Mask Work Infringement -
In analogizing semiconductor chips to traditional areas of copyright law, the legislative history notes that, just as a plagiarist who copies only one chapter of a book may be held liable for...more
Understanding Mask Work Mask work is a type of intellectual property protection designed to protect layout designs (topographies) of integrated circuits. It is authorized by the federal Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of...more
Trademarks are the heartbeat of all businesses that rely on brand identity to reach their audience. Nowhere is this more important than for entertainment and media companies that constantly struggle through the often...more
The Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) was signed into law on December 27, 2020. The Act introduces significant amendments to the Lanham Act designed to strengthen the rights of legitimate trademark owners. The Act makes it...more
The Second Circuit issued a remarkable decision on termination rights under Sections 203 and 304(c) of the Copyright Act that seemingly, whether knowingly or otherwise, limits the Act’s extraterritorial reach. Ennio Morricone...more
8/30/2019
/ Appeals ,
Authors ,
Authorship ,
Copyright ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Film Industry ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP Assignment Agreements ,
Italy ,
Reversal ,
Termination Rights ,
The Copyright Act ,
Work Made For Hire Doctrine
On March 4, 2019, the United States Supreme Court held unanimously that “a copyright claimant may commence an infringement suit … when the Copyright Office registers a copyright.” Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v....more
3/8/2019
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Exhaustion ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Registration ,
Damages ,
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp v Wall-Street.com LLC ,
SCOTUS ,
Solicitor General ,
Split of Authority ,
The Copyright Act ,
Uniformity
A few months ago, we brought to your attention a case initiated by The Turtles, seeking royalties in New York for the unauthorized performance of their pre-1972 sound recordings. In that decision, the Court of Appeals of New...more
10/30/2017
/ Common Law Claims ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Litigation ,
FL Supreme Court ,
Music ,
Music Industry ,
Musical Sound Recordings ,
Popular ,
Public Performance Rights ,
Royalties ,
Sound Recording Copyrights
Musical scores incorporated into films are usually produced with the specific film in mind. In the U.S., we call such works “works made for hire,” meaning that the artist does not retain authorship rights to the music....more
10/24/2017
/ Copyright ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Film Industry ,
Foreign Relations ,
IP Assignment Agreements ,
Italy ,
Movies ,
Music ,
Music Industry ,
Musical Sound Recordings ,
Section 203 ,
Sound Recording Copyrights ,
The Copyright Act ,
Work Made For Hire Doctrine
Section 411(a) of the Copyright Act generally requires copyright registration, or a refusal of registration, before a copyright action may be filed. This has led to a variety of decisions from the Circuit and District Courts...more
On December 20, 2016, the New York Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state, held that no common law public performance right exists for pre-1972 sound recordings. The issue of whether a common law public performance...more
In Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., 572 U.S. __ (2014), the United States Supreme Court addressed the role that the equitable defense of laches – i.e., a plaintiff’s unreasonable and prejudicial delay in commencing suit...more
Bona fide intent, the sine qua non of non-use trademark applications, was given new meaning by the TTAB in a decision released unpublished February 21, 2014 but redesignated as precedent on March 26, 2014, thus placing at...more
Détente can be a beautiful thing. However, as demonstrated by the recent settlement agreement between Mega-media giants Google and Viacom, achieving it can be very expensive.
In 2007, Viacom filed suit against YouTube...more
A little used and often overlooked provision of the California Code of Civil Procedure recently played an important role in three recent cases brought by AF Holdings LLC, a foreign entity formed under the laws of the...more
Some appellate decisions are worth examining because they plow new ground. Others serve to explain the ground that was plowed. This decision – dealing with substantial similarity (or lack thereof) between two sets of stick...more