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Mealey's Copyright

July 05, 2023
Judge Won’t Dismiss UCL Suit Against Company That Posted Woman’s Yearbook Photo

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion by an aggregator of yearbook photographs to dismiss a putative class action against it for violating California right of publicity and unfair competition laws, finding that the lone remaining plaintiff plausibly alleged that the aggregator incorporated her image into its “advertising flow” directing website visitors to make a purchase.
July 05, 2023
OpenAI Contests California Competition, Copyright Claims

OAKLAND, Calif. — Plaintiffs claiming that artificial intelligence programs produce licensed materials posted to GitHub without attribution have not shown the programs produced the code for anyone but themselves or that copyright law would not preempt their case and have not adequately pleaded their claims under the California unfair competition law (UCL), OpenAI tells a federal judge in California in a motion to dismiss an amended complaint.
July 05, 2023
Reconsideration Of Bid For Intra-District Transfer In Copyright Case Denied

OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California is standing by her recent decision to deny a defendant’s request to transfer an upcoming retrial on willfulness and statutory damages in a copyright infringement action from one district court location to another.
July 05, 2023
9th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of Copyright Claims Against Nirvana

SAN FRANCISCO — Copyright infringement allegations by the granddaughter and sole heir of British author C.W. Scott-Giles — creator of “Upper Hell,” a drawing in a 1949 translation of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy — against the band Nirvana were properly dismissed on forum non conveniens grounds, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled July 3.
June 30, 2023
Authors Say AI Chatbot Companies Use Copyrighted Work Without Credit

SAN FRANCISCO — Two authors filed a putative class action accusing the companies that created ChatGPT and other AI chatbots of copyright infringement, unjust enrichment and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by using their copyrighted works of fiction in the training datasets for their software without permission or compensation.
June 30, 2023
Publishers Ask High Court To Provide Uniformity On Copyright Damages, Limitations

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a reply brief supporting their petition for certiorari, two music publishers insist that the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals are split on whether the Copyright Act allows copyright holders to seek damages outside its three-year statute of limitations, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to supply much needed clarity in this area.
June 29, 2023
YouTube: No DMCA Requirement To Take Down Unaccused Videos Of Purported Infringer

NEW YORK — A trial court properly dismissed copyright infringement claims against it based on the alleged posting of infringing content by a third-party user of its platform, YouTube LLC tells the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an appellee brief, asserting that any infringement liability rests solely upon the user that posted the videos, further arguing that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) does not mandate the removal of other videos posted by the so-called repeat infringer.
June 26, 2023
In Dispute Over Terms Of Service, Copyright Preemption, Supreme Court Denies Cert

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its June 26 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to weigh in on a case that asked whether federal copyright law supersedes a contractual provision in a website’s terms of service (TOS), which bars copying.
June 23, 2023
1st Circuit: Denial Of Fees In ‘Game Of Life’ Copyright Case Was Appropriate

BOSTON — A federal judge in Rhode Island did not abuse his discretion in denying attorney fees for prevailing defendants in a longstanding dispute over copyright ownership and termination rights to the “Game of Life” board game, the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled June 22.
June 20, 2023
Sculptor Beats Copyright Claims, But Trademark Claims Will Proceed In N.Y.

NEW YORK — The sculptor of Fearless Girl — a young girl staring down the famed Charging Bull sculpture near Wall Street in New York City — has won summary judgment in New York federal court on allegations that she engaged in direct copyright infringement when she sold a replica of Fearless Girl to a Wall Street executive who then used the work at a corporate event focused on gender diversity.
June 20, 2023
In Mixed Ruling, Copyright, Trademark Owner Prevails In Part In California

SAN DIEGO — A dispute over various trademarks and copyrighted technical drawings will proceed while allegations that other trademarks and copyrights were infringed by three defendants will be dismissed in a dispute between a security company and its former employees, a California federal judge has ruled.
June 19, 2023
Copyright, Trademark Case By A&E Survives Motion To Dismiss In New York

NEW YORK — A trademark dispute over “Live PD” will proceed, a New York federal judge decided June 16 upon finding that A&E Television Networks LLC credibly asserts that three defendants willfully and intentionally confused the public as to their affiliation with and sponsorship of the former hit television show.
June 16, 2023
Website Owner: Flawed Pleadings Defeat Direct Infringement Cert Question

