Successful movies always seem to be accompanied by copyright infringement lawsuits, generally an optimistic author who believes his or her story was stolen and made into a movie. But in Gomba Music, Inc. v. Avant we have a very different twist, two different claimants to ownership of the copyright in music written by the...
Read more →I’ve been writing for some time (recursive link) about numerous lawsuits between photographers, or their agencies, and textbook publishers that have used photographs in excess of what they originally licensed for their books. Mostly I’ve been writing about challenges to standing, which are early in the cases on a motion to dismiss. But some...
Read more →When does a claim of copyright ownership accrue for purposes of the statute of limitations? Although this is an issue of first impression in our circuit, we are guided by the Second and Sixth Circuits. Our sister circuits have held that, where the gravamen of a copyright infringement suit is ownership, and a freestanding...
Read more →By now you’ve probably heard that Gary Friedrich’s claim of ownership of the copyright in the “Ghost Rider” Marvel Comics character has been given a second life. While the district court held that his copyright was assigned to Marvel Comics, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed. It’s a decision that keeps...
Read more →When we last visited Scorpio Music v. Willis, Victor Willis, one of the Village People, was successful in dismissing a suit filed by Scorpio Music, his former music publisher. Scorpio Music claimed Willis couldn’t terminate his copyright grant without his co-authors. In the decision we learned he could and the suit was dismissed, effectively terminating Willis...
Read more →So here are the facts: Business Resources Bureau, Inc. (BRB) was the publisher. Alan M. Schlein was the author. BRB hired Shirley Kwan, at Schlein’s request, to do 100 hours of editing. BRB told Kwan that she would “be given a credit or byline on the title page as editor on the project.” After...
Read more →Han Nee invented, and patented, the use of various silver alloys to be used in reflective and semi-reflective layers of CDs and DVDs. He may have done it while employed for Sony DADC US Inc. (“DADC”) and Sony, Inc. (“Sony”), a company related to DADC somehow. Nee had worked for both companies at different...
Read more →A quick lesson in bringing a claim for copyright ownership – there’s a three year statute of limitations from when you knew or had reason to know about the disputed ownership, and a registration that covers your work but doesn’t name you as an author, a copyright notice not listing you, and no royalty...
Read more →Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
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