Copyright Law

Blog Ending

Posted on October 14, 2008
You may have noticed that posting has been very slow as of late. After seeing that Prof. Paltry is closing down his blog, I am following suit. The reasons for ending the blog are the same as why I have not been blogging much and why Paltry is quiting...

Arkansas Bar Exam Results - July 2008

Posted on September 11, 2008
Bar exam results are out for July 2008. Congrats to all of my classmates and students.  The full list, also available on the Ark. Supreme Court (pdf) web site, follows: Ables, Jason Keith 68 Kings River Rd. N. Little Rock, AR 72116 Albritton, Allison Curran 2325 Apple Blossom Lane Conway, AR 72034 Allen, Katie Summer 11901 Pleasant Ridge Rd, #127 Little Rock, AR [...

Posting will be slow - working on a business plan

Posted on September 08, 2008
I will be posting very sporadically for the next few months. I am not teaching this semester and am working on a business plan in order to begin raising money in the spring.

Disneys rights to young Mickey Mouse may be wrong - Los Angeles Times

Posted on August 23, 2008
Under thr 1909 copyright law, formalities (concerning notice and registration) were very important. I do not find it surprising then that the Disney’s may have messed up their copyright notice. The law then was that if there existed any ambiguity in the notice, then copyright was void...

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Jackson Browne v. John McCain re: Copyright Infringement

Posted on August 18, 2008
Singer Jackson Browne is suing US Republican presidential candidate John McCain for using one of his songs without permission. (NY Times) McCain used Browne’s 1977 hit ?Running on Empty? in a commercial shown in Ohio. Browne claims that the use of the sone infringes hiis copyright and will make people conclude thaT he endorses McCain...

Online petition against the Orphan Works Act of 2008

Posted on July 09, 2008
Online petition: Against the Orphan Works Act of 2008. This bill is no better than the one that I wrote about the Journal of the Copyright Society this Spring. It even includes a registration database requirement, which is an anathema to the stated purpose of the copyright clause of the Constitution...

New Tivo!

Posted on June 26, 2008
Yesterday, my new Tivo Series 3 HD arrived. Yes, I know that it is a box that is being discontinued in favor of the Series 2 HD, but the extra candy on this box is so nice I couldn’t pass it up. As it is also intended to be in the Home Theater some day, [...

UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Troy Augusto, et al.

Posted on June 11, 2008
The Central District of California granted summary judgment in UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Troy Augusto, No. CV 07-03106. (SJO), regarding the legality of reselling promo CDs. Mr. Augusto acquired promo CDs and resold them on eBay, which Universal alleged infringed their copyright due to the following language placed on the CDs: This CD is the property [...

Orphan Works Bills

Posted on May 16, 2008
I haven’t gone through both new versions of the Orphan Works bills (House, Senate). However, this month the Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA published my article detailing problems with all previous versions of orphan works legislation...

S.2913 - Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008

Posted on May 16, 2008
110th CONGRESS  2d Session  S. 2913 To provide a limitation on judicial remedies in copyright infringement cases involving orphan works. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES  April 24, 2008 Mr. LEAHY (for himself and Mr. HATCH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To provide a limitation on judicial remedies [...

H.R. 5889 - Orphan Works Act of 2008

Posted on May 16, 2008
Six months ago, the last version of an Orphan Works bill died in Congressional committee. Now, a new Orphan Works bill has surfaced in two different versions, one in the House and one in the Senate. Here is the House version: 110th CONGRESS  2d Session  H...

Back . . .

Posted on May 16, 2008
Sorry, I have been slacking lately on posts as I try to make things happen at work, move houses, and grade finals. New posts on the way. -Keith

Pro-IP bill to become law in 2008?

Posted on May 16, 2008
Rep. Berman: Pro-IP bill will become law in 2008 Rep. Howard Berman, who heads a congressional panel in charge of writing copyright legislation, lashed out at Internet pirates this week and defended his effort to add stiffer anticopying penalties to federal law...

