The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a section in the US Copyright Act that provides a safe harbor for internet service providers so long as they comply with a notice and takedown system. The way the DMCA works is a...more
8/22/2024
/ Contributory Infringement ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyright Office ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Digital Media ,
DMCA ,
Forum Non Conveniens ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
Misappropriation ,
Online Platforms ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Safe Harbors ,
Takedown Notices ,
Trade Secrets ,
Websites
This blog has covered artificial intelligence and copyright protection in the United States on a number of occasions, including It’s Alive? and AI Artwork. To date, the Copyright Office has consistently rejected registration...more
Welcome to Issue 4 of the Dorsey Legal Arcade, our newsletter chronicling legal developments impacting the video game industry. At Dorsey & Whitney LLP, we have a strong international practice and an interest in changes in...more
3/2/2023
/ Augmented Reality ,
China ,
Emerging Technologies ,
Emerging Technology Companies ,
eSports ,
Gaming ,
Loot Boxes ,
Online Gaming ,
Online Safety for Children ,
Video Games ,
Virtual Reality
After two years of groundwork, the Copyright Office’s new forum for hearing small copyright claims is finally here. The Copyright Claims Board (CCB) began accepting claims on June 16 and seeks to provide a streamlined...more
Earlier this summer, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson refused to buy plaintiff, Valancourt Books, LLC’s, claims that the Copyright Office of the United States unconstitutionally demanded books for free, when Judge...more
As we wrote in Part 1 of this series, the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (“TMA”) was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and contained several significant amendments to the Lanham Act. This post will cover three of the...more
The Washington, D.C. professional football team recently announced plans to cease using the name “Redskins” in favor of a new name. The “Redskins” name has been the source of both cultural and trademark conflict through the...more
Having previously identified the COVID-19 outbreak as an “extraordinary situation” under 37 CFR 1.183, USPTO Director Andrei Iancu is exercising sua sponte authority to implement a COVID-19 prioritized examination pilot...more
In a 5-4 decision with the majority opinion delivered by Chief Justice Roberts, the Supreme Court held that copyright protection does not extend to annotations in Georgia’s official annotated code. The Code Revision Committee...more
4/29/2020
/ Annotated Case Law ,
Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyrightable Subject Matter ,
Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc ,
Government Edicts Doctrine ,
Legislative Duties ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Code ,
The Copyright Act
USPTO Director Andrei Iancu has exercised temporary authority under the CARES Act to extend certain Patent and Trademark filing deadlines by thirty days due to the COVID-19 emergency. The extensions apply to selected Patent,...more
In a case where the subject matter (copyrights relating to footage of a salvaged pirate ship) is arguably more intriguing than the question presented, the Supreme Court held that a section of the Copyright Act allowing...more
3/30/2020
/ Abrogation ,
Allen v Cooper ,
Authors ,
Certiorari ,
Congressional Intent ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Ownership ,
Copyright Remedy Clarification Act ,
Eleventh Amendment ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
SCOTUS ,
Sovereign Immunity
In the music world, performance rights organizations (“PROs”) serve an intermediary function between songwriters and music publishers and third parties who perform the protected works publicly. Among the largest PROs in the...more
1/3/2020
/ ASCAP ,
BMI ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Infringement ,
IP License ,
License Agreements ,
Music Industry ,
Public Performance Rights ,
Royalties ,
SESAC ,
The Copyright Act
And the new top level domain names just keep on coming. As our readers may know, ICANN, the organization that operates the internet domain name system, authorized the launch of the New gTLD Program – the largest expansion of...more
On June 3, 2019, the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether Congress validly abrogated State sovereign immunity for copyright infringement claims by passing the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of 1990 (“CRCA”), 17 U.S.C. §...more
6/10/2019
/ Abrogation ,
Allen v Cooper ,
Authors ,
Certiorari ,
Congressional Intent ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Ownership ,
Copyright Remedy Clarification Act ,
SCOTUS ,
Sovereign Immunity
As we previously reported on our blog, the doors to the public domain will open in the United States for the first time since 1998. On January 1, 2019, any works published in the United States in 1923 or prior are freed from...more
In a decision issued on December 12, 2018, the Second Circuit refused to recognize application of the first sale doctrine to a service that had been established as a marketplace for resale of digital music files. Under the...more
On October 10, 2018, President Trump signed the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act (“MTIA”), which will allow the United States to join the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind,...more
Under U.S. Copyright Law, copyright protection affixes to “original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression.” While copyright registration is not required to claim copyright rights, Section 411(a) of...more
Shortly before Christmas 2017, Gibson Brands sued Funko, a maker of pop culture dolls, for trademark infringement relating to several of Funko’s figurines of famous musicians. Among the dolls named in the complaint are Slash...more
If your company hosts any type of user generated content on a website, then you should appoint and record a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) agent with the Copyright Office to take advantage of safe harbor provisions...more
Since March 1, 1989, the United States has been a member of an international copyright treaty named the Berne Convention (formally called the “International Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works”). This...more
We recently provided some commentary on Gene Simmons and his application to register the “devil horns” rock and roll hand symbol. Well, you can now KISS that application goodbye, as Mr. Simmons has expressly abandoned his...more
On June 9, 2017, Gene Simmons of Kiss rock band fame applied with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) to register the following mark for “Entertainment, namely, live performances by a musical artist;...more
In a decision announced today, the Supreme Court held that Varsity Brands is entitled to assert copyright protection in two-dimensional designs featured on its cheerleading uniforms. These designs consist of various lines,...more
The Lanham Act prohibits registration on the Principal Register of a mark that is “primarily merely a surname” unless an applicant can show that the mark has acquired secondary meaning such that consumers perceive the surname...more