’s motion for summary judgment is denied.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Christel, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: 2:19cv1458, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright
J. Robart grants the widower's motion for sanctions in his complaint alleging that the advertising agency and the radio program host used the copyrighted works of the widower's deceased wife, who was an author and media personality, without permission. The radio program host did not answer the widower's discovery requests for 11 months, and their counsel only said that the radio program host simply missed the electronic service, which is not an adequate response.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Robart, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv5238, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Sanctions, Discovery
J. Altman grants the copyright holder's motion for entry of a default final judgment in its suit against the Instagram poster alleging that the poster used the copyright holder's video of a tornado hitting a truck without authorization. The court has jurisdiction over the case, the holder has sufficiently pleaded copyright infringement, and its requests for $30,000 in statutory damages and injunctive relief are appropriate. Attorneys' fees and costs are also awarded.
Court: USDC Southern District of Florida, Judge: Altman, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv22903, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Attorney Fees
J. McElroy grants summary judgment to the defendant YouTube content creator in the podcaster's suit alleging that he used copyrighted material in his videos without consent. The videos' use of function as criticism or commentary on the copyrighted material, and thus fall under fair use. A motion for sanctions against the podcaster is denied, since while the podcaster made "troublesome" statements about this litigation, they do not demonstrate that the litigation's purpose was harassment.
Court: USDC Rhode Island, Judge: McElroy, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv90, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Sanctions
J. Price partially grants the media conglomerate's motion to compel discovery and award sanctions against the online retailers. A discovery deadline is extended, since the individual defendants are currently out of the country on a vacation and have yet to sit for depositions. Any such depositions conducted in this extended period, however, will be unavailable for summary judgment purposes. A request for sanctions is denied. Various objections raised by the defendants to the discovery requests are overruled.
Court: USDC Middle District of Florida, Judge: Price, Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: 6:22cv2417, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Discovery
J. Martinez-Olguin dismisses vicarious copyright infringement claims from comedian and author Sarah Silverman and two other authors who claim OpenAI trained its ChatGPT program using material from their books without permission. The authors fail to prove ChatGPT directly copied their work and protection does not extend to every idea, theory and fact underlying a copyrighted work. However, an Unfair Competition Law claim can move forward. Additionally, OpenAI did not move to dismiss the direct infringement claim, so that claim proceeds.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Martinez-Olguin, Filed On: February 12, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv3223, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Unfair Competition, Class Action
J. Reidinger partially denies an American email authentication software firm's motion to compel documents and responses during an protracted discovery process with its European affiliate. The firm claims the European affiliate is trying to separate its business operations from that of the American firm. Presently, the affiliate claims the American firm is not providing sufficient evidence in discovery, however the affiliate’s latest requests are unreasonable questions, e.g. asking in what city a contract was signed, and it is not necessary for the firm to provide all this information.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Reidinger, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv67, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Discovery, Contract
J. Lin declines to dismiss the British Isles publisher's complaint that the U.S.-based software company sold copies of the publisher's copyright-protected works, including "Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma" by Dr. Patrick Lynch originally published in 1955, and a revised English-language edition produced and published by the publisher in 2018. The publisher alleges sufficient facts to state a plausible infringement claim on the Lynch translation because in 1996, per the Uruguay Round Agreements Act and Irish copyright law, the U.S. copyright for the Lynch translation automatically went to Dr. Lynch and not Mercier Press as the software company argues.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Lin, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1635, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, International Law
J. Lake transfers a company's copyright and trademark action against an institute in connection with works and a mark associated with a Buddhist monk to the Central District of California, Western Division. The institute is based in California, and the company fails to show it has the minimum contacts with Texas to establish jurisdiction.
Court: USDC Southern District of Texas, Judge: Lake, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: 4:23cv2812, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Trademark, Jurisdiction
J. Seabright quashes a subpoena to the communications companies issued to discover the IP addresses of those filesharing and distributing a studio’s copyrighted films. The communications companies were used only as a “conduit” for the distribution and therefore falls under a safe harbor provision that renders the subpoena invalid. Just because the companies assigned an IP address to the distributors does not mean that they provided links or referrals to the copyrighted material.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Seabright, Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv426, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright
J. Pitman partially grants a motion to dismiss crossclaims brought by the CEO of an e-commerce liquor company after he was countersued by a former employee who asserted ownership claims over the company and was previously sued for copyright infringement. A fraud counterclaim by the former employee should be dismissed because she has failed to include “vital” information about when she learned she would not have a significant stake in the company — but she may amend her complaint to add this information, and her other claims can proceed.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Pitman, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv467, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Fraud, Business Practices
J. Maldonado grants hip-hop artist French Montana’s motion for summary judgment on copyright claims brought by the suing hip-hop artist, Hotwire the Producer. Hotwire accused French Montana of ripping off his copyrighted song “Hood* Pushin’ Weight” to make the hit single “Ain’t Worried About Nothin,” which has more than 100 million hits on Montana’s official YouTube channel alone. After several years of legal fights, the court has found there’s some similarity in the underlying sounds and melodies of the two songs, but that those similarities are insufficient to create a triable issue of fact on Hotwire’s copyright infringement claims.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Maldonado, Filed On: January 4, 2024, Case #: 1:19cv2321, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright
J. Immergut partially grants the software company's motion for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit asserting that the domain holders sold unauthorized licenses for the software company's hosting automation management software online. An asset freeze is issued against the domain holders for all assets related to infringing domains because they took multiple steps to hide their identities and avoid the software company's scrutiny. However, the software company's motion to freeze all assets is not justifiable as it is indiscriminate and lacks knowledge.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Immergut, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv1963, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Injunction