When copyrights aren’t a federal case
Can copyright disputes ever be litigated in state court? It’s generally understood that the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over copyright claims, in contrast to... Read more
Tag: Copyright Law
Split decision
During my traditional end-of-December goof-off here I didn’t pay adequate attention to the important non-ruling in Costco v. Omega, which involves an issue I have... Read more
Returning balance to the IP equation
My article, “Trademark, Copyright, and the Internet: Time to Return Balance to Civil Litigation” in the August 31, 2010 edition of the Federalist Society’s Engage magazine is now... Read more
Edifice of absurdity
Via Boing Boing — ArchitectureChicago reports that the Marina City Towers condominium association is claiming “common law copyright” on the landmark Chicago buildings’ “name or... Read more
Zombie on zombie action
The Escapist (via Punning Pundit): In a battle that refuses to die, publisher Capcom filed a pre-emptive lawsuit against the Dawn of the Dead film... Read more
Holding Caulfield
I could have linked to a million stories on this, but Publishers Weekly seems appropriate*: Finding that author J.D. Salinger is “likely to succeed on the... Read more
Can you ring the unrung bell? (Updated)
[stextbox id=”alert”]UPDATE and preface: Almost everyone who has written on the “jurisdiction” issue decided in Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick, 130 S.Ct. 1237, in which the... Read more
Copywrong
David Post discusses Judge Richard Posner’s musings on the pretty hopeless prospects of the newspaper biz: [I]f “the newspaper” as a business model fails (because... Read more
No copyright in the fact of your existence
Whether someone else’s movie includes your building in Times Square (a properly defunct trademark claim) or, as Marty Schwimmer reports, your pinball machine in the... Read more
Pro shutterbug’s guide to IP
Here’s a good excerpt from a new book by copyright doyenne Nancy Wolff called The Professional Photographer’s Legal Handbook. It’s on a favorite topic of... Read more
Who Owns First?
Is the beloved routine in the public domain? Say it with me: “I don’t know. Third base.” Read more
An answer to the musical question
Unsurprising news: In a dramatic acceleration of the seven-year sales decline that has battered the music industry, compact-disc sales for the first three months of... Read more
Likelihood of … whatever
Okay, folks — this one is for the lawyers, pretty much. It’s a Contract Interpretation Quiz (I’ve added the emphasis): Interpret this contract, reproduced below in... Read more
Best of 2006: Who owns the copyright in scans of public domain works?
First posted on May 7, 2006. I love Plan59.com. If you’re my age or a little older, almost any click on this smartly designed and... Read more