A copyright infringement case against Taylor Swift was dismissed with prejudice, which means that the plaintiff cannot file another claim involving the same issue. The trial was to begin on January 17, 2023. The dispute involved the Swift song "Shake it Off," released...
Intellectual Property Litigation
Music lawsuit against Meta will continue
Sweden's Epidemic Sound has a catalog of 38,000 pieces of music spread across 160 genres. These are designed for use in video content, film and television production, podcasts, streaming platforms, and other media. Recently valued at $1.4 billion, the company filed a...
Stone Brewing fights Trademark infringement claims
The craft beer community is often collegial based on the “us against them” paradigm. In this case, “us” is the small independent breweries that have popped up by the thousands across the United States, and “them” is Miller, Budweiser and a handful of other large...
Warhol silkscreens case heard by SCOTUS
Lynn Goldsmith was hired to photograph Prince in 1981 for a Newsweek article just as the musician's star was rising. The photographer was famous for shooting musicians' portraits and album covers. She shot him performing live and invited him to her studio for more...
Safeguarding your startup’s intellectual property
It's no secret that the Bay Area is home to virtually thousands of startups, incubators and think tanks, producing a limitless number of cutting-edge ideas and technologies every day. While startups are consumed with vital tasks like obtaining investment and bringing...
Does my U.S registered trademark protect me in other countries?
A trademark is a sign or mark that helps the consumer to distinguish goods and services from different businesses. The trademarks are protected from infringement by intellectual property rights. Your U.S registered trademark only offers valuable protection against any...
Nondisclosure agreements in California
Most companies have valuable confidential information or trade secrets which they protect from being leaked to the public. In business transactions, companies receive and exchange private information with their customers or suppliers. To prevent unauthorized...
Designer asks court to sort out legal issues in copyright dispute
In a move that is getting lots of press, New York influencer and fashion blogger Danielle Bernstein’s company WeWoreWhat (WWW) filed a lawsuit on Oct. 16 for a declaratory judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Brooklyn...
If someone disputes ownership of your creative work, don’t wait to protect your rights
Copyright law protects the creations of “original works of authorship” like those in television, movies and theater productions. A high-profile copyright dispute between iconic comedian Jerry Seinfeld and long-time creative collaborator writer and director Christian...
Willfulness not needed to disgorge profits for infringing trademark
On April 23, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the federal Lanham Act does not require that a trademark infringer did so willfully as a precondition to the trademark owner getting back the profits the infringing party made in violation of the Act. At the time the...