Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Posts Tagged ‘copyright’

Turnitin suit

Four high school students from Arizona and Virginia are suing the anti-plagiarism service Turnitin, iParadigms LLC, under the copyright laws for archiving copies of their papers in its database. [WaPo] There are entrepreneurs who come up with good ideas for services and products, and entrepreneurs who come up with good ideas for lawsuits against the first group.

Update, March 31: Lots of commenters disagree with me, so it’s encouraging to see Eugene Volokh on my side. Turnitin’s own analysis (pdf) is public.

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No such thing as bad publicity?

Apparently Carol Burnett doesn’t hold to that maxim; she’s suing the producers of the Fox cartoon Family Guy for $2 million for copyright infringement and violations of her right of publicity over an 18-second cartoon clip parodying her. Ron Coleman of Likelihood of Confusion has details.

Fox could have some trouble, particularly with the second claim; California’s right of publicity law, as interpreted by the Ninth Circuit, is extremely broad. Judge Alex Kozinski’s famous dissenting opinion explained the problem in a case filed by Vanna White against Samsung about an advertisement featuring a robot wearing a blond wig. Although this case doesn’t present the exact same issues as the Vanna White case — the Family Guy cartoon actually used Burnett’s name — it does point out the flaws in the Ninth Circuit’s approach, and illustrates how their interpretation is an invitation to celebrities to litigate.

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YouTube users at legal risk?

Needless alarmism, or logical extrapolation from RIAA’s willingness to sue small-fry individual music-sharers along with the grandparents whose computers they had borrowed?

According to some legal experts, YouTube’s uploading community could find itself in the line of fire. … Centralized source or no, Christopher Norgaard, intellectual property attorney and partner in the Los Angeles office of Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley, said he believes YouTube and its users face a significant risk of exposure to secondary liability for copyright infringement. Secondary liability can be either contributory, meaning inducement of infringement, or vicarious, meaning profiting from infringement while failing to exercise a right to stop it.

(Jennifer LeClaire, “Are YouTube Users at Risk in Viacom Suit?”, NewsFactor, Mar. 16).

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James Lileks on copyright law

From his syndicated column (“Obliging the Entertainment Industry Poobahs”, Newhouse, Nov. 29):

Think of all the unauthorized copyrighted material you have in your head right now: Beatles tunes, Stephen King plots, images of Mickey Mouse.

Thief!

Well, you’re not exactly a criminal — but give it time.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act has just been amended again, and if the changes make the entertainment industry happy, that does not bode well for your future.

Tomorrow the law may be amended to prevent you from reading Doonesbury while moving your lips, since that’s an unauthorized reproduction that shifts content from one form to another….

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“Jay-Z versus the Sample Troll”

“Similar to its cousins the patent trolls, [Bridgeport Music Inc.] and companies like it hold portfolios of old rights (sometimes accumulated in dubious fashion) and use lawsuits to extort money from successful music artists for routine sampling, no matter how minimal or unnoticeable. … Since 2001, Bridgeport’s shotgun approach has led to many dismissals and settlements, but also two major victories. … there’s only one appellate court, the 6th Circuit, that takes the ridiculous position that any sample, no matter how minimal, needs a license.” (Tim Wu (Columbia lawprof), Slate, Nov. 16). Frank Pasquale at Concurring Opinions has some further thoughts: Nov. 21. More on sampling litigation in Ted’s “Overlawyered iMix” post, Aug. 9, 2005, and comments.

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Learning to accept coconuts

From a New York Times article on the city of Los Angeles’s decision to curtail the planting of palm trees along public streets and parks, one reason being that the majestic plants have been known to drop bulky fronds on persons below:

“Hawaii has a lot of coconut tree liability problems because they fall on people’s heads,” he said. “But the people there have said, ‘That is something that we have to accept.’”

(Jennifer Steinhauer, “City Says Its Urban Jungle Has Little Room for Palms”, Nov. 26). See also Jun. 11 (similar, from Torquay, England). More on coconut liability, in both cases relating to the decorated Mardi Gras variety: Mar. 4, 2005 (thrown at parade spectators); Mar. 13-14, 2002 (copyright claim).

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November 19 roundup

  • By popular demand: Alexis Brennan gives hot chocolate to daughter in carseat, little girl spills drink and burns herself after mom drives away, mom sues Starbucks; press mentions one hot coffee case where plaintiff won, and none of the dozen-plus where plaintiffs had claims thrown out. (This case is distinguishable from the McDonald’s coffee case if the mother’s claim that she specifically asked for a low-temperature drink holds up.) [Indianapolis Star; WRTV]
  • Former placekicker and current Illinois Supreme Court Justice Robert Thomas wins $7 million libel judgment from newspaper that dared to criticize him. Newspaper unable to defend truth of its reporting, because its discovery requests were blocked by claims of “judicial privilege.” [Lattman; Bashman]
  • Copyright trolls inhibit hip-hop music. Is that a bug or a feature? [Tim Wu @ Slate]
  • Judge to class action plaintiffs: tell me about your dealings with Milberg. [Point of Law]
  • “Plaintiff draws $1.26M penalty. Judge sends developer message: ‘Scorched-earth litigation’ will cost you.” [Knoxville News]
  • Second Circuit: Illegal aliens may sue for wages at U.S. levels. [Madeira v. Affordable Housing Foundation; New York Sun; both via Bashman]
  • UK Guy Fawkes crowd forced to resort to “virtual bonfire” because of liability fears over real one. [Evening Standard; apologies for losing the hat-tip]
  • Burlington Northern & Santa Fe to artists: don’t paint paintings of our trains or else. [CL&P Blog]
  • Borat update: “One immediate handicap the two fraternity brothers bring to this legal battle is an inability to find a lawyer who knows how to spell ‘aisle.'” [Slate]
  • ATLA on the offense in the new Congress, but their fifth Congressional target, Heather Wilson, held on to her seat against AG Patricia Madrid (Sep. 13). [Point of Law; Albuquerque Tribune]
  • Reliving deregulation debates. [Wallison @ AEI]
  • Inconsistent Internet gambling ban violates existing treaty, may result in trade sanctions; Congress must now decide whether to annoy anti-gambling Puritans, American IP content providers, or horse-racing and lottery industry. [Slate]
  • Roundup of links on new UK law on derivative suits. [Point of Law]
  • World ends: minorities and women hardest hit, as applied to noneconomic damages. [Point of Law; Roth CPA]

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“This article is copyright protected. Fair Use is not applicable.”

Eugene Volokh has a good laugh at the expense of an upstate New York publication called the North Country Gazette (Oct. 23 and 25). More: I should have made clear that it was David Giacalone who noticed the Gazette’s unusual policy and called it to the attention of the blogosphere; he has subsequently found himself drawn into a dispute with Gazette proprietor June Maxam. More: Carolyn Elefant, Typical Joe, and PhDiva (here, here and here).

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