Donald Trump campaign is once again targeted for song use; is ASCAP license enough?

Donald Trump is once again feeling the wrath of a musician who claims the Republican presidential candidate is using his music without permission. A lawyer for Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler sent Trump a letter Saturday demanding that the candidate stop using Aerosmith’s 1973 hit “Dream On” at campaign events, the…

Oct 13, 2015 11:06 AM CDT

Yoga poses are about healing, and not copyrightable, says 9th Circuit

A series of 26 poses, which yogi Bikram Choudhury claims to have created and refers to as “the sequence,” is an “unprotectable idea” which cannot be copyrighted, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. The court found that Choudhury’s breathing exercises are also not subject to…

Oct 9, 2015 2:30 PM CDT

Gotta catch ‘em all: Pokemon lawyers hit cafe manager with $5,400 bill for copyright infringement

As anyone who has ever watched Pokémon knows, Pikachu and the other characters can only say their names and nothing else. This is probably why they have a team of lawyers writing their complaints and briefs for them. According to a Monday story from Vice, a Seattle café manager is…

Oct 5, 2015 12:08 PM CDT

Mom’s release doesn’t preclude child’s copyright suit over T-shirt design, federal judge rules

A mother’s release allowing a second-grader in New York City to participate in a clothing company’s T-shirt design contest does not preclude the child’s subsequent copyright suit, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. However, U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods hasn’t yet decided what he says is the central issue in the…

Oct 2, 2015 10:45 AM CDT

PETA lawyer discusses monkey’s copyright suit over selfie

The U.S. Copyright Office has said that a monkey can’t be the author of a copyrighted work. But a lawsuit filed last week on behalf of Naruto, who is allegedly the monkey whose toothy selfies sparked an Internet sensation, is asking a federal court to find otherwise. In an interview…

Sep 28, 2015 2:35 PM CDT

9th Circuit says the Batmobile is a copyrightable character

The Batmobile—the car driven by Batman in the original DC Comics series—is an “automotive character” entitled to copyright protection, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday. The case deals a POW! to Mark Towle, a Southern California mechanic who had been sued for selling replica Batmobiles…

Sep 25, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

‘Happy Birthday’ song is in the public domain, judge rules

The company that has collected royalties since 1988 for use of the “Happy Birthday” song did not have a valid copyright, according to a federal judge in Los Angeles. U.S. District Judge George King ruled against Warner/Chappell Music Inc. on Tuesday, report the Associated Press, the New York Times, the…

Sep 23, 2015 9:30 AM CDT

Copyright holders must consider fair use before sending takedown notices, 9th Circuit says

It’s been eight years since Stephanie Lenz posted the video of her infant son dancing to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” onto YouTube that started her long-running conflict with Universal Music Corp., the holder of Prince’s copyrights. According to Reuters, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday…

Sep 14, 2015 5:20 PM CDT

Judge bars showing of Aretha Franklin documentary at Telluride; second screening is halted

A federal judge in Colorado issued a temporary injunction last Friday barring the screening of an Aretha Franklin concert documentary at the Telluride Film Festival. Now the producers have withdrawn the film from a second venue, the Toronto International Film Festival. U.S. District Judge John Kane issued the injunction in…

Sep 9, 2015 11:21 AM CDT

‘Raging Bull’ decision could rouse patent holders to sue decades after alleged infringement

Sep 1, 2015 3:00 AM CDT

Chicken sandwich can’t be copyrighted, federal appeals court rules

A ham sandwich, as popular lore has it, may well be indictable. But a chicken sandwich isn’t copyrightable, a federal appeals court has ruled. Agreeing with a trial court’s decision, the 1st U.S. Court of Appeals on Friday held (PDF) that a fast-food worker seeking a $10 million share of…

Aug 26, 2015 10:30 AM CDT

Dallas lawyer sentenced to prison for defrauding vodka investors

A Dallas lawyer who collected nearly $1.6 million from investors for a vodka that didn’t exist has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Andrew Lee Siegel, 54, had pleaded guilty earlier to investor fraud and copyright infringement charges, the Dallas Morning News reports. Siegel has also…

Aug 24, 2015 3:10 PM CDT

Ethics case alleges ‘settlement shakedown’ by lawyer whose Prenda firm sued porn downloaders

Attorney disciplinary authorities in Illinois are pursuing a legal ethics case against a Chicago lawyer known for filing a large number of copyright cases against individuals over claimed illegal downloading of pornographic materials. Filed Thursday against John Lawrence Steele, the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission ethics complaint (PDF) alleges…

Aug 24, 2015 9:35 AM CDT

Federal judge nixes city’s copyright suit over government meeting footage in critic’s YouTube videos

A federal judge has dismissed a California city’s copyright lawsuit over a critic’s use of Inglewood city council meeting footage in his YouTube videos. Under California law, government meeting content and other public records can’t be copyrighted, the court said in its Thursday order (PDF) in the Central District of…

Aug 21, 2015 1:40 PM CDT

On verge of damages award for Shakira song, judge reverses course due to new evidence

A federal judge had been about to award damages in a high-profile copyright case over Shakira’s 2010 hit “Loca,” to a company that owns a Dominican songwriter’s work. But on Monday, citing “a basic issue of fraud in the trial,” U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein instead ruled that the copyright…

Aug 12, 2015 11:55 AM CDT