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Features

When Are Short Phrases in Songs Protectable? Image

When Are Short Phrases in Songs Protectable?

Robert W. Clarida & Robert J. Bernstein

It's a common fact pattern: A songwriter alleges that another songwriter has infringed the lyrics of Song A by using a similar short phrase, frequently a current slang phrase, in the lyrics of Song B. Claims like this do not often succeed because "words and short phrases such as names, titles, and slogans" are "not subject to copyright."

Columns & Departments

IP News Image

IP News

Joshua R. Stein & Jeff Ginsberg

Federal Circuit Holds PTAB Judges Unconstitutional, Constructs a Fix—But Not All Judges Agree on What Happens Next

Features

IP Issues and Esports Athletes Image

IP Issues and Esports Athletes

Frank Ready

A new esports-centric survey released by the law firm of Foley & Lardner projects that esports revenues will climb above the $1 billion mark this year. But the increased stakes and growing sophistication of the industry will likely not be without their headaches.

Features

Supreme Court, Finally, Takes Up Google v. Oracle Image

Supreme Court, Finally, Takes Up Google v. Oracle

Scott Graham

The U.S. Supreme Court has jumped into a titanic copyright battle between Oracle Corp. and Google LLC with both barrels. The court's involvement is sure to reignite a 50-year-old debate over how much, if any, software should be subject to copyright, and the contours of the fair use defense in the digital age.

Features

More Chinese Companies Are Joining U.S. Firms to Fight Patent Trolls Image

More Chinese Companies Are Joining U.S. Firms to Fight Patent Trolls

Phillip Bantz

Some of China's largest companies have banded together with major brands in the United States and elsewhere to neutralize "patent trolls," an indication that the country's firms are becoming increasingly concerned about patent infringement litigation.

Columns & Departments

IP News Image

IP News

Anthony H. Cataldo

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Booking.com Trademark Case

Features

Photo Cases Test Copyright Law and Embedded Tweets Image

Photo Cases Test Copyright Law and Embedded Tweets

Raychel Lean

A New Yorker who settled a copyright lawsuit against several news outlets over a photo he took of star quarterback Tom Brady and Boston Celtics manager Danny Ainge has struck again. This time he's suing a radio station owner in Florida federal courts in a case that could test the boundaries of an emerging area of copyright law, raising major questions about how media companies incorporate social media posts into online stories.

Features

Safeguarding Your Intellectual Property Image

Safeguarding Your Intellectual Property

Matthew Calcagno

The documents that a firm produces are its greatest asset, yet firms historically have not made sufficient efforts to safeguard those documents from both internal and external threats. Law firms have typically had an open-door approach to document access. This means that anyone in your firm can likely access any document at any time, leaving your firm's intellectual property entirely unprotected.

Features

Sparks From En Banc Arguments In Song Suit Against Led Zeppelin Image

Sparks From En Banc Arguments In Song Suit Against Led Zeppelin

Scott Graham

There was much harmony along with a few discordant notes as an en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit took up the copyright case involving Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven."

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