Mealey's Copyright
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April 21, 2023
5th Circuit Stands By Discovery Rule In Copyright Infringement Actions
NEW ORLEANS — Hearst Newspapers L.L.C.’s assertion that the U.S. Supreme Court has effectively overruled the discovery rule in cases involving allegations of copyright infringement was rejected by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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April 21, 2023
Request For $34M In Disgorged Profits Rejected In Rolling Paper Row
CHICAGO — A rolling paper company deemed liable by jurors for copyright and trademark infringement that nonetheless prevailed on its own claim for common-law unfair competition will not be awarded disgorged profits, a federal judge in Illinois ruled.
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April 21, 2023
Generative AI Firms Move To Dismiss Artists’ Unfair Competition, Copyright Claims
SAN FRANCISCO — Three companies involved in the field of content-generation artificial intelligence (AI) filed motions to dismiss putative class copyright infringement and unfair competition claims, telling a California federal court that the plaintiff artists fail to allege that any images created by their respective programs are derivative of their copyrighted works that were purportedly used to “train” their technology.
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April 19, 2023
Seismic Surveyors Urge Tribunal To Find Jurisdiction In NAFTA Claim Against Canada
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on April 18 published a memorial on the merits filed by three investors and their geological survey company who accuse Canada of violating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by publicizing their confidential seismic data that was intended for sale to oil exploration companies, allegedly causing them more than 500 million Canadian dollars in damages.
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April 18, 2023
Judgment On The Pleadings In Copyright, Trademark Case Denied In Florida
TAMPA, Fla. — A bid by a defendant embroiled in a dispute over ownership of copyrights and common-law trademarks associated with the television series “The Seahunter” for judgment on the pleadings was denied April 17 by a Florida federal judge, who said the parties should instead complete discovery.
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April 12, 2023
Copyright, Trade Secret, Lanham Act Case Against TikTok To Remain In Texas
WACO, Texas — Efforts by TikTok Inc. and others to transfer copyright infringement, trade secret and false advertising claims leveled against them to California federal court failed April 11, when a Texas federal magistrate judge said the defendants failed to show that a different venue would clearly be more convenient.
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April 10, 2023
6th Circuit Dismisses Appeal In Copyright Case On Jurisdiction Grounds
CINCINNATI — Because a Michigan federal judge’s decision to disqualify an expert witness from testifying in a copyright infringement lawsuit over computer source code and subsequent grant of summary judgment was not a final decision, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has declined to reach an appellant’s assertion that the judge wrongly assessed the doctrines of merger and scènes à faire.
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April 07, 2023
Panel: Software Program Nonliteral Elements Not Copyrightable
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Texas did not err in finding that a plaintiff failed to demonstrate that various nonliteral elements of its copyrighted software program are entitled to copyright protection, a divided Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in affirming dismissal April 6.
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April 06, 2023
9th Circuit: Copyright Defendant Entitled To Trial On Damages, Willfulness
SAN FRANCISCO — In its second ruling in a copyright dispute over a website redesign, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 5 said a federal magistrate judge in California wrongly decided, on remand, disputes over willfulness and statutory damages.
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April 06, 2023
Panel Says Claims Court Correctly Dismissed Copyright Claim On Remand
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 5 left intact dismissal by the Court of Federal Claims of allegations by a pro se plaintiff that the federal government is liable for copyright infringement in connection with his scientific research on artificial intelligence (AI).
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April 05, 2023
Copyright Case Against Rapper Again Dismissed, Leave To Amend Denied
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California has dismissed for a second time allegations that a rapper violated federal copyright law with photographs posted to social media that a plaintiff said copied his work.
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April 04, 2023
Copyright, Trademark UCL Claims Over ‘Tangle’ Toy Dismissed In California
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on April 3 granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss on personal jurisdiction grounds allegations that it infringed the “Tangle” trademark when selling a similar, competing “Twist & Tangle” toy.
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April 04, 2023
Copyright Claims Against Fox Over Photo Of Jan. 6 Criminal Complaint Tossed
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York ruled April 3 that use by a Florida Fox News affiliate of a photograph of a criminal complaint filed against a Jan. 6 defendant presents a “clear cut” case of fair use “in the context of news reporting.”
