Drake’s use of the lyrics for a 35-second sample of another song was transformative, the amount used was reasonable, and there was no evidence his use negatively affected the sampled song’s market. Affirming a ruling by the federal district court in New York City, the Second Circuit has determined that rapper Drake was correctly awarded…
North Carolina, the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, and various state officials acting in their official capacities—who were sued in a copyright infringement action brought by a videographer and his affiliate who produced photos and videos depicting a salvaged ship of Blackbeard the pirate—were entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit in…
The dismissal of a copyright infringement plaintiff’s claims against music publisher Sony Corporation of America and other related defendants pursuant to a mandatory arbitration provision in the agreement that the plaintiff had signed upon entering Sony’s songwriting contest did not warrant an award of attorney fees to Sony as a prevailing party under the Copyright…
The federal district court in Philadelphia did not err in dismissing copyright infringement claims brought by Daniel Marino, against popular musician Usher—Marino’s co-creators of the song Club Girl—and several music industry entities, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has decided. Furthermore, Marino’s attorney, Francis Malofiy, was properly sanctioned by the lower court for contacting…
The federal district court in New York City correctly dismissed Joel R. McDonald’s amended complaint against musicians and record producers Kanye West, Shawn Carter (“Jay Z”), and others because the defendants’ song “Made in America” was not substantially similar to McDonald’s song with the same title, either in terms of lyrical content or musical structure,…
The federal district court in Chicago incorrectly required the painter of a portrait of the leader of the Nation of Islam to prove unauthorized copying, instead of merely copying, for purposes of its copyright infringement claim against the publisher of a newspaper for selling unauthorized copies of his work “Minister Farrakhan Painting,” the U.S. Court…
A Kansas federal court did not err in dismissing fish illustrator Joseph Tomelleri’s copyright infringement suit against MEDL Mobile and Jason Siniscalchi, the developers and marketers of a fishing app called FishID, because Tomelleri failed to show that his injuries arose from MEDL’s Kansas activities, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver has determined. Furthermore,…
Recordings used by defendants Activision Blizzard, Inc., and Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (collectively, Blizzard) of a former employee’s voice for a character in a video game constituted a “work made for hire” under the Copyright Act, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco (Lewis v. Activision Blizzard, Inc., December 18, 2015, per curiam)….
Robert Snow, author of the 2012 book Slaughter on North LaSalle, did not infringe Carol Sissom’s copyright in her 2006 book The LaSalle Street Murders, because none of the material that Sissom alleged was taken from her book was protectable material under the Copyright Act, but merely restated historical events, the U.S. Court of Appeals…
