(Podcast) The Briefing: Protecting Fictional Characters – Copyright and Trademark Strategies
(Podcast) The Briefing: What Is Fair Use and Why Does It Matter?
The Briefing: What Is Fair Use and Why Does It Matter?
(Podcast) The Briefing: The Wrong Argument – Why Authors Lost Against Meta and What Comes Next
(Podcast) The Briefing: The Supreme Court Dodges the Discovery Rule Question—What That Means for Copyright Enforcement
Can Tattoos Be Copyrighted? The Legal Battle Over Mike Tyson's Iconic Ink — No Infringement Intended Podcast
(Podcast) The Briefing: Millions at Stake – How 2 Live Crew Beat Bankruptcy to Reclaim Their Music
The Briefing: Millions at Stake – How 2 Live Crew Beat Bankruptcy to Reclaim Their Music
The Briefing: Supreme Court Holds Copyright Damages Can Go Beyond 3 Years (Podcast)
SCOTUS applies the "discovery rule" in timely copyright infringement claim; Cher wins in Marital Settlement Agreement vs Copyright Grant Termination Notices; Student Athletes Win Revenue Share and NIL
Podcast: The Briefing - Court Rejects Post-Warhol Fair Use Defense in Photographer’s Copyright Lawsuit
Podcast: The Briefing by the IP Law Blog - What Now for Fair Use After Warhol v. Goldsmith
The Briefing by the IP Law Blog: What Now for Fair Use After Warhol v. Goldsmith
Podcast: The Briefing by the IP Law Blog - The Essential Purpose of the Short Form Copyright Assignment (Archive)
The Briefing by the IP Law Blog: Miami Dolphins Coach Gets Sacked on Motion to Dismiss
Podcast: The Briefing by the IP Law Blog - Miami Dolphins Coach Gets Sacked on Motion to Dismiss
Podcast: The Briefing by the IP Law Blog - SCOTUS Issues First IP Ruling of 2022 in Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Maurits, LP
The Briefing by the IP Law Blog: SCOTUS Issues First IP Ruling of 2022 in Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Maurits, LP
Podcast - The Briefing by the IP Law Blog: A Spooky Copyright Decision for Producers of Friday the 13th Franchise
The Briefing by the IP Law Blog: A Spooky Copyright Decision for Producers of Friday the 13th Franchise
In a decision potentially implicating a number of universities and creative employees, a federal court in Vermont recently held that the University of Vermont (UVM) owned the copyright to a new athletic logo created by a...more
The Ninth Circuit recently issued a partial reversal of a grant of summary judgment to Disney in a dispute stemming from the misuse of motion capture software. This case arose when Disney's visual effects contractor, Digital...more
In action over competing live stage rights to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Second Circuit affirms district court’s ruling that “derivative works exception” to Copyright Act’s termination provision does not perpetuate...more
Floor plans are a key part of real estate listings, providing fundamental information about the layout of a building to prospective buyers or renters. But home designer Charles James and his company Designworks Homes, Inc....more
The US District Court for the Northern District of California granted summary judgment in favor of an artificial intelligence (AI) company, finding that its use of lawfully acquired copyrighted materials for training and its...more
Only a few months ago, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware ruled that the use of "headnotes" in a legal search tool, for the purpose of training a competing legal tool driven by artificial intelligence (AI),...more
Within a roughly one-week period in late June 2025, two federal judges in the Northern District of California entered summary judgment rulings on the issue of “fair use” in connection with generative AI platforms’ use of...more
In the space of forty-eight hours, two judges of the Northern District of California issued detailed, partially contrasting opinions on whether large language model (“LLM”) training that copies entire books without...more
The Copyright Act does not expressly address the protection of individual characters in expressive works, but courts have long recognized that certain characters, particularly those with strong visual or narrative identities,...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that Ed Sheeran’s 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud” does not infringe the copyright on Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic “Let’s Get It On.” Structured Asset...more
The Second Circuit recently decided Structured Asset Sales, LLC v. Edward Christopher Sheeran, considering whether Sheeran’s hit song “Thinking Out Loud” infringed the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic “Let’s Get It...more
Responding to the OpenAI brief that read more like a press release than a traditional motion to dismiss, the New York Times attacked OpenAI's approach from the very first sentence, calling the factual background of OpenAI's...more
In JBrick, LLC v. Chazak Kinder, Inc. et al, 1-21-cv-02883 (EDNY Sep. 21, 2023) (Hector Gonzalez), the District Court for the Eastern District of New York granted the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment regarding the...more
Addressing the issue for the first time, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found that the Copyright Act of 1976’s requirement to deposit two copies of a work with the Library of Congress within three months...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit partially affirmed a district court’s summary judgment order holding that audiovisual recordings of live concerts do not fall within the scope of the Copyright Act’s compulsory...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a district court’s summary judgment, rejecting an accused publisher’s argument that their use of copyrighted photos embedded in articles was fair use under the...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a summary judgment grant, ruling that an author was an independent contractor when writing the screenplay for a horror film and entitled to authorship rights, and...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant in a copyright case based on a “minimal usage” or de minimis use defense. Richard N. Bell v....more
Addressing fair use as an affirmative defense to copyright infringement, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit amended its recent opinion, reversing a district court’s summary judgment in favor of fair use. The Court...more
In a dispute over the alleged infringement of a floral print textile design, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the plaintiff’s ownership of a valid copyright, but reversed and remanded for further...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a grant of summary judgment on the issue of copyright infringement and an award of attorneys’ fees against the plaintiff under the Copyright Act. Although the Court noted...more
Vacating the district court’s order denying a defendant’s recovery of attorneys’ fees under the Copyright Act, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that, even when asserted as a claim for declaratory relief, any...more
Holding that reproduction of a digital file for purposes of resale does not fall under the “first sale” doctrine of the Copyright Act, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of...more
In This Issue - US Taxation of IP After Tax Reform - U.S. taxation of intellectual property has become astoundingly more complex after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The new rules are so complex that the IRS and Treasury...more
In January 2016 and January 2017, we blogged about a trademark and copyright dispute between Louis Vuitton Malletier, S.A. and My Other Bag, Inc. (“MOB”) over a line of canvas tote bags that parodied Louis Vuitton’s iconic...more