Warner Chappell Music Inc. v. Nealy
The Copyright Act imposes a three-year period of limitations for copyright infringement claims. There has been a split in the circuits about whether this means that damages could be claimed only for infringement occurring during the three-year period or whether damages could be recovered for earlier acts of infringement
The USPTO has announced that trademark fees in the United States will be undergoing significant increases on January 18, 2025. Here is a summary of the changes.
Application Fees
You will no longer enjoy a discounted fee for filing a TEAS-Plus application instead of a TEAS-Standard application. All applications. other than applications filed under the
In 1998, Congress enacted the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). In addition to establishing the notice-and-take-down regimen with which website and blog owners are (or should be) familiar, the DMCA made it unlawful to “circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to” copyrighted material. (17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1)(A)). The Act set out
Yes, this is off-topic. It is, however, the reason I haven’t been posting to this blog lately. In addition to finishing out some cases, I have been working on developing this 90-minute program for the past few months.
In what seems like a lifetime ago, I practiced family law. During that time, I witnessed first-hand
In recent years, the United States Supreme Court has been grappling with the thorny question of how the First Amendment applies to trademarks. In this blog post, attorney Thomas B. James attempts a reconciliation of recent pronouncements.
The Slants (Matal v. Tam)
Simon Tam, lead singer of the band, The Slants, tried to register the
Is that a source identifier in your pocket or are you just being descriptive?
A trademark gives its owner an exclusive right to use it in connection with a particular kind or category of products or services. At the same time, though, trademark law seeks to promote competition. To that end, it generally does not
Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy
Are damages for copyright infringement always limited to the three-year period before suit is filed? The Supreme Court says no.
The Limitations Period for Copyright Infringement
The Copyright Act imposes a three-year statute of limitations for copyright infringement claims: “No civil action shall be maintained under the provisions of this
A very brief summary of where pending AI lawsuits stand as of February 28, 2024. Compiled by Minnesota attorney Thomas James.
Thomson Reuters v. Ross, (D. Del. 2020)
Filed May 6, 2020. Thomson Reuters, owner of Westlaw, claims that Ross Intelligence infringed copyrights in Westlaw headnotes by training AI on copies of them. The judge
A reversal in the 4th Circuit Court demonstrates the impact the Supreme Court’s decision in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts v. Goldsmith is already having on the application of copyright fair use doctrine in federal courts.
Philpot v. Independent Journal Review, No. 21-2021 (4th Circ., Feb. 6, 2024)
Philpot, a concert photographer, registered
Creative expressions generally are protected by copyright law. Sometimes, however, they are not. When that is the case, a work is said to be in “the public domain.”
The rules specifying the conditions for copyright protection vary from country to country. In the United States, they are set out in the Copyright Act, which
