Burger King Corp. has asked a federal court in Miami “to declare that the use of a mock heavy metal band featuring performers wearing chicken masks does not violate any rights” of the heavy metal band Slipknot, whose lawyers had fired off a cease and desist letter to the burger operator and its ad agency over the ad in question. “The Coq Roq band is a mock heavy metal band that is markedly and obviously different from Slipknot except for the generic fact that both play heavy metal music and wear masks,” according to the fast-food chain’s filing. (“Burger King takes ad dispute to court”, Orlando Sentinel, Aug. 21; Charlie Amter, “Slipknot Seeks to Block BK’s Coq”, E!Online, Aug. 18)(with ghastly photos))
Posts Tagged ‘copyright’
Furniture from FedEx shipping boxes
Its documentation on the Web calls forth a nastygram from FedEx claiming violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. (Kristen Philipkoski, “Furniture Causes FedEx Fits”, Wired News, Aug. 11)(via Nobody’s Business).
“Scorched earth litigation tactics”
…in a copyright case against Compaq lead the Fifth Circuit to impose $2.7 million in sanctions. Ron Coleman (Likelihood of Confusion) comments (Jul. 29), and mentions us.
More on orphan copyright
“This week, at the urging of prominent legal scholars, academic-library organizations, technology companies such as Google and Microsoft, and many other interested parties, the U.S. Copyright Office is holding a series of hearings to determine whether copyright law should change to allow for more liberal use of orphan works” — that is, works whose copyright holders cannot be tracked down with reasonable diligence. The Chronicle of Higher Education has a good roundup on an issue last seen in these columns Apr. 14. (Scott Carlson, “Whose Work Is It, Anyway?” Jul. 29)(via Arts & Letters Daily).
AP Prevails in Copyright Lawsuit Over Photos of Soldiers and Iraqi Prisoners
The Associated Press and one of its reporters was sued for violation of privacy and copyright infringement for publishing photos of Navy SEALs who posed with Iraqi prisoners. A federal judge in San Diego, California dismissed the lawsuit this week. (KESQ, “Judge dismisses Navy SEAL lawsuit against The Associated Press,” Jul. 14.)
Comics and IP law
Trademark and copyright battles, it turns out, have helped shape the course of development of comic-book superheroes, including their names, histories and even the array of powers they wield. Jon Rowe (Jun. 12) sorts out some of the complications.
“Brand Name Bullies”
Unreviewed, but sounds promising: Brand Name Bullies, by David Bollier (website), published last December, bills itself as an “impassioned, darkly amusing look at how corporations misuse copyright and trademark law to stifle creativity and free speech.” The publisher, John Wiley & Sons, has a website with excerpts. For many examples of that phenomenon, see our pages on intellectual property/technology and free speech/media law.
Update: copyrightable yoga sequences
A federal judge ruled last month that the current state of intellectual property law does not necessarily preclude Bikram Choudhury’s claim to copyright over a particular sequence of yoga postures; litigation continues in the case (see Feb. 9, 2004). (“Yoga Is Focus in Groundbreaking Copyright Case”, PrimeZone/Linux Insider, Apr. 9). The Seattle Times (“Download”, Apr. 4) notes that Choudhury’s adversaries, a group of yoga instructors calling themselves Open Source Yoga Unity (OSYU), say they have banded together to fight the “litigious position of Bikram Choudhury”: “Hmmm, you have to wonder what that position might look like in the studio.”
Rosa Parks update
92-year-old Rosa Parks “has dementia and is only faintly aware of what is happening around her,” but that didn’t stop lawyers from filing a $5 billion lawsuit on her behalf against the music companies that permitted the music group OutKast to release a song with the title “Rosa Parks.” (Jan. 17). The case has settled with the promise of a CD and a television tribute to her, featuring her guardian, Dennis Archer, as host. No conflicts of interest there. I couldn’t find any press coverage indicating how much Parks’s current lawyer, Willie Gary (Oct. 14, Aug. 13, 2003, earlier links), was paid in the process; Archer refused to discuss financial terms. (Peter Slevin, “Settlement Commits Music Producers to Honor Rosa Parks”, Washington Post, Apr. 15). The Sixth Circuit held that the rappers did not have a first amendment right to name their song “Rosa Parks” because they could have called it “Back of the Bus” rather than use an allusive title. One looks forward to more federal court diktats over song titles. (Parks v. LaFace Records (6th Cir. 2003) (argued by the late Johnnie Cochran)). (And welcome Slate readers: check out the main page.)
Untraceable — but still under copyright
Due in part to expansions of copyright law lobbied for by Disney and other giants, a huge volume of writing, art and music which would otherwise by now have entered the public domain is still under copyright, even though the rights to much of it — things like picture postcards, ephemeral commercial illustration and sheet music issued by long-defunct publishers or with no identifying marks at all — cannot be traced to any particular current successor-owner even by good faith efforts. Per Wired News:
According to comments submitted to the copyright office, one married couple couldn’t get a wedding photograph repaired: The photography shop would not scan and reprint the photo because it was taken by a professional and the shop was afraid of violating copyright, even though the photographer was out of business.
“For heaven’s sake, this is a photograph of me and my wife, and I can’t have it legally repaired!!! Wrong, wrong, wrong!” wrote William Haynes.
(Katie Dean, “Copyright Reform to Free Orphans?”, Apr. 12).