In today’s age of rapid fire social media, posting to feed the ever growing hunger of a digitally connected audience has become second nature to celebrities and other influencers. In fact, the larger the number of followers, the greater the compulsion to constantly connect. And that’s where the problems can arise.
The facts underlying the
“I googled it …” has become ubiquitous in every day conversation. Many of us refer to “googling” as the act of searching the internet regardless of whether we use the Google search engine to do so. But has our everyday use of the verb “googling” rendered the Google trademark unprotectable? “Nope,” said the Ninth Circuit
Generally, the issue of copyright infringement presents issues of fact to be decided by a jury. However, when evidence that a design is so “substantially similar” to a copyrighted design, the trial court can find infringement as a matter of law and grant summary judgment to the copyright owner. The Ninth Circuit recently approved of
Fan films and fan fiction ordinarily don’t end up being the subject of a federal court lawsuit. Most fan fiction are creative expressions reflecting adoration of a series, film or character and the majority of copyright owners take a permissive view of fan fiction. However, Paramount Pictures, the owner of the Star Trek franchise, which
On June 2, 2016 the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in a music sampling Copyright infringement case that sets up a split between the Ninth 
Circuit and the Sixth Circuit which will likely send the issue to the Supreme Court. At issue in the Ninth Circuit case was a claim of infringement based on Madonna’s
