We recently discussed a new trend in celebrity copyright litigation on our YouTube channel and podcast (The Briefing on YouTube). Specifically, we discussed celebrities taking a stand and defending copyright claims brought by photographers against celebrities who reposted photos on their social media accounts. Two specific celebs who have taken a stand are
A recent case in the Southern District of New York calls into serious question the ubiquitous practice of embedding photographs on a content creator’s website.
An embedded photo is one that is not hosted on the website’s own server, but instead is linked to a third-party server like a social media site. Instead of the photo being permanently available on the website, the website pulls the photo from the third-party site live when the website is accessed by a user. Platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok make it extremely easy for websites to embed user posts, and provide website designers with tools specifically meant to make embedding seamless for the user.
In a recent case (Sinclair v. Ziff Davis, LLC, 1:18-cv-00790, S.D.N.Y.), a professional photographer posted a photo to Instagram that was later embedded by Mashable in an article on its website. In its original ruling, the court held that Instagram’s terms of service (which every user, including Sinclair, accepts when signing up) permitted the embedding on links on third party websites. The court ruled that Instagram had the right to relicense Sinclair’s image to Mashable, and granted Mashable a dismissal of Sinclair’s claims.
Continue Reading Recent Case Demonstrates the Need for Caution When Embedding Links to Social Media Posts
Under the Copyright Act, an owner of a copyright suing for infringement may elect to seek statutory damages instead of actual damages. The amount of statutory damages under the Copyright Act are limited to $30,000 for innocent infringement and up to $150,000 for willful infringement. In Desire, LLC v. Manna Textiles, Inc., et al. (decided February 2, 2021), the Ninth Circuit was confronted with the issue of whether a plaintiff is entitled to multiple statutory damage awards where some of the defendants are found to be jointly and severally liable with each other.
Desire is a fabric supplier that had obtained and registered with the Copyright office “a two dimensional floral print textile design.” Shortly thereafter, a woman’s clothing manufacturing, Top Fashion, purchased a couple of yards of the fabric from Desire in order to secure a clothing order with Ashley Stewart, Inc., a woman’s clothing retailer. Unfortunately, Top Fashion and Desire had a dispute over the fabric’s price. Top Fashion then showed the design to Manna, a fabric designer, who in turn used a Chinese textile design firm to modify the design. That designer changed approximately 30-40% of the original design, and Manna subsequently registered the “new” design with the Copyright Office.
Continue Reading The Interplay Between Statutory Damages and Joint and Several Liability in a Copyright Infringement Action
Join Josh Escovedo and Jessica Corpuz in this one-hour webinar about Intellectual Property Law and will specifically address The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.
Program Summary:
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021—arising from the December 2020 stimulus bill—made significant changes to intellectual property law, unbeknownst to many practitioners. This webinar will focus on the changes
Is it possible to legally protect an idea? The answer is: not really.
Intellectual property is intangible personal property. There are four types of intellectual property that are protected by law: patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. A separate set of laws governs each one. Although ideas may be intangible personal property, ideas do not
