Copyright Law

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By Scott Hervey

The motion picture industry’s battle against cyber piracy took an interesting twist when an individual who allegedly engaged in the illegal downloading of the movie Far Cry filed a lawsuit against the Copyright Group and the law firm that has filed numerous suits against thousands of alleged infringers.  To date, the law firm, Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver has filed suit against 20,000 anonymous “Doe” defendants for illegal file trading copies of various motion pictures, including Hurt Locker and Far Cry. Once the firm determines a defendant’s true identity it then sends out a demand letter informing the individual that they have been identified as having illegally downloaded a motion picture and explaining that the plaintiff is entitled up to $30,000 in damages under the Copyright Act for each infringed work (and in cases where the plaintiff can prove that the infringement was intentional, up to $150,000 in damages.)   The firm then offers the individual an early opportunity to settle for $2,500 before it is named as a defendant in the complaint. Continue Reading Technicalities Surrounding Statutory Damages Under The Copyright Act Trigger Suit Against Law Firm Prosecuting Online Infringement Actions

By: Matthew Massari and Scott Hervey

ivi, Inc. is either an Internet television revolutionary, or just another soon-to-be defunct Internet copyright pirate. The Seattle-based start-up is taking on television content owners and broadcast giants in order to find out.  In a suit filed in federal district court for the Western District of Washington in late September, ivi says that the Copyright Act specifically allows others to retransmit broadcasters’ signals as long as they pay the fees to the broadcasters as spelled out in the Copyright Act. ivi named ABC, CBS, CW Broadcasting, Disney, Fisher Communications, Fox Television, Major League Baseball, NBC Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, WGBH Educational Foundation, and WNET.org in the lawsuit.  Continue Reading ivi TV – New Media Revolutionary or Copyright Infringer?

By: David Muradyan

17 U.S.C. § 411(a) requires one to register their copyright prior to filing a copyright infringement lawsuit. What does it mean to “register” one’s work?  Is a copyright registered at the time the copyright holder’s application is received by the Copyright Office (the “application approach”), or at the time that the Copyright Office acts on the application and issues a certificate of registration (the “registration approach”)? Different district courts within the Ninth Circuit followed different approaches. Thanks to a recent Ninth Circuit decision in Cosmetic Ideas, Inc. v. IAC/InteractiveCorp., 606 F.3d 612 (2010), practitioners in the Ninth Circuit now have a definitive answer.Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Settles District Court Split on Copyright Filing as a Prerequisite to an Infringement Suit

By: Matthew G. Massari

On August 10, 2010, the United States District Court for the Central District of California granted Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., the publisher of the online computer game World of Warcraft, $88.5 million in a copyright-infringement case against a Georgia resident. The game publisher filed suit in federal court in Los Angeles in October 2009 against Alyson Reeves of Savannah, Georgia, and five unidentified defendants. Continue Reading World of Warcraft® Computer Game Maker Scores Big In Battle Against Infringers

By: Scott Hervey with summer associate James Brannen

Recently the 9th Circuit heard an appeal involving the network and producers of the TV program “Ghost Hunters” and two individuals who claimed that the network stole their idea. Parapsychologist Larry Montz and publicist Daena Smoller maintain that in 1981 they conceived of and created written materials, including a screenplay, about a new reality television program featuring a team of investigators who use high tech equipment to study and occasionally debunk paranormal activity.Continue Reading 9th Circuit Case Has Hit TV Series “Ghost Hunters” Out Of The Haunted House And Into The Courthouse.