District Court Finds Portion of Copyright Remedy Clarification Act Unconstitutional

Posted on April 24, 2008
This month, in Marketing Information Masters v. The Trustees of the California State University (full PDF of decision here), the US Dist. Ct. for the S. Dist. of Cal. found the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act to be unconstitutional for removing sovereign immunity for state workers working in their official capacity...

TM Registration for Hot Springs National Park logo challenged

Posted on April 16, 2008
Hot Springs National Park logo challenged The Interior Department is moving to block a city tourism board from attaining a trademark for the ?Hot Springs National Park? logo, a symbol that is used throughout the resort town and in promotional advertising...

Arkansas Bar Exam Results - February 2008

Posted on April 11, 2008
New Bar exam results are out. Congrats to all of my classmates making it on the 2nd try, and to those of you just now getting around to taking the bar (Vanessa!).  The full list, also available on the Ark. Supreme Court web site, follows: The general Arkansas Bar Examination was given February 26, 27, and [...

New Arkansas RIAA Lawsuits Coming Soon to a Federal Courthouse Near You

Posted on April 08, 2008
I have gotten a number of phone calls and emails from students (as well as parents and attorneys of students) at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Suffice it to say that there is another rash of RIAA lawsuits on its way. This time, all I have seen have been on the University of Arkansas network...

Tafas v. Dudas: USPTO Exceded Its Rulemaking Authority with Proposed Limitations on Continuations

Posted on April 01, 2008
All of my email lists are abuzz over the ruling in Tafas v. Dudas, which Patently-O covers much better than I ever could: Patent Law Blog Patently-O: Tafas v. Dudas: PTOs Proposed Limitations on Continuations and Claims are Invalid In a twenty-six page opinion, District Court Judge Cacheris has granted GSK?s and Tafas?s Motions for Summary Judgment [...

The Trademark Blog: Get The Knack Of Copyright Statute of Limitations

Posted on March 26, 2008
Trademark Blog EWeek Mac World MTV News Rolling Stone VH1 I have been sitting on this one for a while. I remember Run-DMC from way back in the day, along with others from the Queens hip hop scene. And in 1985, I was one of those kids in flyover country wearing parachute pants getting down to “It’s Tricky...

WULS: Volume 84 Number 5 (2006)

Posted on March 26, 2008
WULS: Volume 84 Number 5 (2006) Volume 84 Number 5 (2006) Washington University Law Review BLOGGERSHIP: HOW BLOGS ARE TRANSFORMING LEGAL SCHOLARSHIP The papers from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society?s symposium on Bloggership:  How Blogs Are Transforming Legal Scholarship, held on April 28, 2006 at Harvard Law School, have been published...

H.R. 4137 Passes House with Section 494 attached.

Posted on February 12, 2008
HR 4137, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act, passed the house. It seeks to reduce higher education costs, increases Pell Grants, and . . . seeks to elimitate peer-to-peer file sharing on college campuses. Yes, just what higher ed has been clamboring for, more money for students and an unfunded mandate to police their computer [...

Arkansas IP Litigation Cases for the Week of January 26, 2008

Posted on January 31, 2008
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern or Western District of Arkansas was chosen as the forum for litigating the following case(s), as published by Justia: Flexible Staffing Services, Inc. et al v. Integro Employment Services, Inc.; Case Number:  5:2008cv05018; Filed:  January 22, 2008; Court:  Arkansas Western District Court  Flexible Staffing Services (FSS) seeks a declaratory judgment that [...

Pro-IP Act of 2007 - H. R. 4279

Posted on January 31, 2008
110th CONGRESS 1st Session    H. R. 4279 To enhance remedies for violations of intellectual property laws, and for other purposes. ——————————————————————————– IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES December 5, 2007 Mr...

Pro-IP Act of 2007 - H. R. 4279

Posted on January 30, 2008
110th CONGRESS 1st Session    H. R. 4279 To enhance remedies for violations of intellectual property laws, and for other purposes. ——————————————————————————– IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES December 5, 2007 Mr...

Cookbook Author Sues the Seinfelds for Copyright Infringement and Defamation

Posted on January 14, 2008
An Author Sues the Seinfelds, for a Cookbook and for Barbs - New York Times Missy Chase Lapine, the author of ?The Sneaky Chef,? a cookbook whose recipes camouflage puréed vegetables and fruits in comfort food for children, sued Jessica and Jerry Seinfeld on Monday, charging copyright infringement and defamation...

