If You Choose Not to Decide, You Still Have Made a ChoiceThe Copyright Act’s three-year limitation period doesn’t limit damages to the three years before suit is filed. And in parts of the country, it currently doesn’t require you to sue within three years of the infringement. That is where things stand after the Supreme
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Judge Rules AI-Generated Art Is Not Copyrightable
In an August 18, 2023 decision, a judge ruled that works generated by artificial intelligence (AI)[1] are not copyrightable. This may have significant ramifications for protecting works created, in whole or in part, by AIs.Stephen Thaler owns a computer system called the “Creativity Machine,” which Thaler alleges generates pieces of visual work of its…
Instagram's Embedding Tools and Copyright: Ninth Circuit's Ruling Explained
Instagram isn’t liable for copyright infringement because it provides embedding tools that allow third-party websites to retrieve and display copyrighted photos, according to a recent appellate decision. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals based its decision in Hunley v. Instagram on the fact that the third-parties’ servers never make copies of the photos during the…
Sign o’ the Times? Supreme Court decides Andy Warhol’s Prince silkscreen is not a fair use
In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court found that an Andy Warhol silkscreen of the singer Prince, sourced from an original Lynn Goldsmith photograph, did not qualify for the Copyright Act’s “fair use” defense because both the photograph and the silkscreen had the same use, which was to illustrate commercial magazine articles about the singer.
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News reporting use of insurrection photo held to be fair use
This may be news to the photographers who continue to make claims against news organizations, but use of photographs in news reporting is presumptively fair use, according to a recent decision.A Fox TV affiliate in Florida, reporting on the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, interviewed Kelly Meggs, one of the convicted insurrectionists from
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Mural copyrights: Yes, it’s a thing! Don’t end up with paint on your face
The recent decision in Petersen v. Diesel Power Gear [1] highlights the risks to executives and owners of any business that engages in advertising.The plaintiff in Petersen is an artist who creates large and dramatic murals on building walls, including commissioned murals for his clients. One of his murals is called “Godlike.” The defendant, Diesel
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Supreme Court excuses copyright application mistake
Patent and trademark applicants need to be pretty careful in their registration applications, but the Supreme Court has made things a bit easier for copyright applicants. The Court ruled in Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P. that legal inaccuracies in a copyright application do not invalidate the copyright if the applicant didn’t recognize them…
Photo publisher’s checklist: Seven New Year’s legal resolutions for your website
As we near the end of the 2021, here are seven resolutions – not including the obligatory “get in shape” or “be more organized” – that you may want to consider for 2022.
- Copyright Ownership. Check that you own your website’s content, which generally requires that your employees created the content in the regular course
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No more half measures: pleading infringer knowledge in contributory copyright infringement claims
A California judge has dismissed the copyright infringement and Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) claims of a photographer who sued Pinterest after he found his photos on the popular social media website. Professional photographer Blaine Harrington brought the claims against Pinterest, but the Court dismissed his lawsuit, finding that Harrington failed to plead sufficient facts…
Too infringing to bear: NY court sides with photographer in suit over embedded image
Social media platforms make it easy to embed photos or videos that appear on their sites. For example, Instagram and Facebook’s embedding tools connect a website visitor’s browser to the platform’s computers, retrieves the identified work, and shows it – all without copying the original work. But is embedding legal? According to Judge Jed Rakoff…