An August 21 opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit illustrates the concept of the work made for hire in U.S. copyright law -- and the similar concept of commissioned works in Italian law. Ennio Morricone Music Inc. v. Bixio Music Group Ltd....
We have written recently in this space about the controversy over whether it is appropriate to allow copyright ownership for very small note combinations in songs. Some argue that a short progression of notes is just a basic, generic element of a musical composition...
On July 16, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens passed away at 99. He served on the high court almost 35 years. He regarded himself as a judicial conservative, but he gained a reputation over time for opinions viewed as liberal.According to Above...
The New York federal judge in a high-profile copyright infringement lawsuit found on July 1 that painter Andy Warhol did not infringe on Lynn Goldsmith’s copyrighted photograph of Prince when he based a series of portraits on it. The court concluded that Warhol...
In October, we told readers about the high-profile copyright litigation in which the trustee of a trust containing a deceased musician’s copyright interests had sued the iconic band Led Zeppelin. Trustee Michael Skidmore alleged in U.S. District Court in California...
Last month, DynaStudy, a small, relatively new Austin, Texas, educational publisher of study guides was victorious in a copyright infringement lawsuit against the Houston school district. According to the Houston Chronicle, the jury found "dozens" of district...
Copyright protects a creative work from copying by someone other than the owner or licensee when the copied work is "substantially similar." Creating a substantially similar copy without permission constitutes copyright infringement.Billboard Magazine reported on May...
On April 24, in a copyright infringement case involving floral lace fabric patterns, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit explained what federal copyright law requires when comparing protected and allegedly copied works. In Malibu Textiles, Inc., v. Label...
When lawmakers passed the first federal copyright law in 1790 to protect rights in maps, charts and books, they could hardly have conceived of an issue under consideration today: Whether the creations generated by computers using artificial intelligence...
The verdict is finally in. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court released its opinion in Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation v. Wall-Street.com, LLC. The court held that to bring a copyright infringement lawsuit under the federal Copyright Act, the Register...
