Copyright Law Archives - Page 6 of 8

Will Secret Copyright Treaty Restrict Your Digital Rights?

MacUser: “Most Americans expect that their laws are only passed after some period of public debate between Republicans and Democrats or their news-channel proxies. However, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) may be an exception to this rule, and if it is signed, many United States laws concerning the Internet and ownership of data may become substantively different. Various nations (including Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, and the U.S.) are said to be negotiating ACTA now, with the goal of passing a joint treaty to protect intellectual property sometime in 2010. I would like to tell you much more about what’s being written into the ACTA bill, but I can’t: the contents of the treaty are secret.”

See also “Stopping the ACTA Juggernaut.”

How can such a radical proposal legally be kept so secret from the millions of Net users and companies whose rights and freedoms stand to be affected? Who decides what becomes the law of the land and by what influence? Where is the public oversight for an agreement that would set the legal rules for the knowledge economy? And what can be done to fix this runaway process?

Warner Brothers Nixes Harry Potter Theme Party for Copyright Infringement

London Telegraph: “A Harry Potter themed dinner at a house in West London has been banned by Warner Brothers, because they say it infringes its copyright.”

Brooklyn Artist Claims Bratz Dolls Infringe Copyrights

Law.com: “Litigation over the Bratz doll ain’t over yet. The last time we checked in on the big-headed doll controversy, Mattel had won a sweeping injunction against MGA Entertainment in a copyright suit that effectively forced MGA to shut down its Bratz business. The injunction followed a jury’s award of $100 million to Mattel. You’ll recall in that case Mattel had alleged that the Bratz doll creator — Carter Bryant — had originally conceived of the idea when he was an employee of Mattel, before he went to work at MGA. Now enters artist Bernard Belair, whose lawyers at Dickstein Shapiro have filed a copyright suit against both MGA and Mattel alleging that the Bratz dolls infringe Belair’s copyrights.”

Obama Hope Image Subject to Weird Copyright Lawsuit

Wall St. Journal: “The legal saga over the red, white and blue ‘hope’ image of President Obama has taken an odd twist. Los Angeles street artist Shepard Fairey now is changing his story about which Associated Press photo he used to create his well-known image during the presidential race.”

For more background, see “Obama Poster Case Is Rematch for Ex-Bingham Partner Falzone and O’Melveny’s Cendali” and “Kirkland Lawyers Catch Fairey With Hand in Copyright Jar.”

Web Designer & Customer Liable for Copyright Infringement

Digital Media Law Blog: “When a website designer and host and its customer work together to create a website which — oops! — contains unlicensed copyrighted images, who is liable for the infringement? A recent case found that the answer was ‘Both,’ holding the web designer liable for direct infringement and its customer liable for vicarious infringement. See Corbis Corp. v. Nick Starr, d/b/a Master Maintenance, N.D. Ohio No. 3:07CV3741 (September 2, 2009)