Victory for Blizzard/Activision in “Call of Duty” Right-of-Publicity Battle with Manuel Noriega
This Blog is an Update to a Previous Post. To read the original post, please click here. On August 1, 2014, we reported that former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega had filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court against Blizzard/Activision over Activision’s portrayal of the despot in its highly successful game “Call of Duty: Black Ops
Mary E. Rasenberger hired as Executive Director of The Authors Guild
Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP (CDAS) is proud to announce that The Authors Guild has hired Mary Rasenberger to succeed Paul Aiken as executive director, on November 3. Currently a partner at CDAS, Ms. Rasenberger recently was director of the Library of Congress’s National Digital Preservation Program from 2006 to 2008 and prior to that spend
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Seventh Circuit Affirms Fair Use of Mayor’s Photograph, and Criticizes Second Circuit’s Approach in Cariou v. Prince
Note: This blog is cross-posted with permission from CopyrightAlliance.org. Photographer Michael Kienitz (“Kienitz”) appealed the Western District Court of Wisconsin’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of Sconnie Nation LLC and its vendor, Underground Printing-Wisconsin LLC (collectively, “defendants” or “Sconnie Nation”), contending defendants were liable for copyright infringement in connection with their unauthorized use
No Presumption of Irreparable Harm for Lanham Act Injunctions, Says Third Circuit
In a recent decision, the Third Circuit announced that it would no longer presume irreparable harm for plaintiffs requesting preliminary injunctive relief for claims arising under the Lanham Act (see Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., No. 13-2290 (Aug. 26, 2014)). Instead, claimants seeking to enjoin acts of trademark infringement or false advertising must
Re-Creation of Scenes from Pornographic Film for Biopic Not a Violation of Copyright Laws
In Arrow Productions, Ltd. v. The Weinstein Company LLC, et al., No. 13 Civ. 05448, 2014 WL 4211350 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 25, 2014), Judge Griesa undertook the judicial task of determining whether Defendants’ unauthorized recreation of scenes from Arrow’s copyrighted film constitutes fair use by viewing “all that is necessary” to make such determination – scenes
Sticks, Carrots and Copyrights
Last month, in Sandy Routt, d/b/a sandybeachgifts.com, d/b/a Sandys Beach v. Amazon.com, Inc., the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed claims seeing to hold Amazon.com vicariously liable for the copyright and trademark infringing activities of its affiliate marketing partners. Amazon.com maintains a program in which third party websites agree to display a widget that contains
CDAS Attorneys Named “Super Lawyers” for 2014
Fourteen Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard attorneys were selected for inclusion in the 2014 edition of New York Metro Super Lawyers, spanning various practice areas including Entertainment & Sports, Media & Advertising, Intellectual Property, Intellectual Property Litigation, Non-Profit Organizations and Business & Corporate Law. Each year, only five percent of Manhattan attorneys receive the honor
Copyright on the Wild Side
It’s been theorized that if you give a million monkeys a million typewriters, they will eventually produce the entire collected works of William Shakespeare. It’s been proven, however, that if a troupe of monkeys steals a camera, one will eventually take a really good selfie. By now you’ve probably heard this story, but just in
The Future of Video
By Simon N. Pulman Consumption of online video continues to grow at a rapid pace. Online video ad revenue is projected to reach nearly $5 billion in 2016, while premium streaming video distributors including Netflix, Hulu Plus and Yahoo are stepping up their licensing and commissioning of original content. Most industry observers believe that online
CDAS Partner Mary E. Rasenberger Acknowledged As U.S. Copyright Office Releases Draft Compendium
The U.S Copyright Office today released a draft of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition, marking the first major revision to the document in more than two decades. CDAS partner Mary E. Rasenberger acted as project director for the creation of the document, and was responsible for developing and managing the entirety