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April 04, 2023
7th Circuit Remands Copyright Dispute, Orders New Damages Trial
CHICAGO — A Wisconsin federal judge’s decision on remand to deem waived a copyright infringement defendant’s challenge to the independent economic value of certain illustrations copyrighted and asserted by a plaintiff was error, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled.
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March 30, 2023
Documentary Maker Says YouTube Colluded With Repeat Infringer
NEW YORK — A documentary production firm tells the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in its opening appellant brief that a trial court erred in finding that it did not sufficiently allege secondary copyright infringement by YouTube LLC’s failure to penalize repeat infringers on its platform, faulting the online service provider (OSP) for not terminating the account of a channel operator that repeatedly reposted its copyrighted content.
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March 29, 2023
New York Federal Judge: Copyright Claims By Photo Licensing Agency Untimely
NEW YORK — A website operator won dismissal of allegations of copyright infringement leveled in connection with wildlife and nature photography, when a federal judge in New York said the action is time-barred.
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March 24, 2023
‘Hot News’ Claim Against Broker Tossed, But Direct Copyright Claim Survives
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Allegations of direct copyright infringement leveled by a provider of analysis on breaking financial market news against an independent broker are plausible and will proceed, a federal judge in the District of Columbia concluded March 23.
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March 21, 2023
Cribl, CEO Beat Patent Claims, But Copyright Claims Survive In California
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California has directed Cribl Inc. and its CEO to file an answer within 14 days to allegations that they developed and marketed an unauthorized derivative software program that mimics the copyrighted software of his former employer.
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March 17, 2023
GitHub Users Defend DMCA, UCL Claims In Row Over Artificial Intelligence Tool
OAKLAND, Calif.— A pair of Doe plaintiffs oppose motions to dismiss their putative class claims against Microsoft Corp., GitHub Inc. and OpenAI Inc., including violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL), telling a California federal court that they sufficiently alleged that the defendants used open-source data, without the proper attribution, to create two for-profit artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
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March 14, 2023
Motion To Strike Testimony Of Court-Appointed Code Expert Denied In Copyright Case
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California denied a motion to exclude the report of the court-appointed source code expert in a copyright infringement and trade secret dispute, noting that the plaintiffs did not challenge the expert’s qualifications and, in fact, initially proposed him as an expert and rejecting their argument that his report is biased.
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March 13, 2023
New York Federal Magistrate In CMI Removal Case: Framing Is ‘Akin’ To Cropping
NEW YORK — On the heels of his December ruling denying a copyright owner summary judgment on allegations that a photograph of his work that did not include copyright management information (CMI) violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a federal magistrate judge in New York denied a request by a defendant for partial summary judgment on the same issue.
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March 10, 2023
Texas Federal Judge: Copyright Award Is A ‘Debt’ Under Tax Code
DALLAS — In a March 9 memorandum opinion, a Texas federal judge awarded a prevailing copyright infringement plaintiff $390,000 in damages, $366,997 in prejudgment interest, plus post-judgment interest and attorney fees following an October trial.
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March 09, 2023
N.Y. Federal Magistrate: Award Statutory Maximum Damages In Copyright Row
NEW YORK — Citing the willful nature of three defendants’ infringement of a copyrighted photograph of the late artist Aaliyah, a federal magistrate judge in New York has recommended that the photographer receive the statutory maximum damage award of $150,000.
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March 09, 2023
Challenge To DMCA Exemption For Medical Device Repair Tossed
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by trade groups representing original equipment manufacturers of medical imaging devices over a 2021 final rule exempting repairers of medical equipment from allegations of circumventing technological protection measures (TPMs) for copyrighted works.
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March 09, 2023
Copyright Claims By Architect Against Property Developer Will Proceed
SAN ANTONIO — A federal judge in Texas on March 8 denied a motion for summary judgment by the developer of the Creekside Ranch, a residential development in New Braunfels, Texas, deeming the request premature in a win for a copyright owner.