So holds Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google Inc. (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 14, 2013). I’m still on the road, and thus can’t blog about the opinion in detail, but I’ve read it and I think its fair use finding is quite right. Thanks to How Appealing for the pointer. UPDATE: Matthew Sag has a summary of the […]
Archive | Copyright
“Plaintiffs … Reluctantly File This Action”
From Williams v. Bridgeport Music, Inc. (C.D. Cal. filed Aug. 15, 2013), aka Got to Give It Up (Marvin Gaye) & Sexy Ways (Funkadelic) v. Blurred Lines (Robin Thicke): Plaintiffs, who have the utmost respect for and admiration of Marvin Gaye, Funkadelic and their musical legacies, reluctantly file this action in the face of multiple […]
Copyright Extension Prediction?
Prof. Glynn Lunney asked the following question on an academic discussion list I’m on; with his permission, I’m reposting it here: Anyone interested in starting a pool on whether Congress extends copyright for another 20 years by 2018? Or will the Mickey Mouse of Steamboat Willie actually fall out of copyright, though not necessarily into […]
Nice New Fair Use Decision
From Kiennitz v. Sconnie Nation LLC (W.D. Wis. Aug. 15, 2013): The Mifflin Street Block Party is an annual event that began in May 1969 as part of the student protest movement on the UW–Madison campus. At that time, Paul Soglin was a student protest leader at UW–Madison and a Madison alder. Soglin attended the […]
Is the Library of Congress a Legislative Department or an Executive Department?
A very interesting question, raised in Intercollegiate Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Copyright Royalty Board, a certiorari petition now pending before the Court. Profs. John Duffy (Virginia), Peter Strauss (Columbia), and Michael Herz (Cardozo) — an illustrious trio who often take quite different views about other subjects — have an item about this at Concurring Opinions; […]
Righthaven’s Collective Copyright Enforcement Project Loses in the Ninth Circuit
The decision is Righthaven, LLC v. Hoehn (9th Cir. May 9, 2013), and it holds that Righthaven didn’t properly secure the exclusive rights needed to sue various alleged copyright infringers. (In this particular case, Righthaven had sued two people who posted newspaper articles onto Web sites, though it had also sued others in the past.) […]
The Knockoff Economy: Thanks! And Some Responses to Reader Comments . . .
By Prof. Christopher Sprigman (Virginia), guest-blogging on October 19, 2012 2:35 pm in Copyright, Patent Law
This is our last post guest-blogging at the VC and we again want to thank our hosts. A lot of interesting comments came in, and we’ll use this final post to address some of the issues and questions raised by readers. In no particular order: Innovation vs. Variation. A few comments argued that a lot […]
The Knockoff Economy and the Power of Performance and Brands
By Prof. Christopher Sprigman (Virginia), guest-blogging on October 18, 2012 7:35 am in Copyright, Patent Law
In our last post, we discussed a variety of industries in which we see creativity without much resort to patent or copyright law. And we offered some explanations for how low-IP creativity works, such as informal social norms and first mover advantage. In today’s post, we look at a couple of additional ways in which […]
The Knockoff Economy in Finance, Football, and More
By Prof. Christopher Sprigman (Virginia), guest-blogging on October 17, 2012 8:00 am in Copyright, Patent Law
In our first two posts, we wrote a bit about how two important creative industries, fashion and cuisine, do very well without much intellectual property. Notice that we wrote “without much” IP, and not “without any”. That’s because there is some IP that’s relevant to both. The fashion industry makes heavy use of trademark law […]
The Knockoff Economy: Copying and Creativity in Cuisine
By Prof. Christopher Sprigman (Virginia), guest-blogging on October 16, 2012 8:00 am in Copyright, Patent Law, Popular Culture
Yesterday we introduced some of the big themes of The Knockoff Economy, and briefly explained why the fashion industry remains so creative despite having its central product—clothing designs—freely copied by any firm that thinks it can turn it a profit by aping an original design. In the book we look at several other examples of […]
The Knockoff Economy: How Imitation Sparks Innovation
By Prof. Christopher Sprigman (Virginia), guest-blogging on October 15, 2012 10:58 am in Copyright, Patent Law, Trademark
First, many thanks to Eugene and the rest of the VC team for inviting us to guest-blog this week. The Knockoff Economy is about copying, and specifically about how copying, copyright, and creativity mix in a set of somewhat unusual industries—from fashion to food to football. Though our main focus is copyright, we also talk […]
Profs. Kal Raustiala (UCLA) and Christopher Sprigman (Virginia) Guest-Blogging
I’m delighted to report that Profs. Kal Raustiala (UCLA School of Law) and Christopher Sprigman (University of Virginia School of Law) will be blogging this coming week about their new book, The Knockoff Economy: How Imitation Sparks Innovation: From the shopping mall to the corner bistro, knockoffs are everywhere in today’s marketplace. Conventional wisdom holds […]
Cathy Young on Fan Fiction, Copyright, Fifty Shades of Grey, and More
An interesting Boston Globe column.
D.C. Circuit Holds Copyright Royalty Board Unconstitutional
By Jonathan H. Adler on July 6, 2012 11:27 am in Administrative Law, Copyright, Separation of Powers
This morning, in Intercollegiate Broadcast System v. Copyright Royalty Board, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit consisting of Judges Garland, Griffith, and Senior Judge Williams declared the Copyright Royalty Board to be unconstitutional under the Appointments Clause, and adopts a narrow fix. This was not a surprising development, […]
Interesting Fair Use Case
Northland Family Planning Clinic v. Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (C.D. Cal. June 15, 2012) rejected a copyright claim, finding (I think correctly) that defendant’s use was a fair use as a matter of law. Northland Family Planning Clinic created a video (apparently this one) titled “Every Day, Good Women Choose Abortion,” which, true to its […]