282 results for 'cat:"Copyright"'.
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. 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
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
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J. Summerhays grants a request by an oilfield service company, dismissing unfair trade practice claims against a former business partner involved in the development and marketing of a a flowback tank system used in the oilfield. Despite its use of buzzwords, such as "misleading" and
"deceiving," the company has not sufficiently alleged an unfair trade practices claim.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Summerhays, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: 6:20cv581, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: copyright, Energy, Business Practices
J. Arnold finds a lower court properly dismissed a liquor company's copyright infringement claims against Aldi. The liquor company argued that Aldi launched a Christmas gin product that infringed on its light up, Christmas scene bottle design. However, Aldi presented sufficient evidence in court that its design was a "bright and busy" winter scene with infusionist branding, and not a white winter scene. Affirmed.
Court: Her Majesty's Court of Appeal, Judge: Arnold, Filed On: February 27, 2024, Case #: CA-2023-521, Categories: copyright, Unfair Competition
J. Sutton finds that while the language and format of the powertrain warranty certificate may be mundane, the certificate is still entitled to copyright protection. Its crafting was the result of a de minimis level of creativity and involved a distinct arrangement of necessary elements; therefore, the lower court properly awarded the copyright holder's motion for summary judgment and damages from the competitor who duplicated the certificate for its own benefit. Affirmed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Sutton, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 23-3394, Categories: copyright, Evidence, Warranty
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. Rosenthal grants, in part, a group of treatment centers' motion to dismiss certain claims filed by a company that specializes in physiologic insulin resensitization treatments for diabetes. The company does not have standing to bring copyright and trademark dilution claims, and it fails to identify a trade secret that was misappropriated.
Court: USDC Southern District of Texas, Judge: Rosenthal, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 4:22cv3062 , NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: copyright, Trade Secrets, Trademark
J. Rushing finds the lower court improperly found the internet service provider liable for vicarious infringement. Top music companies sued the provider for its lack of action to prevent its subscribers from using its service to download music illegally. The provider did not profit from its subscribers’ acts of infringement, a legal prerequisite for vicarious liability. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Rushing, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 21-1168, Categories: Communications, copyright, Jury
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. Wynn finds the lower court improperly granted summary judgment to the news outlet on copyright claims stemming from the website Independent Journal Review's use of a Ted Nugent photo in an online article. The concert photographer who took the photo of Ted Nugent that the news outlet used for publication without obtaining permission still had copyright registration for the pictures. They cannot rely on the fair use defense as they did not alter anything from the photo. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Wynn, Filed On: February 6, 2024, Case #: 21-2021, Categories: copyright
J. Stadtmueller partially grants motions in limine from the consulting firm and the data design company in a lawsuit featuring breach of contract and copyright infringement claims over a failed software licensing agreement. The company's motions in limine to bar the firm's counterclaims for breach of implied warranties and professional negligence and its lost revenue damages theory are granted, but the company's motion to bar the firm from arguing that the software the company provided failed to live up to their agreement's terms is denied. The firm's motion in limine to bar the company's quantum meruit theory of recovery seeking more than $600,000 is granted.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1245, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: copyright, 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