By: Frank Ryan and Matt Ganas (with contribution from Michael Varrige) The California federal district court, in Davis v. Electronic Arts Inc., recently issued the latest in a series of decisions involving athletes’ right of publicity (“ROP”) claims aimed at Electronic Arts’ (“EA”) popular sports videogame franchise. The plaintiffs in Davis are retired NFL players … Continue Reading
By Tamar Duvdevani On March 22, 2017, in a 6-2 decision authored by Justice Thomas, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the designs on Varsity Brands’ cheerleading uniforms are eligible for copyright protection. The crux of this decision relates to the fact that the United States Copyright Act treats the copyrightability of “useful articles” … Continue Reading
By Rahool Sarjua and John Cloke Following the string of cases on hyperlinking the CJEU has dealt with in recent years, the court has emphatically confirmed in its judgment in GS Media v Sanoma & Ors that hyperlinking to works that have been made available on the Internet without the authorisation of the copyright owner … Continue Reading
By Tamar Duvdevani Last month, in our piece about the pending Supreme Court case Varsity Brands, Inc. v. Star Athletica, LLC, we took a close look at the copyright protection afforded to useful articles (https://www.remarksblog.com/2016/05/cheerleading-uniforms-and-copyright-uniformity-when-is-a-useful-articles-artistic-aspects-amenable-to-copyright-protection/). The Star Athletica case relates to copyright infringement of cheerleading uniforms, and, in particular, the geometric designs that appear on … Continue Reading
By Tamar Duvdevani Federal courts have long addressed when and if aspects of functional items can be subject to copyright protection. In the United States, “useful articles” such as lighting fixtures, furniture, appliances, and apparel, are generally not afforded copyright protection, and a plaintiff seeking recourse for misappropriation would need to look to trademark and … Continue Reading
Reposted from Media, Sports, and Entertainment Blog By Holly Pearlman, Sam Churney, Katherine Mullally The Court of Appeal recently ruled on the ownership of the copyright in the music and lyrics (the “Copyright“) of thirteen Bob Marley songs, including one of Marley’s most famous songs “No Woman, No Cry” (the “Songs”). Marley had deliberately misattributed … Continue Reading
By Leonie Kroon and Stephanie van der Schaft (Amsterdam) and Elena Varese (Milan) Many brands have formed strategic partnerships with one or more influential fashion bloggers in sponsorship arrangements and design collaborations. Brand-blogger collaborations can seriously add to brand engagement and awareness: the brand benefits from the blogger’s social media networks and online fame and … Continue Reading
By Patrick Van Eecke and Julie De Bruyn (Brussels) The concept of 3D printing no longer needs an introduction. The sky is the limit when it comes to the possibilities 3D printing (often referred to as additive manufacturing) has to offer, both to consumers and businesses. The added value for and influence in the fashion … Continue Reading
By Matthew Evans The Australian Government has introduced new laws to block websites at an internet service provider (ISP) level if they have the primary purposes of infringing or facilitating the infringement of copyright. On June 22 the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 was passed in parliament, amending the Copyright Act to introduce the new provisions. … Continue Reading
By Tamar Duvdevani This past Wednesday, April 29, the Eleventh Circuit reversed and remanded an underlying grant of summary judgment by the Northern District of Georgia that invalidated a copyright in a laminate wood flooring design. In Home Legend, LLC v. Mannington Mills, Inc., defendant and counterclaimant Mannington Mills, Inc. asserted claims of copyright infringement … Continue Reading
By Stefania Baldazzi and Elena Varese Coordinator of the Fashion Law Specialization Course at the University of Milan 1. Barbara, you are the coordinator of the postgraduate fashion law course at the Insubria University of Como and at the Statale University of Milan. No similar course has ever been offered by an Italian academic institution … Continue Reading
Reposted from Sports, Media and Entertainment Online By Keitaro Uzawa and Ann Cheung The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (“METI“) recently revised the Interpretative Guidelines on Electronic Commerce and Information Property Trading (“Guidelines“), which apply to all online business operations in Japan and clarify how the Civil Code, which governs Japanese commercial contracts, and other … Continue Reading
