In Brief:  Google’s use of framing in its search results is a copyright issue.

In Brief:  On January 1 of each year, some copyrighted works fall into the public domain. That means, they are free for use, copying and as a basis for derivative works. Works created before 1928 are now in the public domain. Thousands of works spanning all copyright categories make up the Public Domain Class of 2024. Members of the Public Domain Class of 2024 have cultural significance spanning from the Harlem Renaissance to feminist literature and represent advances in free expression. Here are some notable graduates.

In Brief:  Fleeting use of a creative work for the purposes of commentary is fair use.

In Brief:  The US Copyright cannot demand the deposit of a physical copy of a work for registration.

In Brief:  The case of the Andy Warhol Foundation and Lynn Goldsmith regarding photos of Prince has been kicking around the courts and this blog for 4 years. The Supreme Court has spoken holding that there was no fair use.

In Brief:  The Copyright Office will register a work that has some AI.

In Brief:  Each year, a new crop of creative works go into the public domain. This year, works created from 1927 go into the public domain. The class motto is “The Best Things in Life are Free".

In Brief:  An author has a right to terminate a copyright transfer after a certain number of years.

In Brief:   A picture is worth a thousand words but using it may not pass the fair use test.

In Brief: Copyright in fireworks text messages is invalid.

In Brief:  Oral agreements with independent contractors fuel copyright infringement litigation.

In Brief:   It takes some work to prove up a missing copyright assignment.

In Brief:  Each year, a new crop of creative works go into the public domain.

In Brief:  A trademark has to meet minimum standards of creativity for a copyright registration.

Oracle America, Inc. owns the copyright to the Java computer language. In 2005, Google LLC acquired Android and wanted to build a new software platform for mobile devices. To allow the programmers familiar with Java to help build the platform, Google copied about 11,500 lines of code from the Java program. These lines of code are part of a programming tool called that’s called an “Application Programming Interface (API)”. 

Oracle sued for copyright infringement.

In a recent blog post, I looked at the meaning of transformative use as it relates to fair use in a suit involving well-known photographer, Lynn Goldsmith, and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Lynn had taken some photos of the music artist, Prince. Vanity Fair magazine had licensed one of Lynn’s photos and commissioned Andy Warhol to create paintings from it for an article. Warhol then went a step further and used Lynn’s other photographs as the foundation for series of Prince paintings. Years later, Vanity Fair published an article using Warhol’s paintings. This was when Lynn learned about Warhol’s additional paintings. Lynn threatened to sue for copyright infringement. The Warhol Foundation brought a suit for declaratory judgment that the additional paintings were fair use. The district court held that Warhol’s treatment of Lynn’s photographs was transformative and therefore fair use.

Andy Warhol’s art was innovative. But it may not have been transformative when it comes to fair use.

Hiller LLC provides plumbing, heating, cooling and electrical services to residential and commercial customers. Hiller was a member of Success Group International that offers management advice and customer service training. Success Group used licensed copyrighted training manuals owned by its predecessor, Clockwork IP LLC.

Hiller decided to create its own training materials and hired an independent contractor who conducted a series of workshops and researched Hiller’s business. The end product was an HVAC technicians Guide. The Guide had original illustrations, its own content and its own arrangement of the information. Small portions of the Guide incorporated information that had been contained the Success Group training manuals. The independent contractor assigned the copyright in the Guide to Hiller.

The US Supreme Court won’t be weighing in on some interesting cases in the world of IP. Here are just a few of them by topic:
Copy

• rights in Fictional Characters
• Right to Challenge Patents
• Trademarks

In Brief:  Copyright does not protect “useful articles” and design patents don’t always protect against infringement.

Sidewalk chalk has been around a long time. Lanard Toys Ltd. designed chalk holders that looked like No. 2 pencils. Lanard sold the chalk holders to distributors and toy store chains like Toys R Us.  Lanard sought and obtained both a registered copyright and a design patent.

Alex Cruz was on his way to visit his girlfriend in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City. He heard a commotion, took out his iPhone and took a snap shot. He thought he was just taking a photo of the police subduing a crazy person. What he really caught was a picture of law enforcement taking down a suspected terrorist. Alex shared the photo with a friend who then posted the photo on Instagram.

Kfir Moyal is a pop artist who has created commissioned pieces for celebrities like the Kardashians, Paris Hilton, Gloria Estefan, Flo Rida and Lil’ Kim. His signature style is to take a photograph and add a glittery sheen to it.

Two recent US Supreme Court cases give a loss for the State of Georgia and a win for the State of North Carolina.

For your stay at home pleasure, 2020 has granted us with a whole inventory of content that is now in the public domain.

The New Republic magazine published 44 film reviews written by famed film and theater critic, Stanley Kauffmann. The magazine didn’t hire Kauffmann to write the reviews. He wrote them, submitted them and the magazine printed them. The parties never really talked about who owned the articles. They never entered into a “work for hire” agreement.

An application to register tells the Copyright Office about you, your work and why you’re entitled to register a copyright. To further this goal, the Copyright Act requires that you include only accurate information in your copyright application. Gold Value International Textile d/b/a Fiesta Fabrics learned the consequences of not following this rule the hard way.