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The operator of a concert footage streaming website says that a group of music publishers’ petition for certiorari does not merit the U.S. Supreme Court’s attention because their question about the direct copyright liability standard overlooks the fact that they pleaded and argued the wrong standard, making the case a poor vehicle to examine the volitional conduct requirement.
June 14, 2023
Post-Trial Fee Request By Copyright Defendant Denied In Mississippi

OXFORD, Miss. — A woman cleared by jurors of allegations of copyright infringement is nonetheless not entitled to an award of fees in connection with the case, a federal judge in Mississippi has ruled.
June 13, 2023
Copyright Holders, YouTube Agree To Dismiss Infringement Suit On Eve Of Trial

LOS ANGELES — Following a failure to achieve class certification, denial of a petition to appeal, judicial dismissal of some claims and voluntary dismissal of others, three copyright holders jointly filed a stipulation with YouTube LLC to dismiss the remaining infringement claims against the video platform provider with prejudice, ending the three-year old lawsuit one day before a scheduled trial was to begin in California federal court.
June 13, 2023
Rite Aid Counterclaim Of Copyright Misuse Dismissed In Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has rejected allegations by Rite Aid Corp. that a software designer engages in copyright misuse by maintaining a monopoly over its “Neutraface” font.
June 13, 2023
Panel: Complete Preemption Cannot Exist Without Registered Copyright

ATLANTA — An unjust enrichment claim leveled against a cruise line was wrongly removed to federal court as completely preempted by federal copyright law, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled.
June 12, 2023
Copyright Owners Amend Complaint Against OpenAI Over GitHub AI Tool

OAKLAND, Calif. — Copyright owners filed an amended class action complaint alleging, among other things, violation of the California unfair competition law (UCL), saying OpenAI Inc. and others employed an artificial intelligence program for use on software hub GitHub that reproduces licensed code.
June 12, 2023
In ‘PlasmaCar’ IP Row, Florida Federal Magistrate Judge Recommends Relief

MIAMI — A design patent, trademark and copyright owner should be granted a preliminary injunction while it pursues infringement allegations against more than 150 e-tailers, a federal magistrate judge in Florida said June 9.
June 09, 2023
9th Circuit Finds Zillow Infringed 2,700 Individual Photos, Not Compilation

SEATTLE — Affirming a trial court’s ruling, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that Zillow Group Inc.’s unauthorized online use of real estate photos constituted 2,700 separate acts of infringement, rather than infringement of a single compilation of photos.
June 09, 2023
Google, Lyrics Website Spar Over ‘Atypical’ Contract Claim In High Court Briefs

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a supplemental brief further supporting its opposition to a petition for certiorari by a song lyrics website operator, Google LLC tells the U.S. Supreme Court that questions about the enforceability of the website’s terms of service (TOS) bolster the U.S. government’s position that the case presents a poor a vehicle for the court to decide whether the petitioner’s “atypical” contractual claims are preempted by federal copyright law.
June 09, 2023
Panel Sends Fee Award For Copyright Class Counsel Back To Trial Court

SAN FRANCISCO — A $1.7 million award of attorney fees to counsel for a class of copyright holders was unreasonable where their action against a music streaming service recovered just over $50,000 for the class members, according to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
June 06, 2023
Meta Again Wins Dismissal Of Copyright, Lanham Act, DMCA Putative Class Action

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California granted a motion to dismiss a photographer’s amended class complaint against Meta Inc. alleging claims of copyright infringement and violation of the Lanham and Digital Millennium Copyright acts, this time without leave to amend, finding that the claims “fare no better” under the plaintiff’s new theories related to “a convoluted combination of the ‘check-in’ and ‘prefetching’ functionalities on Facebook.”
June 02, 2023
Industry Orgs Back Music Publishers In High Court Direct Copyright Liability Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The day after the Motion Picture Association Inc. (MPA) filed an amicus curiae brief supporting a petition for certiorari by a group of music publishers, a coalition of three music industry associations teamed up on another amicus brief, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify whether direct copyright liability rests solely on the individual that “presses the button” to make infringing copies of a copyrighted work or also on the party who directs or authorizes such infringing activity.
June 01, 2023
Publishers Ask Supreme Court To Resolve Limitations Period For Copyright Damages

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Presenting what they call “an obvious candidate” for certiorari, two music publishers ask the U.S. Supreme Court to provide guidance on whether the three-year statute of limitations period in the Copyright Act limits whether a plaintiff can seek damages under the discovery accrual rule for damages sustained more than three years before a complaint was filed.