207 results for 'nos:"Copyrights - Property Rights"'.
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
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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
J. Rodriguez rules for a principal accused of using a teacher's materials to publish an article in a magazine without permission. The publication had been sent to faculty in a January 2011 email, but the teacher did not file the complaint until more than three years later. Further, correspondence with the principal in 2010 indicates the teacher knew he was working on an article for the magazine.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Rodriguez , Filed On: July 27, 2023, Case #: 1:19cv14572, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Copyright
J. Burroughs grants in part a design and coding educator's motion to dismiss copyright claims brought against it by a graphic design educator and compel arbitration. The parties arbitration agreement is valid, so their dispute should be presented to an arbitrator who can determine its arbitrability. Because only the question of whether the case is arbitrable is being arbitrated and not the case itself yet, it is being stayed while arbitrability is determined, rather than dismissed.
Court: USDC Massachusetts, Judge: Burroughs, Filed On: July 27, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv11404, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Arbitration, Copyright, Trademark
J. Chen finds that the copyright plaintiff's cartoons and the characters in them are entitled to "thick" or "broad" copyright protection, under which a jury must find protectable elements of works to be "substantially similar" to the copyrighted work to support a finding of copyright infringement, rather than "virtually identical." While the range of expression of baby cartoon characters, which feature prominently in cartoons, is narrow as compared to some other characters, there remain a broad array of ways in which a cartoon baby could be made distinct from other cartoon babies.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Chen, Filed On: July 26, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv6536, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Jury
J. Fitzwater refuses to dismiss copyright infringement claims filed by the production company behind the show, “Cheaters,” in which it claims broadcast companies are broadcasting episodes over the internet in a way that infringes its copyrights. Contrary to the broadcasters' argument, it is unclear at this point whether they have an affirmative defense to the copyright claims.
Court: USDC Northern District of Texas , Judge: Fitzwater, Filed On: July 25, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv2780, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright
J. Du finds in favor of Oracle, permanently enjoining the infringing support company in this software copyright and unfair competition dispute arising from the support company's unauthorized copying of Oracle's enterprise software into and from development "gap customer" environments created by the support company for its own clients. At trial, the owner of the support company admitted that his deposition testimony about the timing and purpose of the software migration was “incorrect,” and further admitted that he decided to do the migration to “save... our own server costs” and “offset... other costs." He also continued making copies of the environments that had previously been ruled as infringing.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Du , Filed On: July 24, 2023, Case #: 2:14cv1699, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Technology
J. Frimpong denies an entertainment news website's motion to dismiss a copyright dispute over the republication of a photograph of Rihanna and A$AP Rocky. The news site's use of the photo does not constitute fair use as the site acknowledged that it wholesale copied the entire original photograph as part of an article when it copied the work from a screenshot of Lil Uzi Vert’s Instagram story.
Court: USDC Central District of California, Judge: Frimpong, Filed On: July 19, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv6518, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright
J. Parker grants, in part, the photographer's motion for summary judgment, ruling that while the bar owner was not the creator of the advertisement that used a copyrighted photo without permission, the public display of the ad at the bar establishes liability for copyright infringement because of the striking similarity between the two images. Meanwhile, there is no evidence of willful conduct on the part of the bar owner and the photographer has not established he is entitled to any degree of statutory damages; therefore, both parties' motion on the issue of damages is denied.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Parker, Filed On: July 18, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv973, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Damages
J. Woods grants Penguin's motion to dismiss this suit alleging copyright infringement brought by the author of a book meant to promote self-esteem for Black boys. Copyright assures the right to original expression while encouraging others to build freely upon conveyed ideas. The author seeks to monopolize the idea of the subject rather than its expression. The court finds the total look and feel of the author's book with the alleged infringing work are not substantially similar.
Court: USDC Southern District of New York, Judge: Woods , Filed On: July 5, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv7500, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Fraud
J. Broderick adopts the magistrate's report and recommendation awarding over $14 million to the content administrator that alleges that the software company trafficked products designed to circumvent its encryption technology. Damages were properly calculated by an expert witness. Website traffic evidence was correctly used in determining the award. Evidence used in determining the damages award was properly admitted, as well as being the only evidence proffered.
Court: USDC Southern District of New York, Judge: Broderick , Filed On: July 5, 2023, Case #: 1:14cv1112, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Technology