Reposted from Sports. Media and Entertainment Online By Alexis Fierens and Raf Schoefs Under Belgian law, a copyrighted work may be used without the authorisation of the author(s) for the purposes of caricature, parody or pastiche. In the absence of any clear guidance on the interpretation of the concept of parody and considering the … Continue Reading
Reposted from Intellectual Property and Technology News By Brian Biggs, Stan Panikowski, and Andrew N. Stein RECENT DECISIONS NAUTILUS, INC. V. BIOSIG INSTRUMENTS, INC. Patent: Decided: June 3, 2014 Holding: In a unanimous (9-0) opinion authored by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Court held that the Federal Circuit’s indefiniteness standard bred “lower court confusion” because … Continue Reading
By Edward Chatterton and Horace Lam WHEN WILL THINGS CHANGE On June 6, 2014, the fourth draft version of the new PRC Copyright Law (New Law) was published for public comment, having first been published in 2010. The period for public comment ended on July 5, 2014 meaning the implementation of the New Law is … Continue Reading
Reposted from Intellectual Property and Technology Alert By Andrew L. Deutsch, Marc E. Miller and Melissa A. Reinckens Shortly after its highly publicized loss before the US Supreme Court, which appeared to doom its over-the-air television Internet streaming business, New York-based Aereo shifted to a new legal strategy which it hopes will save its business from extinction. … Continue Reading
By David M. Kramer and Rachelle M. Llontop Guest blog post by Rachelle M. Llontop. Rachelle is a summer associate in the Washington, DC office of DLA Piper. She attends the American University Washington College of Law and will graduate in 2015. Earlier today the United States Supreme Court reversed the Second Circuit’s decision in WNET, … Continue Reading
Reposted from DLA Piper’s Sports, Media and Entertainment Blog By Matt Ganas and Sam Churney As part of a concerted effort to assess the effectiveness of existing methods of licensing music, the US Copyright Office has published a request in the Federal Register for public comment on a number of copyright issues. This request relates … Continue Reading
UK: Court of Appeal rules that PRS agreement covers future assigned works Repost from SPORTS, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT ONLINE By Bethan Lloyd The Court of Appeal (the Court) recently ruled that a clause in a PRS agreement with two composers, which transferred future rights in works which a composer “may acquire or own” would work … Continue Reading
Repost from SPORTS, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT ONLINE By Mary Mullen 1 November 2013 sees the Copyright and Duration of Rights in Performance Regulation 2013 come into force. The UK Law implements EU Directive 2011/77/EU which extends the term of copyright for artists who perform in recordings from 50 to 70 years. See our previous Sport Media and … Continue Reading
The DLA Piper Fashion, Retail and Design group distributed the 11th edition of “Law à la Mode” to over 1000 clients. Special thanks to all who contributed to this edition, especially the U.S. Editorial Team, which consisted of Ann Ford, Gina Durham, Tamar Duvdevani, Radiance Harris, Kiran Gore, Melissa Reinckens, and Airina Rodrigues. Please click … Continue Reading
By John Wilks and Ruth Hoy A UK High Court claim filed this week by the Ministry of Sound record label against music streaming site Spotify raises some interesting issues around the originality threshold for copyright works. The claim, which was reported in the Guardian, alleges that the Ministry’s track listings (each a compilation of … Continue Reading
Reposted from DLA Piper’s Sports, Media and Entertainment Blog By Frank Ryan, Richard Flaggert, Matthew Ganas and Rebecca Smock On May 21, 2013, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the First Amendment does not shield Electronic Arts, Inc. (EA) from right of publicity violations alleged in connection with its depiction … Continue Reading
Reposted from DLA Piper’s Sports, Media and Entertainment Blog By Melissa Reinckens and Marc Miller In April, we wrote about the ongoing dispute between Aereo, the upstart technology company that utilizes warehouses full of tiny antennas to capture over-the-air television and then retransmit it over the Internet to its subscribers’ digital devices. Broadcasters, who view … Continue Reading
