Copyright Lately Blog

Recent Blog Posts

• Public Domain Day 2024 is Coming: Here’s What to Know Oh Mickey, you’re so fine—but you’re not alone: An avalanche of copyrighted works will enter the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2024. Here’s what it all means. Yes, yes, Steamboat Willie will enter the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2024—and that’s a shame. Before you accuse me of being some sort of Disney shill, I’m not advocating for longer copyright terms. It’s just that the liberation of Mickey Mouse 1.0 has been sucking up so much... More
• A Five-Course Feast of Thanksgiving-Themed Copyright Cases If you like your turkey with a side of copyright infringement, you’ve come to the right place. Ahh, Thanksgiving. There’s nothing quite like eating dinner at 4 p.m. and falling asleep on your brother’s couch by 4:30. But before you enter your tryptophan-induced coma, feast your eyes on Copyright Lately‘s platter of 5 Thanksgiving-themed copyright cases, all stuffed with a generous helping of legal fowl play. 1. I’ve Got It—Now Who Do I Sue? First up is a 2010 copyright infringement... More
• Choreography Copyright Gets Its Due in the Ninth Circuit In a first-of-its-kind ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has revived choreographer Kyle Hanagami’s copyright lawsuit against Fortnite’s Epic Games. Choreography is like the Rodney Dangerfield of copyright law. It wasn’t until 1952 that modern dance pioneer Hanya Holm was able to secure the first ever copyright registration for her choreography of the Broadway musical Kiss Me Kate. It took another quarter-century for the U.S. Copyright Act to explicitly recognize standalone “choreographic works” as eligible for copyright protection. Labanotation ain’t... More
• Inside Donald Trump’s Super-Secret Copyright Defense Trump is actively litigating a copyright infringement lawsuit over the Eddy Grant song “Electric Avenue” while trying to keep relevant deposition testimony in the case permanently under seal. For someone accused of treating classified documents with about the same care as old CVS receipts, Donald Trump is going to great lengths to keep his deposition testimony in a long-running copyright infringement case confidential, redacted, and permanently under seal. I previously wrote about this lawsuit three years ago when musician Eddy Grant first... More
• Why a Little-Known Copyright Case May Shape the Future of AI While a flurry of AI copyright lawsuits from prominent authors and artists grab headlines, another case has quietly taken something more important: a head start. Even die-hard copyright geeks would be forgiven for overlooking a lawsuit first filed over three years ago by information services company Thomson Reuters against AI start-up Ross Intelligence. That’s because the case involves Westlaw, a legal research tool that’s about as sexy as the underwear section in a 1940s Sears catalog. I say this with peace... More
• What Copyright’s “Unclaimable Material” Rules Mean for Hollywood’s Use of AI As screenwriters and studios negotiate AI’s role in the entertainment industry, it’s important to be mindful of some core copyright protection principles. In a decision that surprised exactly no one, D.C. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled last Friday that the Register of Copyrights did not act “arbitrarily or capriciously” in denying a copyright registration to Dr. Stephen Thaler for artwork generated entirely by artificial intelligence. “Human authorship,” Judge Howell wrote, “is a bedrock requirement of copyright,” which has never... More
• Court to Revisit Fair Use in Tattoo Infringement Case Photographer Jeff Sedlik and tattoo artist Kat Von D each claim that the Supreme Court’s Warhol decision entitles them to summary judgment in their long-running copyright dispute. Fifteen minutes of fame, meet permanent ink. A Los Angeles federal judge is set to decide the impact of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith on a first-of-its-kind copyright infringement lawsuit involving celebrity tattoo artist Katherine Von Drachenberg (aka Kat Von D). Photographer Jeff Sedlik filed the lawsuit in... More
• Ninth Circuit Affirms Server Test in Instagram Embedding Case The server test is alive and well—at least in the Ninth Circuit—and shields the embedding of social media posts from copyright infringement liability. In a published opinion (read here), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today affirmed the dismissal of a closely-watched class action lawsuit alleging that Instagram induced and contributed to “widespread copyright infringement” by allowing third parties to embed photos from public Instagram feeds onto their own websites. The Court held in Hunley v. Instagram that the plaintiff photographers’... More
• Lawsuit Claims Pooping Puppies Puzzle Smells Like Copyright Infringement A new complaint involving competing pooping puppy puzzles shows why drawing the line between ideas and expression can be difficult business. 2023 is shaping up to be a year of crappy IP lawsuits. In January, BMG sued over a glitter-pooping unicorn doll that sings “My Poops” to the tune of the Black Eyed Peas pop-rap hit “My Humps.” Then in June, the Supreme Court decided a trademark dispute sparked by a poop-themed dog toy that resembles a Jack Daniel’s liquor bottle.... More
• Studio Puts Loan-Outs On Blast in Copyright Termination Fight In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, Columbia Pictures claims that a writer’s use of a loan-out company prevents him from terminating the studio’s rights in the film Bad Boys. It’s finally happened. A major motion picture studio has filed a lawsuit challenging the termination of a copyright assignment made by a writer’s loan-out company. Given the near-universal use of loan-outs among Hollywood screenwriters, I’m frankly amazed that it’s taken so long. But here we are, and to quote our current president, “This is... More