An artist’s illustration of two dolphins crossing underwater was an idea that was found first in nature and was not protectable under copyright law, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has held. The court affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of another artist who created a painting with a…
The legal battle over who has the copyright claim to the pictures taken by a monkey has finally come to an end. The monkey self-portrait (“selfie”) dispute is a series of much discussed legal proceedings concerning photos taken in 2011 by a crested black macaque, Naruto, using equipment belonging to a British tourist (David Slater)…
A jewelry designer’s “Buddha’s Kiss” earring was entitled only to “thin” copyright protection because there were a limited number of ways to design an earring containing the work’s single protectable idea—a teardrop-shaped earring incorporating the henna symbol for the word “kiss” and the shape of the Buddha—the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has…
The federal district court in Oakland did not err in rejecting conversion of intellectual property and other claims brought by the sons of late rock-and-roll concert-promoter Bill Graham against the executor of their father’s estate and the current owners of copyrights and a trademark previously owned by Graham’s company, the U.S. Court of Appeals in…
In a copyright action brought by Ukranian figure skater Oksana Baiul and her company, Oksana Ltd., a federal district court did not err in dismissing her claims, with prejudice, after judgment on the pleadings was granted to defendant NBC Sports, the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City has ruled. The dismissal with prejudice…
Microsoft Corp. established, as a matter of law, that several California retailers infringed the software giant’s copyrights and trademarks by selling 60 units of software, each of which included a counterfeit copy of Microsoft Windows 7 or Microsoft Office 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has determined. A judgment against the retailers…
Designs for cheerleading uniforms owned by Varsity Brands, Inc., were copyrightable because the graphic elements of those designs were separable from the utilitarian function of a cheerleading uniform, the U.S. Supreme Court has held. In a split decision, the Court held that a feature incorporated into the design of a useful article is eligible for…
A Pasadena, California, district court ruling that FilmOn X, LLC, was a “cable system” and thus eligible for compulsory licenses under the Copyright Act has been reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco. In a ruling in favor of broadcasters such as Fox Television Stations, Inc., the court held that, based on…
From the Celestial Jukebox to AI. We have now reached the “Celestial Jukebox” predicted by Prof. Goldstein,[1] and have even gone well beyond with the rise of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. These key issues were at the heart of the annual IP conference organised by the University of Geneva on February 22, 2017 (programme…
The California Supreme Court has been asked by the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco to provide guidance on the question of whether California statutory or common law grants owners of pre-1972 sound recordings an exclusive right of public performance. This guidance is key to a lawsuit brought by Flo & Eddie, Inc.—owner of…
