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Columns & Departments

IP News Image

IP News

Howard Shire & Stephanie Remy

Copyright Standing and Fifth Circuit Trade Dress Factors

Features

'To Kill a Mockingbird''s State Adaptation Rights Results In Ambiguity Battle Image

'To Kill a Mockingbird''s State Adaptation Rights Results In Ambiguity Battle

Stan Soocher

A current dispute over contract language in grants to different parties for theatrical adaptations of the classic 1960 novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" is an apt example of what can happen if contract language isn't specific enough.

Features

State Law Requiring Offer to License Conflicts With Copyright Act Image

State Law Requiring Offer to License Conflicts With Copyright Act

Allison Dunn

A federal judge has sided with the Association of American Publishers (AAP), finding in June that a recently enacted Maryland library e-book law conflicts with federal copyright laws.

Features

Second Circuit Interprets 'Executed By the Author' In Copyright Act's §203 Grant Termination Provision Image

Second Circuit Interprets 'Executed By the Author' In Copyright Act's §203 Grant Termination Provision

Stan Soocher

Composers of pre-1978 works often assigned both the initial and renewal copyright terms in their works when signing songwriter agreements with music publishers. But what happens when a grant of the copyright renewal term of a pre-1978 work has been made post-1977?

Features

'Executed By the Author' In Copyright Act's §203 Grant Termination Provision Interpreted By Second Circuit Image

'Executed By the Author' In Copyright Act's §203 Grant Termination Provision Interpreted By Second Circuit

Stan Soocher

Composers of pre-1978 works often assigned both the initial and renewal copyright terms in their works when signing songwriter agreements with music publishers. But what happens when a grant of the copyright renewal term of a pre-1978 work has been made post-1977?

Features

Commentary: What the Music Industry Can Learn from Cable When It Comes to ISPs and Infringement Image

Commentary: What the Music Industry Can Learn from Cable When It Comes to ISPs and Infringement

Keith Hauprich

In the last two decades, the music industry and, more specifically, songwriters, producers and recording artists have been losing the value of their efforts to online piracy. Perhaps a business-to-business solution can be found between the music industry and cable providers.

Features

Commentary: How the Music Industry Can Learn from Cable When It Comes to ISPs and Infringement Image

Commentary: How the Music Industry Can Learn from Cable When It Comes to ISPs and Infringement

Keith Hauprich

In the last two decades, the music industry and, more specifically, songwriters, producers and recording artists have been losing the value of their efforts to online piracy. Perhaps a business-to-business solution can be found between the music industry and cable providers.

Features

Beach Boys Songs Written Decades Ago Triggered Current Quarrel With Lawyers Image

Beach Boys Songs Written Decades Ago Triggered Current Quarrel With Lawyers

Stan Soocher

There's current litigation in the ongoing Beach Boys litigation saga. A lawsuit filed in 2019 against Nevada residents Mike Love and his wife Jacquelyne in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada that alleges inaccurate payment by the Loves under the retainer agreement and seeks $84.5 million in damages.

Features

Supreme Court's Breyer Ruling on Mistakes In Copyright Registrations Image

Supreme Court's Breyer Ruling on Mistakes In Copyright Registrations

Scott Graham

The Ninth Circuit had ruled in 2020 that §411(b)(1)(A) of the federal Copyright Act excuses inadvertent mistakes of fact on copyright registrations but not mistakes of law. The Supreme Court has now ruled 6-3 that the provision covers both mistakes of facts and law.

Features

Comic Legends' Estates Say Pandora Streamed Routines Without License Image

Comic Legends' Estates Say Pandora Streamed Routines Without License

Thomas Kjellberg & Robert W. Clarida

In dual lawsuits, the estates of Robin Williams and George Carlin accuse Pandora Media of willfully infringing the legendary comedians' registered copyrights in their "spoken word compositions" — their standup routines — by streaming the sound recordings that embody those routines without a license to use these works.

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