216 results for 'nos:"Copyrights - Property Rights"'.
J. Reidinger grants the so-called “World’s Largest Tie Store” its motion to dismiss allegations of copyright infringement when one of its ties reportedly featured work by a North Carolina artist used without her permission. The work, entitled “50 Rock Star Scientists Mosaic,” was allegedly copied by the store. However, the court lacks personal jurisdiction because the store, based in Florida, did not purposefully seek to do business in North Carolina, and their sales in North Carolina account for only 0.45% of its total profits since 2014.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Reidinger, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv139, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Jurisdiction, Business Practices
J. Thrash grants the franchising business's motion for summary judgment as to the technology company's claims for misappropriation of trade secrets and copyright infringement arising from the alleged theft of e-commerce software code. The company failed to show that the code embedded in the business's website was not readily ascertainable. The combination of the company's technical know-how, organizational capabilities and problem-solving approach are too vague and inclusive to be considered a trade secret. None of the elements identified by the company's computer science expert in a report analyzing the codes qualify for copyright protection. However, the motion is denied with regard to the company's claim for breach of contract.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Thrash, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv1971, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Trade Secrets, Contract
J. Arterton denies the academic resource website's motion to dismiss, ruling the educational material creator has plausibly alleged a copyright notice and watermark violation based on the proximity of the website's copyright to protected materials included on the website for educators. The language in the notice and watermark section of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is meant to be interpreted as broadly as possible, especially at the pleading stage, and so the website's copyright being located on the same page as the materials it does not own and did not create is sufficient for the claim to proceed.
Court: USDC Connecticut, Judge: Arterton, Filed On: August 28, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv1242, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Education, Evidence
Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for Free
J. Whitehead denies counter claimant American Marriage Ministries partial summary judgment on its common law trademark and Consumer Protection Act counterclaims, which arise from Universal Life Church Monastery Storehouse's lawsuit alleging that an employee and others defamed the religious organization by showing a side-by-side comparison between the Universal Life Church's and the employee's websites. There are still disputed issues of material fact on how distinctive AMM's trade name is from Life Church's trade name, which leads to further dispute on the likelihood of confusion.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Whitehead, Filed On: August 24, 2023, Case #: 2:19cv301, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Trademark, Consumer Law
J. McCormick grants the sculptor $1.1 million in attorney fees and costs following a jury's $450,000 verdict finding that the real estate company infringed on the sculptor’s “Untitled” sculpture. The sculptor’s original lodestar figure is over $1.3 million as it included work performed over two years that involved extensive motion practice, discovery and trial preparation, but not all requested hours are reasonable because the sculptor’s attorneys spent a significant amount of time conferencing, and the attorneys sometimes triple-billed this time.
Court: USDC Central District of California, Judge: McCormick, Filed On: August 21, 2023, Case #: 8:21cv1585, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Attorney Fees
J. Whitehead denies counter-claimant American Marriage Ministries' (AMM) motion for summary judgment for its common law trademark and CPA counterclaims, which arise from the religious organization's lawsuit alleging that the employee and others defamed the religious organization by showing a side-by-side comparison between the religious organization's and the employee's websites. There is a factual dispute as to whether AMM's mark is suggestive or only descriptive of its services.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Whitehead, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 2:19cv301, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Trademark, Defamation
J. Lin dismisses the video game publisher's claim that two of its former employees created a competing game using confidential information from the "P3" game they began developing for the publisher. The former employees signed a forum selection clause and their alleged conduct is closely related to the contract containing the clause. Korea is also the more convenient forum, as most of the witnesses and evidence are located in Korea or written in Korean.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Lin, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv576, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Trade Secrets, Jurisdiction, Contract
J. Matsumoto enters defaults judgment against a provider of supplemental vitamins on copyright infringement claims alleging it copied significant portions of a competitor’s website for use on its own site. The court issues an injunction prohibiting the defendant from further infringing the protected material, as well as ordering it to deactivate the infringing website. The court, however, declines a request to transfer the domain name to the litigant’s control, finding the litigant fails to include in its suit the names of the domain registrar or webhost.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Matsumoto, Filed On: August 16, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv5106, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Technology
J. Du denies the software support company’s motion to stay an injunction entered against it pursuant to the court’s prior finding in favor of Oracle in its suit alleging the support company copied Oracle’s enterprise software into and from development environments for its own clients. The support company is unlikely to prevail on the merits and its arguments invoking free speech are unpersuasive. The district court, though, will temporarily stay its injunction until the Ninth Circuit resolves the motion to stay which the support company intends to file there because the injunction does impose 60 days to certify compliance due to the amounts of code involved.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Du, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 2:14cv1699, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Unfair Competition, Technology
J. Ketchmark denies the media companies' motion for summary judgment on a photographer's copyright claims stemming from the inclusion of her photo without permission as part of the USA Today Ad Meter. The photographer's photo of NFL coach Katie Sowers used as part of a Microsoft Super Bowl commercial in 2020 was never sent directly to USA Today for inclusion in its popular ad-rating platform, but was instead downloaded by a USA today producer from YouTube using screengrabbing technology.
