We must decide whether the shape of a hookah water
container1 is entitled to copyright protection.
I
Inhale, Inc. claims copyright protection in the shape of a
hookah water container that it first published on August 29,
2008 and registered with the United States Copyright Office
on April 21, 2011. At both the time of publication and the
time of registration, the contai... More...   $0 (07-09-2014 - CA)

The Copyright Act of 1976 gives a copyright owner the “exclusive righ[t]” to “perform the copyrighted work publicly.” 17 U. S. C. §106(4). The Act’s Transmit Clause defines that exclusive right to include the right to “transmit or otherwise communicate a performance . . . of the [copyrighted] work . . . to the public, by means of any deviceor process, whether the members of the public... More...   $0 (06-25-2014 - DC)

This case arises from general liability insurance policies, including advertising injury coverage, that defendant Great American E&S Insurance Company issued to plaintiff Street Surfing, LLC. The parties dispute whether those policies obligated Great American to defend Street Surfing in an action alleging trademark infringement, unfair competition and unfair business practices under federal and Ca... More...   $0 (06-10-2014 - CA)

Alexandria, VA - The United States of America charged Hana Amal Beshara with conspiracy and criminal copyright infringement for her role in the creation and operation of NinjaVideo, which was at one time one of the most popular places online to illegally download TV shows and movies. She was known online as Queen Phara.

Beshara along with Josh Evans and others created and operated NinjaVi... More...   $0 (06-04-2014 - VA)

This case concerns the scope of copyright protection afforded to a sound recording of a conference call convened by The Swatch Group Ltd. (“Swatch Group”), a foreign public company, to discuss the company’s recently released

3

earnings report with invited investment analysts. In particular, we must determine whether Defendant‐Appellee Bloomberg L.P. (“Bloomberg”), a finan... More...   $0 (05-30-2014 - NY)

The State of Michigan, petitioner, entered into a compact with respondent Bay Mills Indian Community pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). See 25 U. S. C. §2710(d)(1)(C). The compact authorizes Bay Mills to conduct class III gaming activities (i.e., to operate a casino) on Indian lands located within the State’s borders, but prohibits it from doing so outside that territory. Bay ... More...   $0 (05-27-2014 - DC)

The Copyright Act (Act) protects copyrighted works published before1978 for an initial period of 28 years, renewable for a period of up to 67 years. 17 U. S. C. §304(a). The author’s heirs inherit the renewal rights. See §304(a)(1)(C)(ii)–(iv). When an author who has assignedher rights away “dies before the renewal period, . . . the assignee maycontinue to use the original work only if the... More...   $0 (05-19-2014 - DC)

Escape Media Group (Escape) operates an Internet service called Grooveshark through which users may upload and retrieve digital music files. UMG Recordings, Inc. owns an extensive music catalog that includes songs by such artists as Buddy Holly, The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, and The Who. In 2010, UMG sued Escape in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, alleging Escape infringed on copyrights a... More...   $0 (05-14-2014 - CA)

LYNCHBURG, VA – An Altavista, Va. man, who previously pled guilty to charges related to trafficking in counterfeit sports apparel, was sentenced today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Lynchburg.

George E. Hall, 46, of Altavista., Va., previously pled guilty to one count of trafficking in goods bearing counterfeit marks and one count of copyrigh... More...   $0 (05-13-2014 - VA)

Trade secret protection “ ‘promotes the sharing of knowledge, and the efficient operation of industry,’ ” by “ ‘permit[ting] the individual inventor to reap the rewards of his labor by contracting with a company large enough to develop and exploit it.’ [Citation.]” (DVD Copy Control Assn., Inc. v. Bunner (2003) 31 Cal.4th 864, 878 (DVD Copy Control).) Trade secret law allows the in... More...   $0 (05-08-2014 - CA)

LAFAYETTE, La. – United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that Johnson Augustus Powell, 54, of Huntsville, Ala., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard T. Haik to 24 months in prison and three years of supervised release for copyright infringement. He was also ordered to pay $7,500 restitution to the Motion Picture Association of America.

