In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, No. 21-869, __ U.S. __ (May 18, 2023), that the first fair use factor, namely, “the purpose and character of the use” under 17 U.S.C. § 107(1), favored the photographer over the artist who subsequently used […]
Under the Ninth Circuit’s “server” test, if a party displayed a copyrighted image that it had stored on its own systems, then it had infringed; but if it displayed that image by merely linking or framing content from other websites, then it was not infringement. See, e.g., Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., 508 F.3d […]
Non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) are intangible but are eligible for trademark protection. Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., 539 U.S. 23 (2003), does not require a different result. The Central District of California in Yuga Labs Inc. v. Ripps, No. 2:22-cv-04355 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 21, 2023) recently agreed with the Southern District of New […]
A civil action for copyright infringement under the Copyright Act of 1976 must be “commenced within three years after the claim accrued.” 17 U.S.C. § 507(b). The Fifth Circuit has reaffirmed its prior precedent that this limitations period starts running “once the plaintiff knows or has reason to know of the injury upon which the […]
It is well-established that “facts are not copyrightable.” See Feist Publ’ns, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340, 344 (1991); see also Arica Institute, Inc. v. Palmer, 970 F.2d 1067, 1074-75 (2d Cir. 1992) (“facts, whether alone or as part of a compilation, are not original and therefore may not be copyrighted”) (citation, […]