copyright

Paramount Pictures asked Google to de-list this utorrent.com forum thread because it idiotically thought it was infringing on the copyright for the movie Clueless.

Paramount Pictures Copyright Bot Falsely Accuses Forum Commenters Of Piracy

By 10.1.15

UPDATE 10/2: Jeremy Zweig, Vice President, Corporate Communications and Corporate Affairs for Viacom provided Consumerist with the following statement:

“Online piracy remains a concern and we undertake a variety of methods to mitigate its impact.  During a short time on September 22, a vendor that assists with our content protection efforts mistakenly identified a small number of URLs as infringing, and sent copyright notices in error. These notices represented about 0.01% of the total notices they sent on our behalf that particular day, the remainder of which were correct and accurate.

No action was actually taken on these erroneous notices, and no links were removed, but we’re disappointed by the error and apologize for any inconvenience this caused. We put a lot of time, care and effort into ensuring this complicated process works correctly, and nobody is more bothered than us when it doesn’t. The issue has since been remedied, and necessary steps have already been taken to ensure this does not happen again.”

 

ORIGINAL TEXT:

Even though the Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes it illegal for a copyright holder to knowingly file a bogus copyright claim against someone else, that hasn’t stopped some of the biggest stakeholders in the entertainment industry from carelessly registering takedown complaints with Google for content that in no way infringes on anyone’s copyright.

[More]

JOE WU

Court Says The Batmobile Is Special Enough To Get Copyright Protection

By 9.23.15

When someone mentions the Batmobile, do you pause and say, “Hold on — which Batmobile? Batman’s car or just like another car that’s shaped like a bat, has crime-fighting technology and ferries around a caped crusader?” Probably not, because everyone knows what the Batmobile is and who it belongs to. That entitles it to copyright protection, the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals said on Wednesday, affirming a district court’s judgment in a copyright and trademark infringement action brought by DC Comics against a maker of Batmobile replicas. [More]

(Karen Chappell)

Judge Says “Happy Birthday” Song No Longer Covered By Copyright

By 9.23.15

Filmmakers, musicians, and anyone else wishing to perform “Happy Birthday To You” no longer has to worry about paying hefty royalties to Warner/Chappell, the publisher that has long claimed to hold the copyright for the ditty. Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that the classic party tune is in the public domain. [More]

New Lawsuit Claims Monkey Should Get Copyright & Royalties For Famous Selfie

New Lawsuit Claims Monkey Should Get Copyright & Royalties For Famous Selfie

By 9.22.15

The “monkey selfie” saga continues. More than a year after the U.S. Copyright Office made it pretty clear that a non-human animal can’t hold copyright, a new lawsuit argues the grinning macaque “has the right to own and benefit from the copyright… in the same manner and to the same extent as any other author.” [More]

Appeals Court Makes Important Ruling In “Dancing Baby” Copyright Case

Appeals Court Makes Important Ruling In “Dancing Baby” Copyright Case

By 9.14.15

By now, you’ve probably heard about the “Dancing Baby” lawsuit, involving a botched attempt by Universal Music to have YouTube remove a video 29-second video of a playful toddler because a Prince song can be heard in the background. Today a federal appeals court sided on one important issue with that kid’s mother, who is suing Universal, claiming the music giant overstepped the law by not considering that the background music falls under the umbrella of an acceptable fair use. [More]

This is one of the allegedly infringing cake frosting sheets the defendants are selling on eBay.

Disney, Lucasfilm, Sanrio Sue Makers Of Counterfeit Marvel, Star Wars, Hello Kitty Cake Frosting

By 9.4.15

We’ve all seen local bakeries and supermarkets selling cakes decorated with the images of trademarked cartoon/movie/comic characters and not many people seem to care that the decorator may not have permission to use these images. But there’s also a difference between someone’s hand-iced Captain America cake and a company that uses movie stills and promotional art to make pre-fab cake frosting sheets. Thus, Disney, Lucasfilm and Sanrio — tired of seeing cakes featuring the unauthorized faces of Yoda, Iron Man, and Hello Kitty — have teamed up to sue two Michigan men for trademark and copyright infringement. [More]

Federal Court Rules: Chicken Sandwich Not Protected By Copyright

Federal Court Rules: Chicken Sandwich Not Protected By Copyright

By 8.25.15

You may recall that we recently tested various burger recipes sent in by readers. What if I took one of those recipes, slapped the name “Morranwich” on it and made it the basis of a billion-dollar burger empire? While the reader whose recipe I used for the sandwich might be really upset, they couldn’t make a copyright claim against Morranwich Worldwide (a division of Cyber Dynamics Systems Corporation) because, as precious as a sandwich recipe might be, it’s not copyrightable. [More]

Why The Stolen Ashley Madison Data Is (Legally) Fair Game For The Internet

Why The Stolen Ashley Madison Data Is (Legally) Fair Game For The Internet

By 8.25.15


If your credit card information gets stolen in a data breach, there are certain rules in place that limit your liability and protect you from fraud. But if a hack makes personal, potentially very embarrassing, information public — as in, say, the Ashley Madison hack — there’s not much anyone can do to stop others from seeing or writing about it. [More]

Just like he didn't invent the concept of a lovable, sporadically violent manchild, Adam Sandler is not the first to use the term "Pixels" to describe a video.

