By On April 19, 2010, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Costco v. Omega, in which the Ninth Circuit found that the first sale doctrine in copyright law only applied to goods manufactured or sold in the United States with the copyright owner’s authority. The Supreme Court will decide whether the first sale doctrine also applies to the “one-way” gray market sale of goods –goods that are manufactured and first sold abroad and then imported to the United States without the authorization of the copyright owner.Continue Reading Supreme Court Will Decide Direction of the “First Sale” Doctrine in Copyright Law
“Transformative” Or Not Revisited
by Earlier this year, I wrote of an impending legal battle between Shepard Fairey, the artist of the iconic Barack Obama “Hope” painting and the Associated Press who owns the photograph upon which the painting was based. I questioned whether any artist could commandeer the President’s likeness, and whether President Obama could stop the use of his likeness if he was so inclined. As discussed in my previous article, the answer likely depends on how “transformative” of President Obama’s likeness the work of art is.
Ninth Circuit Changes Its Definition of “Prevailing Party” In Copyright Cases
by Section 505 of the Copyright Act provides that the court may, in its discretion, award full costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, to the prevailing party in a claim arising under the Copyright Act. 17 U.S.C. § 505. In 1941, the Ninth Circuit ruled that when a party voluntarily dismisses her claim without prejudice after the court ordered a more definite statement, the defendant is the prevailing party, and therefore entitled to attorneys’ fees. Corcoran v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., 121 F.2d 575, 576 (9th Cir. 1941). The Corcoran court expressly rejected the plaintiff’s contention that the dismissal without prejudice does not confer prevailing party status on the defendants. Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Changes Its Definition of “Prevailing Party” In Copyright Cases
Copyrighter in the Rye – J.D. Salinger Stops Publication of Alleged Sequel To Famous Work
by J.D. Salinger, author of the seminal teen angst novel “The Catcher in the Rye,” recently filed a lawsuit in United States District Court in Manhattan for copyright infringement against the author of a purported “sequel” to Salinger’s classic work entitled “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye.” Salinger’s lawsuit sought a permanent injunction against publication of the new work in the United States.Continue Reading Copyrighter in the Rye – J.D. Salinger Stops Publication of Alleged Sequel To Famous Work
Does an Anti-Plagiarism Service Violate Students’ Copyrights?
by Jeff Pietsch
In April 2009, the Fourth Circuit upheld a summary judgment granted in favor of an online technology system designed to prevent plagiarism in a copyright infringement action. (A.V. v. iParadigms, L.L.C., (4th Cir. Apr. 16, 2009)). The plaintiffs, four high school students who were required to use the system by their schools, sued iParadigms’ for using their written works through the company’s “Turnitin Plagiarism Detection Service.” The plaintiffs argued that Turnitin’s archiving of the students’ works in its system constituted a violation of their copyrights under the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §101 et seq. The court, however, disagreed with this assessment and ruled that the archiving of students’ works falls under the fair use doctrine, which allows the use of copyrighted works for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.
Continue Reading Does an Anti-Plagiarism Service Violate Students’ Copyrights?