Update on Networks v. Aereo: Denial of En Banc Review, New Lawsuits Filed, and More

When we last updated you on the status of the Aereo case in the New York federal courts, we reported that on April 1, 2013, a split panel of the Second Circuit had affirmed the New York federal district court’s denial of an injunction against internet television re-broadcaster Aereo, despite a vigorous dissent from Judge

Midnight in Paris: Faulkner Quote Dispute Now In The Past

After reading the book and watching the film at issue, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi granted Sony Picture Classics Inc.’s (“Sony”) motion to dismiss Faulkner Literary Rights, LLC’s (“Faulkner”) copyright infringement action based on a paraphrase of a nine word quote from a William Faulkner’s work in the Woody Allen

Marshall Thompson v. Getty Images: Determining a “Commercial Purpose”

Getty Images successfully defeated a claim by Marshall Thompson, singer and sole living member of the “Chi-Lite”, alleging that the online posting of his photo for possible licensing, was a violation of his right of publicity under Illinois Right of Publicity Act (IRPA), despite a contrary ruling (in a factually similar case) in Illinois in

More Than a Registrar: “Parked Pages” Program Leads Court to Deny Domain Name Registrar GoDaddy.com Safe Harbor Protection from Claims under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA)

On June 21, 2013, a Central District of California court refused to extend ACPA safe harbor protection to popular domain name registrar GoDaddy.com, finding that it intended to profit from the registration and maintenance of various domain names that encompassed plaintiff Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ OSCAR, OSCARS, OSCAR NIGHT, ACADEMY AWARD and

Oprah’s Use of “Own Your Power” Trademark Rebuffed on Appeal

Overturning a lower court decision, the Second Circuit determined, in Kelly-Brown v. Winfrey, that Oprah must defend a trademark infringement lawsuit despite her argument that the trademark fair use doctrine shielded her production company’s use of the slogan “Own Your Power” in connection with its publications and other media offerings.

Gary Friedrich Enterprises v. Marvel: Ghost Rider Accelerates to Trial

In Gary Friedrich Enterprises v. Marvel, the Second Circuit reversed the Southern District of New York, holding that there exist genuine disputes of material fact regarding the intent of a comic book creator and publisher Marvel Comics to assign renewal rights in “Ghost Rider” via a 1978 written agreement, the timeliness of the creator’s ownership

Tennis Channel Finds DC Court Too Hard for Its Liking

Any tennis player will tell you it’s better to have a first than second serve. Similarly, when it comes to TV channels looking for carriage, it’s better to be on a distributor’s first tier than a secondary, specialty tier. However, a recent United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruling in

Morris v. Guetta: Are Appropriation Artists Getting A Free Pass by the Second Circuit?

In February of this year, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled that appropriation artist Thierry Guetta infringed photographer Dennis Morris’s copyright in a photograph of Sex Pistols singer Sid Vicious when he created seven works of art based on Morris’s black and white photograph. In its order granting Morris’s motion

Capitol Records v. MP3tunes: Viacom v. YouTube Causes Court to Reconsider Ruling, Send Parties to Trial

In a decision that is largely favorable to copyright owners, Judge Pauley of the Southern District of New York granted in part a motion by plaintiffs EMI, Inc. and fourteen other record companies (together, “EMI”) requesting reconsideration of its 2011 decision in Capitol Records, Inc. v. MP3tunes, LLC, which dismissed most of EMI’s contributory copyright

Padmapper Case: Craigslist Permitted to Proceed Against Republishers of Its Content

In Craigslist Inc. v. 3Taps Inc. et al., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California refused to dismiss many of the claims brought by Craiglist against several republishers of its user content based in part on its broad terms of use, turning on whether user content was exclusive to the online classified