Addressing copyright fair use in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent guidance in Warhol, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit partially reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the...more
Whether it is a smartphone, a fraud alert received from a financial institution, a vehicle modifying its settings based on current driving conditions, or political ads that will soon infiltrate our airwaves, artificial...more
The US District Court for the District of Columbia agreed with the US Copyright Office’s denial of a copyright application that sought to register visual art generated by artificial intelligence (AI) because US copyright law...more
WORK-FOR-HIRE DOCTRINE - Under copyright law, artists generally own the rights to the work they create. However, an exception exists when an artist’s work qualifies as a “work made for hire” under Section 101 of the...more
On September 30, 2021, the United State Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided a much-anticipated copyright reversion case involving the slasher franchise, Friday the 13th. This case concerns the claim for copyright...more
Second Circuit Holds that Movie Screenplay Author was Entitled to Termination Rights - The Second Circuit held recently that the screenwriter of the pop culture classic “Friday the 13th” did not write the Screenplay as a...more
Judge Alison Nathan of the Southern District federal court in New York recently dismissed copyright infringement claims against comedian Jerry Seinfeld over the show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee because the statute of...more
Back to Basics: A Primer on Intellectual Property Rights in Video Games - In this series, we discuss some of the fundamental concepts of intellectual property law as they relate specifically to video game companies and...more
When a judicial opinion refers to a “bitter feud”, a plaintiff “beset by acrimony”, and a “rock star” banker who “faced his peripeteia” (we looked it up for you - it’s Greek for “reversal of fortune”), you know there’s gotta...more
Over the years, we have written a number of articles about the importance of making sure your employment documents contain clear, understandable language. One of our federal district judges was recently faced with an...more
As the owner or manager of a newly minted business, you are likely inclined to engage independent contractors to design your web site, create your marketing materials and perhaps even provide services to your clients....more
In a digital society dominated by the saying, “there’s an app for that,” copyright protection is essential. Paying to have a work created does not automatically vest ownership of the copyright in the paying party. When making...more
In Urbont v. Sony Music Entertainment Inc., 15-1778, the Second Circuit recently revived claims against Sony and Ghostface Killah, holding that although third parties may raise a work for hire defense, here there were factual...more
As a leader of a start-up company, you are probably aware of the importance of protecting your company’s innovative products, services and technologies through patent filings. If you are savvy, you are also aware of the...more
The Second Circuit was recently asked to decide whether a contributor to a creative work, whose contributions are inseparable from and integrated into the work, can maintain a copyright interest in his or her contributions. ...more
Citing the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit’s recent en banc decision in Garcia v. Google (IP Update, Vol. 18, No. 6), the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a summary judgment ruling that...more
January 1, 2013 was a date long-feared by the recording industry. It marked the 35-year anniversary of the effective date of the Copyright Act of 1976, which grants authors of works an absolute right to terminate a transfer...more