Bloomberg moves to dismiss. Denied. If a fixation of the work is being made simultaneously with its transmission, the Copyright Act creates the fiction that the simultaneous fixation occurs before the transmission, for purposes of an infringement claim. (page 4). Also, the conference call satisfied the requirement of originality.

Swatch v Bloomberg

The theory behind copyright is simple – if we allow anyone to copy a good new idea, then no one will come up with the next one.  The theory makes perfect sense – in theory.  In previous posts, however, we have described how fashion designers, chefs, comedians and pornographers all continue to create, even though others are free to copy their fashion designs, recipes, jokes, and . . . images.  In this post, we’ll take a look at something different: football.

I’m favorably disposed towards the authors’ argument that appropriate IP protection should be considered in an industry-specific context, however this struck me as a somewhat superficial column. The authors don’t highlight sufficiently that they are analyzing non-commercial behavior, specifically strategic behavior in the GAME of football (as opposed to the commercial activity of providing the entertainment service of football). And yet, even in this non-commercial domain,  there is still (private, contractual) IP protection encoded in the rules of NFL football – namely, trade secret protection.  Recall the New England Patriots getting caught in SpyGate.

And it never helps one’s credibility to make a major (from the point of view of an IP lawyer) mistake in the first sentence – copyright doesn’t protect against the copying of ideas but against the copying of the specific execution of ideas.

There has been a lot of discussion in the Las Vegas area (and nationwide) about the numerous copyright infringement lawsuits filed by a Las Vegas company named Righthaven, LLC. As of August 4, 2010, Righthaven had filed approximately 86 lawsuits against various website operators claiming copyright infringement. While not immediate apparent from the lawsuits, Righthaven is essentially a company established by Stephens Media LLC, the owner of numerous newspaper including the Las Vegas Review Journal (the “RJ”), in order to go after any and all third party websites that improperly excerpt all or part of the copyrighted articles from the RJ.

After months of discussions, DC Comics, a unit of Time Warner’s Warner Bros., filed a lawsuit today against Los Angeles-based attorney Marc Toberoff in an attempt to protect rights to its lucrative “Superman” property.
Warner Bros. filed the suit in federal court in Los Angeles after months of trying and failing to settle with heirs of the “Superman” creators, whom Toberoff represents.

Complaint Dc Toberoff