May 13, 2012
CNN’s Anti-SLAPP Motion to Strike Fails on Prong One: No Categorical News Media Exemption
California’s Anti-SLAPP statute provides powerful means for defendants to move for an early dismissal of lawsuits that are “brought primarily to chill the valid exercise of the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and petition for the redress of grievances.” Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 425.16(a). An added benefit for the prevailing defendant is that it will automatically get a judgment for costs and attorney’s fees. The danger of filing an Anti-SLAPP motion is that if it is deemed frivolous, it will result in the court awarding plaintiff attorney’s fees and costs.
May 11, 2012
Access Rights and the First Sale Doctrine, Part III
The Ninth Circuit’s recent Vernor holding is emblematic of the continued enervation of the first sale doctrine, a trend with potentially dramatic consequences for the access rights that ordinary individual may enjoy to copyrighted content. Even in an era of relative wealth, there are many communities and even countries that simply cannot afford the high costs of acquiring initial copies of copyrighted content to sustain a library. In fact, early American copyright law even acknowledged this problem directly.
May 5, 2012
Ninth Circuit’s Computer Hacking Trade Secret Case May Go Higher
The Ninth Circuit’s en banc decision in United States v. Nosal recently narrowed the reach of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). In Nosal, the Court held that the CFAA’s prohibition on people using a computer to “exceed authorized access” was limited to computer hacking type scenarios, not scenarios where employees have access to computers but exceed the scope of the access by looking at materials outside their scope of employment or approved parameters.
May 3, 2012
Where Copyright Registration Mistakes Don’t Matter
The Ninth Circuit recently published an opinion involving errors on the copyright registration application materials.
May 1, 2012
Cracks in the DMCA Safe Harbor Emerge….
The Second Circuit recently decided the long-awaited Viacom v. Youtube case addressing the scope of the DMCA safe harbor for copyright infringement claims. This was the massive case filed by Viacom, the English Premiere Football League and others against YouTube and its new owner Google related to the building of YouTube’s business in 2005 and its method of securing user uploaded content.
April 2, 2012
30 Year Delay is Laches…Fourth Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment in Clear Channel Trademark Infringement Case
Ray Communications, Inc., a radio network owned by Bill and Lisa Ray, sued radio conglomerate Clear Channel for trademark infringement in June of 2008. Ray Communications, Inc. (RCI) owned a valid federal trademark in the mark “AGRINET”, a play on the words Agricultural and Network.
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