The Russian citizen’s contacts with Virginia established that he purposefully availed himself of the privilege of conducting business in Virginia. The federal district court in Alexandria, Virginia, erred in determining that it lacked personal jurisdiction over a Russian national accused by 12 recording companies of operating two websites that are devoted to “stream ripping” files…
Blocking injunctions against internet service providers (ISPs) remain one of the most interesting and litigated issues of contemporary copyright law. Though the concept of blocking injunctions per se is firmly established on the basis of CJEU case law (C‑324/09 L’Oréal, C-70/10 Scarlet Extended, C-360/10 Sabam and the seminal C-314/12 UPC Telekabel), blocking injunction jurisprudence in…
As yet, no federal appeals court has addressed whether a human body part may qualify as a tangible medium of expression for copyright purposes, but this one came close. In a suit in which a makeup artist’s state law claims against a photographer and a makeup manufacturer were dismissed as preempted by the Copyright Act,…
In addition to the low likelihood of success on the merits, the threat of imminent harm was eliminated, given that the Christmas show that Enchant sought to stop had already come and gone. The denial of a preliminary injunction by a Nashville federal court in a copyright infringement case involving holiday animal sculptures on the…
This case concerned the famous Brompton bicycle which can be folded to carry away after use (Case C‑833/18, SI, Brompton Bicycle Ltd. v. Chedech / Get2Get); the author commented on the Advocate General’s opinion here and here. The bike was once protected by a patent and, following its expiry, the defendant (Get2Get) started selling a…
Register’s opinion needed to determine validity of textile designer’s “single-unit registration” for 31 separate designs that were not released at the same time. In a case in which textile designer Unicolors, Inc., obtained a jury verdict against retailer H&M for copyright infringement involving designs printed on garments, the Ninth Circuit has reversed and remanded, ordering…
Copyright is an engine for knowledge. Although copyright creates monopolies, it should not be considered as a good in itself, but as a tool which can be used to achieve societally desirable objectives. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a non-traditional 5-4 vote, did just that when – on 20 April 2020, in Georgia vs. Public.Resource.org…
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…
ORF/Facebook – First follow up ruling after CJEU C18/18 – Glawischnig/Facebook First, a little bit of history. Back in 2016, a Facebook post containing an article with a photograph of the former Austrian politician Eva Glawischnig gave rise to a landmark decision against Facebook. Alongside a photo of Ms Glawischnig, she was referred to as,…
German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) decisions of April 30, 2020 ( I ZR 139/15 and I ZR 228/15) Recently, the German Federal Supreme Court issued press releases in two cases which are of fundamental importance for the relationship between copyright and conflicting fundamental rights. Specifically, the two cases, Funke Medien (also known as “Afghanistan Papiere”) and Spiegel…
