The “Dancing Baby” Case Decision Sets Fair Use Guideline
People from all over the world share videos daily on YouTube and other video sharing platforms that may include media-rights. The recent decision in the “dancing baby” case, which features…
Copyright opportunities from a JIPEL alumnus
Andrew Moore, NYU ’15, emails us with some great opportunities for students and young lawyers interested in copyright law: My name is Andrew Moore and I am a recent…
Do We Really Care About the Copyrightability of Single Words?
Most copyright scholars will tell you that single words are non-copyrightable. The rationale for this is obvious: permitting copyrightability of such utterances would lead to bizarre forms of monopoly where…
Attending Copyright Society’s Copyright and Collaborative Works Event
The Copyright Society of the USA’s New York chapter held a lunch event titled “Copyright and Collaborative Works” at the Princeton Club in Manhattan. The Copyright Society holds events throughout…
A Not So Happy Birthday
The companies that have been collecting royalties on the “Happy Birthday” song for the past 80 years will be singing a different tune this year. According to federal judge George…
Amazing Case: The Dangerous Precedent of the Injunction Against Amazing Grace
On September 4, just hours after legendary soul singer Aretha Franklin submitted her complaint, a federal judge granted an emergency temporary injunction to enjoin Allen Elliot’s Amazing Grace documentary from…
Stairway to Litigation: Laches in the Post-Petrella Era
For rock and roll fans, the opening notes to “Stairway to Heaven” are iconic. The band has amassed a huge fan base, and the song is arguably one of the…
Recognizing the Perfect Monkey Selfie
Back in 2011, an Indonesian macaque snapped a grinning self-portrait. Naturally, it became an Internet sensation. The camera owner, British wild-life photographer Daniel Slater, is now suing Wikipedia for copyright…
Start on a Good Foot: The Implications of Grooveshark’s Guilty Verdict
A recent Federal Court ruling has left the online streaming service Grooveshark in critical condition. On September 29th, 2014, the Southern District of New York, in an opinion delivered by…