According to evidence pr... More...   $0 (04-17-2014 - LA)

Stanley Weems pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography. See 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a). His victim, J.W., filed this civil action against Weems to obtain compensation for the abuse. See id. § 2255(a). The district court awarded $1 million, a figure reached by multiplying the presumed-damages floor in the civil-remedies statute


No. 12-6489 Prewett et al. v. Weems Page 2
<... More...   $0 (04-15-2014 - TN)

Catherine Conrad, the plaintiff, is a self‐employed singing and dancing entertainer (also a writer and motivational speaker, see “Bananaland,” www. bananalady.com/about.htm, visited on April 10, 2014, as were the other websites cited in this opinion). She calls herself the “Banana Lady” and performs wearing a costume in the shape of a giant banana. You can watch her dancing the “Banana... More...   $0 (04-14-2014 - WI)

24 Sergey Aleynikov was convicted, following a jury trial
25 in the United States District Court for the Southern
26 District of New York (Cote, J.), of stealing and
27 transferring some of the proprietary computer source code
28 used in his employer’s high frequency trading system, in
29 violation of the National Stolen Property Act, 18 U.S.C.
30 § 2314 (the “NSPA”)... More...   $0 (04-11-2014 - NY)

Photographer Louis Psihoyos sued publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
18 (“Wiley”) for copyright infringement under the Copyright Act of 1976, 17
19 U.S.C. § 101 et seq., based on Wiley’s publication of textbooks containing
20 eight of Psihoyos’s photographs. Although the United States District Court
21 for the Southern District of New York (Rakoff, J.) determined that theMore...   $0 (04-04-2014 - NY)

We address whether copyright registration of a collective work registered the component works within it.

Facts

This case was dismissed for failure to state a claim, so we assume for purposes of analysis that the facts were as pleaded in the complaint.

Alaska Stock, a stock photography agency, registered large numbers of photographs at a time, listing only some of the authors a... More...   $0 (03-18-2014 - AK)

Over a century ago, Mark Twain lamented that "[o]nly one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain, The Complete Works of Mark Twain: Mark Twain's Notebook 381 (Albert Bigelow Paine ed., 1935). We fear that Twain's deity would fare little better with the tangled skein of copyright and contractual claims presented by the plaintiffs in this case. ... More...   $0 (03-07-2014 - MA)

While answering a casting call for a low-budget amateur film doesn’t often lead to stardom, it also rarely turns an aspiring actress into the subject of a fatwa. But that’s exactly what happened to Cindy Lee Garcia when she agreed to act in a film with the working title “Desert Warrior.” The film’s writer and producer, Mark Basseley Youssef—who also goes by the names Nakoula Basseley N... More...   $0 (02-28-2014 - WA)

Irina Chevaldina appeals an order granting a preliminary injunction1 to “enjoin tortious interference, stalking, trespass and defamatory blogs” entered in favor of Raanan Katz and the other named appellees, plaintiffs in the circuit court.2 We vacate the order and injunction.

Background

Raanan Katz and RK Associates own and manage commercial properties in South Florida. Ms. Cheva... More...   $0 (02-05-2014 - FL)

This case concerns Appellant Peter Brownstein’s claim under the Copyright Act seeking a declaratory judgment of joint authorship of an ethnic identification system that he created with Appellee Tina Lindsay, the Lindsay Cultural Identification Determinate (“LCID”). Lindsay purports to have conveyed the copyrights to the LCID to Appellee Ethnic Technologies (“E-Tech”). The contested work ... More...   $0 (01-29-2014 - NJ)

Big Sky Brewing Co. sued Anhieuser-Busch Cos., Inc. on copyright infringement and trademark infringement theories claiming that the use of "Hold my beer and watch this" which Busch was using on You Tube videos ads for Bud Light. Big Sky which make "Moose Drool," "Trout Slayer" and "Slow Elk" brand beers claimed that it had been using the slogan since 2004.
... More...   $0 (01-24-2014 - )

The United States of America charged Ross Ulbricht with creating and operating the SilkRoad, the world's largest and most notorious black market for drugs including but not limited to cocaine, herion and LSD. The Government claimed that Ulbricht used Tor to highly encrypt traffic to and from the website and using the alias "Dread Pirate Roberts" to hide his identity. SilkRoad was a market place ... More...   $0 (01-19-2014 - NY)

¶1 This case arises from a fight at the Utah State Prison.
Uncontroverted evidence at trial established that Defendant
Nathan Redcap, an inmate, stabbed an inmate named Wilson.
Redcap had surreptitiously remained out of his cell after he should
have returned to it. He shielded his torso with body armor
improvised from magazines and attached a shank to each hand.1
Redcap wa... More...   $0 (01-16-2014 - UT)

This case presents the latest chapter in extensive litigation over the Baltimore Ravens “Flying B” logo. Frederick Bouchat challenges the National Football League’s use of the logo in three videos featured on its television network and various websites, as well as the Baltimore Ravens’ display of images that include the logo as part of exhibits in its stadium “Club Level” seating area.... More...   $0 (01-15-2014 - MD)

21 Plaintiff-Appellant Brian Anthony Martinez (“Martinez”) appeals from a
22 judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New
23 York (Furman, J.), dismissing his complaint for improper venue under Rule
24 12(b)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Martinez brought this action
25 against his former employer, Bloomberg LP (“Bloomberg”), a ... More...   $0 (01-14-2014 - NY)