Hitler on copyright
The “Downfall parodies” aren’t really parodies, in the legal sense. But as this one demonstrates, “Hitler” does seem to understand something about copyright, law, IP... Read more
Tag: Fair Use
Second Circuit and the whole of the law on confusion
This is big, but stay calm. Though I hardly can. I took some heat a little while ago for suggesting, contrary to my generally skeptical... Read more
The “Fair Use Massacre” (updated)
First, this vintage LOC item: Fred von Lohmann of the EFF calls out YouTube: Fair use has always been at risk on YouTube, thanks to... Read more
Semi-monthly off the wall tweets
Here’s what I have been chirping about lately: RT @ArsLaw: Tenenbaum: $675K stat. dams absurd; I caused $21 in losses | Ok, even I don’t... Read more
Little people, big lawsuits
The Washington Post reports on legal action taken by ordinary folk against Big IP Content Generating institutions for lifting and using “user-generated” content, i.e., pictures... Read more
The AP, copyright, and the bloggers
You can’t have missed the story, in all its agony. One weensy problem with the blogosphere: It’s so quick, so supple, so instantaneous, so plastic…... Read more
Copyright in cease and desist letters? Not quite.
A law firm’s press release says: The US District Court for the District of Idaho has found that copyright law protects a lawyer demand letter... Read more
Cover banned?
Now this is an interesting twist on IP rights and wrongs. It’s interesting, though, more as a sign of the desperation of the dead-tree media... Read more
How generic is your cupcakery? Or is it CUPCAKERY™ after all?
From Ryan Gile: Is CUPCAKERY a generic term for a cupcake bakery? At first, the word “cupcakery” seems somewhat suggestive–a unique play on the words... Read more
ReDigi Redux: A Decision in Two Dialogues
There is a case so plainly inappropriate for a fair use defense, and this is that case. Read more
The Sound of silence
Michael Atkins is beside himself with intellectual-property-enforcement frustration about the use of an image of the Seattle Space Needle — a tall pointy building what... Read more
Worth a thousand words
How much use is fair use — i.e., permissible use — when it comes to graphics and photographs you “find” on the Internet? Not too... Read more
A quick scan of the law regarding copyright and the public domain images
The story’s all over the Net, but here’s as good a take on it as any, from Mike Masnick at Techdirt: Derrick Coetzee, a software... Read more
Ben Stein trips over IP
Walter Olson: With all his lawyer chums from Milberg-witness days, you’d think Ben Stein could have saved the makers of his creationist movie from stumbling... Read more