On March 21, 2018, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in a split decision in Williams v. Gaye,[1] that the Estate of Marvin Gaye was entitled to broad copyright protection over Gaye’s 1977 hit song “Got to Give it Up,” including its distinctive musical groove, and the substantial similarity of the hit …
Category: copyright
Snippets Not Fair Use According to Second Circuit
In another fairly big copyright decision by a federal court of appeals, another seeming technological innovation in the digital space was viewed as copyright infringement. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in Fox News Network, LLC v. TVEyes, Inc.,[1] on February 27, 2018, in a case that will most likely have broader …
Embedded Tweet Can Be Copyright Infringement, According to NY Court
On February 15, 2018, a federal judge sitting in the Southern District of New York issued an opinion that could have profound ramifications for the average Internet user. In the case, Goldman v. Breitbart News Network LLC,[1] Judge Katherine Forrest ruled that the linking party responsible for a tweet with an embedded photo had committed …
New Deposit Requirement Rule for Copyright Registrations
On January 17, 2018, the United States Copyright Office issued a final rule simplifying the deposit requirements for certain literary works and musical compositions. Specifically, during copyright registration, an applicant had to submit two copies of the best edition of the printed format of the creative work, one to satisfy the registration requirement and the …
Blurred Lines of Musical Copyright Infringement: The “Blurred Lines” Case
Introduction On March 10, 2015, a federal jury found singers Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams infringed the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s song “Got to Give It Up.”[1] The jury verdict is the first significant copyright infringement ruling involving songwriting and music since 1994.[2] Almost immediately, criticism of the ruling appeared on the Web and social …
THE CAPTIVE AUDIENCE DOCTRINE: A RETURN TO “DEGENERATE” ART OR TRUE REGULATION OF OFFENSIVE ART?
By Brent T. Yonehara Modern art is Communistic because it is distorted and ugly, because it does not glorify our beautiful country, our cheering and smiling people, and our material progress. Modern art . . . has become the purveyor of a destructive, degenerate, ugly, pornographic, Marxist, anti-American ideology. – Representative George Dondero[1] A cleansing …