Cookbook Author Sues the Seinfelds for Copyright Infringement and Defamation

Posted on January 13, 2008
An Author Sues the Seinfelds, for a Cookbook and for Barbs - New York Times Missy Chase Lapine, the author of ?The Sneaky Chef,? a cookbook whose recipes camouflage puréed vegetables and fruits in comfort food for children, sued Jessica and Jerry Seinfeld on Monday, charging copyright infringement and defamation...

Fark.com Files NSFW Trademark Application

Posted on December 18, 2007
On December 3, 2007, Fark.com (NSFW) filed an application to trademark “Not Safe For Work,” pertaining to the following: (1) “Entertainment Services namely providing a website featuring photographic, audio, video and prose presentations featuring comedic captions regarding current events and online discussions and/or reviews of web materials of an adult nature” (2) “Entertainment services, namely, providing a [...

Same Netflix Company or Look-alike?

Posted on December 07, 2007
I was looking for info on something unimportant online the other day and ran across this company - DVDPost in Brussels, owned by company Home Entertainment Services S.A.   Which, I of course recognized as Netflix, Inc.:   Can anyone tell me if this is the same company, an homage, or just an international rip-off? [...

Arkansas IP Litigation Cases for the Week of November 24, 2007

Posted on December 04, 2007
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern or Western District of Arkansas was chosen as the forum for litigating the following case(s), as published by Justia: Nelson Design Group LLC v. Puckett et al; No. 3:2007cv00177 (07-117); Filed: November 21, 2007; Court: Arkansas Eastern District Court; Office: Jonesboro Office; County: Craighead Not much to see here...

Arkansas IP Litigation Cases for the Week of November 10, 2007

Posted on December 04, 2007
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern or Western District of Arkansas was chosen as the forum for litigating the following case(s), as published by Justia: Coulson Oil Company Inc v. Deweese Enterprises Inc; No. 4:2007cv01102; Filed: November 9, 2007; Court: Arkansas Eastern District Court Here is a Trademark Infringement lawsuit involving gas stations run by both [...

Dell Cybersquatting Case

Posted on November 30, 2007
Last week, the U.S. District Court for Southern Florida unsealed a lawsuit that Dell filed in October. See story here: Dell Takes Cybersquatters to Court. The cybersquatting/typosquatting lawsuit is unique in that they are going after several registrars as being “responsible for registering and profiting off of nearly 1,100 domains that were “confusingly similar” to Dell’s [...

UMG v. Lindor: a minor victory

Posted on November 28, 2007
Ray Beckerman, attorney for defendant in UMG v. Lindor, an RIAA filesharing lawsuit, had a minor victory this week. Recording Industry vs. The People The judge in the case, Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy, gave a partial grant to defendant’s motion to compel discovery...

The Discovery Institute, Smarter than Harvard.

Posted on November 27, 2007
An observant molecular scientist in training noticed that the Discovery Institute copied a great Harvard BioVision video on how a cell works, and replaced the scientific narration with their own narration to prop up their Intelligent Design argument. Harvard/XVIVOs narration, all of the science, is whisked away and replaced with a ’surrealistic lilliputian realm’– ‘robots’, ‘manufacturing’, ‘circuitry’, ‘nano moters’, [...

Google/YouTube?s New Copyright Filter

Posted on November 26, 2007
In June 2006, Google confirmed the rumorsof a promised Copyright filtering engine for YouTube. As far as I can tell, the Filter hasn’t been fully implemented yet. You can sign up for a beta, however. The plan, in a nutshell, is for content owners to help build a database of copyrighted material (i...

New Adjunct Professor of Law

Posted on November 25, 2007
Next semester I will be an Adjunct Professor of Law at UALR Bowen School of Law. I will be teaching the Trademark Practicum, which is one of the five classes in the school’s Intellectual Property Course Concentration. Growing up, all I wanted to be was a professor, so I am living the dream...