Balough
December 18, 2020
(December 18, 2020) An attempt to boldly go where no mash-up of Dr. Seuss and Star Trek had gone before was squashed by the Ninth Circuit. ComicMix LLC created a mash-up using the Star Trek characters and Dr. Seuss’s works Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (“Go!”), How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, and The Sneetches and […]
Balough
May 27, 2020
(May 27, 2020) There’s no clowning around in the case to determine who wrote Cathy’s Clown, the Everly Brothers’ famous song. Don Everly maintains he is the sole author but Phil Everly’s estate says they were co-authors of the 1960 song. In granting summary judgment to Don, a district court agreed that Don is the […]
Balough
May 7, 2020
(May 7, 2020) Ready to spice up your online presentation with some music, a film clip, a cartoon, or a picture? Maybe you are a fitness coach conducting exercise classes online rather than at a gym and want some lively music to accompany your instruction? Before using that music, video, or other creative work, you […]
Balough
November 14, 2019
(November 14, 2019) A photographer cannot sue for copyright infringement when his image was partially used without permission in an online article that criticized a newspaper article using with permission the full image. The court found the subsequent partial use constituted was fair use. Stephen Yang took a picture of Dan Rochkind or an article […]
Balough
July 23, 2019
(July 23, 2019) A trial court properly reduced the damages awarded to an artist whose works were destroyed by his landlord because the jury award double counted the value of the missing artwork. Christian Narkiewicz-Laine leased space from the defendants but was not current on his rent, so defendants cleaned out the space throwing away […]
Balough
March 21, 2019
(March 21, 2019) The question of damages in a copyright battle between Zillow and a professional photography company that takes pictures of houses for sale raises the important, but sometimes overlooked, question of whether to register images as a compilation or individually. The wrong decision could be costly. Zillow, the online real estate site, was […]
Balough
April 23, 2018
(April 23, 2018) Not only did Naruto lose its “next friend” PETA, but now it has formally lost its appeal to assert a copyright claim for the famous Monkey Selfies. The Ninth Circuit found that the crested macaque, as a non-human animal, lacks “statutory standing” to maintain a cause of action for infringement under the […]
Balough
March 27, 2018
(March 27, 2018) Great Minds and FedEx Office and Print Services, Inc. don’t think alike, especially when it comes to copying Great Minds documents. The non-profit organization designs educational materials, releasing them to the public without charge subject to a Creative Commons license. As long as the user did not charge for the materials, Great […]
Balough
March 16, 2018
(March 16. 2018) A website that allows anyone to post videos and images, includes in its terms of use a prohibition against posting copyrighted material, and upon notice promptly takes down infringing materials is protected from copyright infringement liability under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). Ventura Content, Ltd., which creates and distributes pornographic movies, […]
Balough
February 28, 2018
(February 28, 2018) A Nike, Inc.-commissioned photograph of Michael Jordan flying through the air holding a basketball with the Chicago skyline in the background did not infringe the copyright of a photograph of the basketball legend taken by famous photographer Jacobus Rentmeester. The Ninth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment in favor of Nike, finding that, […]