Court: USDC Western District of Missouri, Judge: Ketchmark, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 4:21cv557, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Technology
J. Wilson dismisses the author’s claim that Amazon changed the plot of its prequel show “Rings of Power” based on the author’s book, “The Fellowship of the King,” which was an unauthorized sequel to J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” series. The author’s product is an unauthorized derivative work, and thus not protected by copyright. Tolkien’s grandson denied the author’s requests to grant him license to make his book an official sequel to Tolkien’s fantasy trilogy. Also, the author does not identify any of his newly created characters that supposedly appeared in the “Rings of Power.”
Court: USDC Central District of California, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: August 14, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv2831, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright
J. Failla finds for Viacom in a copyright action filed by the owner of a registered copyright in a show entitled "House Party," which he pitched to Viacom in 2015 in the hopes of airing the show on the Black Entertainment Television Network. BET launched its own "House Party" series in 2020, but the copyright owner cannot rest his claim on the fact that both shows portray intimate livestreamed music performances. Numerous aesthetic decision in the copyright owner's work are not present in the BET series.
Court: USDC Southern District of New York, Judge: Failla, Filed On: August 10, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv1214, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright
J. Sweeney denies a photography business its motion to exclude expert testimony in its copyright infringement suit against a mobile device protection firm. The business is concerned that the expert would speculate about the intention or state of mind of the parties, but the expert is prohibited from doing so and has not yet testified. A preemptive order barring the expert’s testimony is not necessary.
Court: USDC Colorado, Judge: Sweeney, Filed On: August 7, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv2551, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Experts
J. Rose denies all parties' motions for summary judgment, ruling that while the robotic development software is based on similar programs, it is distinct enough that it cannot be considered "open-source;" however, because the developer allowed the European clients to make copies of the source code, there are questions of fact as to whether there is a valid copyright claim and neither party is entitled to judgment at this stage.
Court: USDC Southern District of Ohio, Judge: Rose, Filed On: August 3, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv216, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Trade Secrets
J. Khalsa partially grants a number of motions from art company Meow Wolf in a copyright dispute brought by an artist formerly affiliated with the group, including one motion dismissing that artist’s claim under the Visual Artists Rights Act. While VARA protects the rights of artists to be credited for their work, “undisputed evidence” in this case shows the artist wanted to be credited “anonymously or pseudonymously” for the artwork now in dispute.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Khalsa, Filed On: August 3, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv237, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Tort
J. Foster grants the pornographer's 12 motions for leave to serve third-party subpoenas in parallel cases against unknown alleged unauthorized distributors of the pornographer's copyrighted movies. Expedited discovery is warranted since the pornographer has stated an actionable copyright-infringement claim, the requests are specific in seeking only names and addresses, there are no alternatives to the pornographer's proposed course of action of seeking information on the alleged distributors by way of their internet service providers, the cases cannot proceed without that information, and the pornographer's right to pursue the copyright claims outweighs the alleged distributors' expectations of privacy.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Foster, Filed On: July 31, 2023, Case #: 0:23cv1891, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Discovery
J. Frimpong grants in part motions in limine in a copyright infringement dispute regarding a licensing agreement for automobile photographs. Yahoo is precluded from bringing evidence of the photograph owner's previous copyright enforcement actions, from presenting evidence of its breach of contract claims, or from arguing that the photograph owner failed to take reasonable steps to mitigate damages. The photograph owner is precluded from suggesting that Yahoo failed to comply with discovery obligations or from referencing theories that the photograph owner purportedly abandoned at the motion to dismiss stage.
Court: USDC Central District of California, Judge: Frimpong, Filed On: July 28, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv2907, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright
J. Walker grants in part a large online retailer's motion to dismiss copyright claims brought against it and other large companies by an artist for failing to prevent foreign counterfeiters from using her copyright registered photographs in the companies' online marketplaces to sell knockoffs of her designs. The fact that the companies provide technology that can be used to infringe copyrights doesn't automatically make them liable for any copyright infringement using their technology if that technology can also be used, and usually is used, for activities that don't infringe on copyrights. However, the large online retailer may be liable for its failure to ensure that counterfeiters did not continue to infringe on the artist's copyrights after she reported them and the retailer initially removed their counterfeit content.
Court: USDC Maine, Judge: Walker, Filed On: July 28, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv284, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Technology