UPDATED: Columbia Pictures Firm Demands Takedown Of Videos With Word “Pixels” In Title

By 8.10.15

Believe it or not, the term “pixels,” was not created solely for use as the title of an underwhelming Adam Sandler movie. But don’t tell that to the copyright enforcement firm hired by Columbia Pictures who stupidly — and perhaps illegally — demanded the removal of several videos only because they dared to use “pixels” in the title. [More]

(jpmarth)

Noted Porn Copyright Troll Asks Court To Block Use Of Terms Like “Porn” & “Copyright Troll”

By 8.4.15

We’ve told you before about Malibu Media, the porn company that has filed more than 3,500 lawsuits against alleged illegal online sharers of its adult content, thus earning its “copyright troll” badge with ease. But the company doesn’t want that term being used against it in court. [More]

City Sues Resident Who Used City Council Footage In YouTube Videos

City Sues Resident Who Used City Council Footage In YouTube Videos

By 8.3.15

Section 107 of the Copyright Act permits “fair use” of copyrighted materials “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching…, scholarship, or research.” But the leaders of one California city don’t think this applies to critical videos made using footage from its city council meetings. [More]

(frankieleon)

Trade Dispute About Dental Devices Could End Up Changing The Future Of The Entire Internet

By 8.3.15

The entire future of the internet may now depend on some plastic retainers. Specifically, two competing versions of those clear plastic alignment systems adults sometimes get instead of braces. And if that sounds weird — which to be fair, it really is — well, welcome to the strange, utterly pervasive world of IP law in a digital century. [More]

Filmmakers Claim To Have Conclusive Proof Against “Happy Birthday” Copyright Claim

Filmmakers Claim To Have Conclusive Proof Against “Happy Birthday” Copyright Claim

By 7.28.15

“Happy Birthday” (aka “Happy Birthday To You”) may be sung millions of times a day at birthday bashes around the world, but putting it in a movie or recording a version of the brief ditty will set you back some money for royalties to Warner Music Group, which has long claimed to hold the copyright for the song. But a recently filed court document claims that there is conclusive proof that the song belongs in the public domain. [More]

Yes, Your Plagiarized Twitter Joke Can Be Deleted On Copyright Grounds

Yes, Your Plagiarized Twitter Joke Can Be Deleted On Copyright Grounds

By 7.27.15

Sometimes reading through Twitter feeds can be like hanging out with that guy in the office who is constantly cracking other folks’ jokes and acting as if he’d dreamt them up on the spot. The big difference is that the office hack won’t have his wisecracks muted for violating the writer’s copyright. [More]

Universal either has the stupidest copyright bot on the planet or it genuinely doesn't want people going to the one website on Earth everyone goes to for basic information about movies.

Universal Studios Copyright Bot Stupidly Asks Google To Delist IMDb Page For “Furious 7”

By 7.22.15

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it’s against the law to knowingly misrepresent a copyright infringement claim, and yet copyright holders and the automated bots they use to spit out these takedown and delist demands continue to make sweeping, obviously inaccurate claims without penalty. The latest example comes to us courtesy of Comcast-owned Universal Studios. [More]

Cox Customers Convince Court To Remove Them From Piracy Lawsuit

Cox Customers Convince Court To Remove Them From Piracy Lawsuit

By 7.7.15

We recently told you about a number of Cox broadband subscribers who were caught up in a piracy lawsuit filed against the cable company by music publishing giant BMG Rights Management. These customers said their personal information should not be involved in this legal dispute because they had nothing to do with the alleged content theft. Last week, the judge in the case sided with some Cox subscribers while saying that others hadn’t done enough to separate themselves from the dispute. [More]

8 Years Later, Universal Music Still Defending Takedown Of “Dancing Baby” YouTube Video

8 Years Later, Universal Music Still Defending Takedown Of “Dancing Baby” YouTube Video

By 7.6.15

Back in February 2007, a mother of a young boy posted a short, grainy video of her baby “dancing” around the kitchen while a Prince song plays, barely audibly, in the background. In the eight years since, the video has received nearly 1.3 million views on YouTube — not because it’s a particularly interesting clip, but due to its role in a copyright lawsuit that won’t go away. [More]

Artist Accuses Starbucks Of Copyright Infringement For Using Her Work

Artist Accuses Starbucks Of Copyright Infringement For Using Her Work

By 6.26.15

You may have noticed Starbucks’ new brightly colorful ads touting the deliciousness that is the frappuccino. While the new promotions are definitely easy on the eyes, a Brooklyn artist is calling foul, saying the company ripped off her work. [More]

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