New Jersey has a Truth in Music Act regarding the use of a name to promote a performance that may suggest a connection with a recording group. 3d Circuit discusses treatment of common law marks under the NJ act.

Decision 3d Circuit(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();

Movie studios, when promoting movies such as The Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind, created original works, such as photographs of the stars in costume on the set, for use in posters and flyers and the like. Some of these promotional materials were published without notice, and under the 1909 Copyright Act, were therefore injected into the public domain.

A.V.E.L.A. obtained some of these promotional materials and sold not only copies of ‘vintage’ movie posters, but ‘extracted’ the images and modified them for merchandise such as apparel and action figures (yes, same A.V.E.L.A. in the Betty Boop case).

The owners of the copyrights in these underlying movies (and characters) argued that defendants’ merchandise (other than precise copies of the promotional materials) infringed their copyrights; A.V.E.L.A. argues that it was allowed to make derivative works of public domain materials (and that, impliedly, the characters depicted were PD).

HELD: While one may make derivative works of PD material, “this freedom to make new works based on PD materials ends where the resulting derivative work comes into conflict with a valid copyright. (page 14).
Also: “. . . no visual aspects of the film characters in the protected movies are in the public domain, apart from the publicity materials themselves. Therefore, any visual representation that is recognizable as a copyrightable character from one of these films, rather than a faithful copy of a PD image, has copied ‘original elements’ from the corresponding film.” (page 23).

See page 23 on for examples of what defendant could and could not do.

 
Decision 8th Cir Warner Bros Avela Public Domain(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();

Defendant removed photographer’s name from ‘gutter credit’ of photo.  Plaintiff brings Sec. 1202(c) DMCA claim, namely that copyright management information (CMI) had been removed.  Defendant argued that the section refers only to automated CMI.  3rd Circuit:

Therefore, we find that CMI, as defined in § 1202(c),
is not restricted to the context of “automated copyright
protection or management systems.” Rather, a cause of
action under § 1202 of the DMCA potentially lies whenever
the types of information listed in § 1202(c)(1)-(8) and
“conveyed in connection with copies . . . of a work . . .
including in digital form” is falsified or removed, regardless
of the form in which that information is conveyed. In this
case, the mere fact that Murphy‟s name appeared in a printed
gutter credit near the Image rather than as data in an
“automated copyright protection or management system”
does not prevent it from qualifying as CMI or remove it from
the protection of § 1202.14

 

 

Decision 3rd Cir Fair Use Dmca Cmi(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();

Actor leaves sitcom for new sitcom with different station. Actor had suggested ideas for scripts and characters in the first show, however his contributions did not rise to copyrightable authorship (such as his suggestion for the gossipy doorman). Sitcoms were found to be substantially similar.

Decision 1st Cir Tmtv(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();

PROTECT-IP Letter, Final(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();

Training the staff at the Five Guys burger place in White Plains.

Brunswick Billiards owns registrations for its ‘ovate’ logo, as well as a supplemental registration for the outline of the ovate logo.  Defendant allegedly used the ‘ovate’ logo depicted above, bottom.

I just searched the term ‘Badge Shapes’ and now I have a Google-headache.

 Complaint Brunswick Ovate Logo(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();