On Monday, we discussed a lawsuit filed by filmmaker Jennifer Nelson that seeks to have a court declare the song “Happy Birthday to You” to be in the public domain. That New York Times story noted that another filmmaker, Steve James, had to pay $5,000 to use the song in the 1994 documentary “Hoop Dreams,”
On June 20, the Santa Barbara Independent reported that the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market Association is considering a temporary fee hike for vendors in order to pay lawyer’s fees resulting from a complaint filed by two members and one ex-member. The antitrust lawsuit brought by Jeff and Roxanne Hendrickson of Santa Rita Flower Farm
g by Apollo 9 astronauts on March 8, 1969? In fact, it was also featured in the world’s first singing telegram, and the New York Times noted in a June 13 story that it is “widely credited for being the most performed song in the world.” However, you might also notice that many restaurants have
Patrice Désilets, designer of the historical action-adventure video game Assassin’s Creed, left Ubisoft in 2010 to work in the Montreal office of North American video game developer THQ. However, when THQ filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2012, Ubisoft was one of several companies that came into purchase some of the developer’s assets in January—one
If your computer is locked and an FBI seal comes across your screen with a demand that you pay hundreds of dollars because of alleged copyright infringement, do not worry. You are not alone. Just be sure not to enter any of your credit card information. The Staten Island Advance reported on June 13 that messages
Culver City is a Southern California city located in western Los Angeles County, and it has a population of 38,883, according to the US Census. A little over a month before Yahoo Inc. agreed to pay $1.1 billion for Tumblr, the six-year-old New York-based blogging network opened its first West Coast branch with a seven-person
The entertainment news website Deadline.com reported on May 30 that the film company Merchant Ivory Productions and the film distribution company Janus Films came to a deal in a copyright infringement lawsuit. Merchant Ivory filed a lawsuit last August alleging that Janus was infringing copyrights by distributing 25 of its films after their licensing deals expired. Janus
Three producers filed a $60 million breach of contract lawsuit over the Oxygen cable television channel’s 2011 reality series “Tori & Dean: sTORIbook Weddings.” According to the Hollywood Reporter, Denny O’Neil Jr., Jake Hall and Charles Malcolm claim that they registered an idea with the Writers Guild in 2007 for a show called “Wedding Rescue,” in which
We have frequently discussed the many concerns that have been voiced regarding the age and limitations of copyright law. As technology continues to evolve, certain groups are pushing for stronger copyright infringement penalties in cases of piracy. In an increasingly global economy, there is also unease about international copyright protection. On May 22, an article published in
The patent litigation battle between Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. dominated a majority of the headlines concerning mobile phone technology, but Bloomberg News reported on May 23 that Nokia Oyj is suing rival mobile phone maker HTC Corp. for selling products in the United States that allegedly infringe three of its patents. According
