Not daunted by John Cage’s estate’s lawsuit against a group that allegedly copied 60 seconds of John Cage’s work consistng of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence (to which the group’s lawyer had replied that Cage’s lawyer had not specified which 60 seconds of silence were copied), conceptual artist Jonathan Keats has
Samuel Clemens May Claim To Be Mark Twain Under Lanham Act
But Samuel Clemens can’t claim to be Mark Twain in my business dealings with him (if it matters to me that he is in fact Mark Twain).
Antidote International Films, Inc. v. Bloomsbury Publishing, PLC, — F.Supp.2d –, 2006 WL 3822484 (S.D.N.Y.): Defendant author wrote a fiction work as under a pseudonym, and in promoting
Video Sharing Site Of The Day: DailyMotion.com
As YouTube goes ‘legit,’ other video-sharing sites are moving to fill the demand for unpoliced video content. DailyMotion.com, based in Paris, reportedly has 1 million registered users. DailyMotion’s Terms of Service prohibit the uploading of infringing content, and it reportedly takes down infringing videos that have been brought to its attention.
There
The Penumbra Of Marilyn Monroe and Betty Crocker and Aunt Jemima
Plaintiff winery licensed the MARILYN MONROE name and likeness from the Monroe licensing entity, and sold wine under the MARILYN MONROE brand for many years, displaying a succession of images of Marilyn on its labels, over the years. At one point it also licensed the copyright in a famous nude photograph of Marilyn on Red
Hula Dance Copyright Dispute
From the decision:
“The hula is a general name for many types of Hawaiian folk dances. . . Hula movements have standard forms and to perform an `ike motion, “a dancer raises one hand out and one arm is bent at the elbow and the hand is open and placed behind the eye with the
The Weinstein/Blockbuster Deal And First-Sale Doctrine
The Weinstein Company (headed by the former heads of Miramax) have signed a deal that is characterized as allowing only Blockbuster to rent its movies. This discussion does a good job of explaining First-Sale Doctrine and why Blockbuster can’t prevent NetFlixfrom purchasing Weinstein DVDs and renting them. However, the DVDs will likely have Blockbuster’s name
Prof Patry v. Bambi
Prof Patry on what he views as perhaps the worst Ninth Circuit copyright case ever, Twin Books v. Disney.
Procul Harum Organist Prevails; J.S. Bach Vows Appeal
BBC News: “Organist wins Procul Harum battle” (regarding authorship of ‘Whiter Shade Of Pale”). IPKat commentary here.
Australian Linking Decision Is Not The End Of The World, Probably
On Monday, the Federal Court of Australia ruled in Cooper v. Universal Music Australia, that a website that did not itself host infringing MP3 files, but was structured to provide easy linking access to such files, was liable for copyright infringement. Australian IP expert Kimberlee Weatherall tells us that while the Cooper decision’s ‘linking
The 60’s Sues Wolfgang’s Vault
Wolfgang’s Vault streams concerts from the Golden Age (Fillmore, etc) and sells memorabilia. It identifies here what it purports to own, including the master tapes of the concerts, and copyrights in its memorabilia (and it even solicitis licensing) The site purchased the archives of rock promoter Bill Graham from Clear Channel Communications in 2002.
Today