January 25, 2012
Sundance Sued for Defamation after Publicizing Real Estate Mogul went from “Rags to Riches to Rags”
David A. Siegel filed a complaint against Sundance Institute, Inc., and Lauren Greenfield, director of the film “The Queen of Versailles,” for defamation. Siegel is the president and CEO of Westgate, a development company which owns 27 resorts. One of those resorts is in Park City, Utah, where the Sundance festival is held annually. In 2007, Siegel agreed to allow Greenfield to shoot a documentary on the construction of his 90,000 square foot home, "Versailles." While Greenfield and her crew filmed the documentary, Siegel provided free accommodations to them. He also relayed to Greenfield that he had “successfully resolved his financial issues [which resulted from a credit freeze after the financial crisis of 2008] and that Westgate remained highly profitable.” Siegel claims Westgate’s “sales remained strong.”
January 18, 2012
Contributory Cybersquatting Liability Exists but Not in Petroliam Nasional Berhad v. GoDaddy
In Petroliam Nasional Berhad v. GoDaddy.com, Inc., Petronas, the national oil company for Malaysia alleged a claim for contributory cybersquatting against GoDaddy, a domain name registrar. Cybersquatting is “the bad faith registration of a domain name that is identical or confusingly similar to another’s distinctive mark.” Domain name registrars act as intermediaries between the party registering the domain name and the registries that maintain a master list of all domain names. They are accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit organization that manages domain names and Internet Protocol addresses. GoDaddy is required to follow ICANN rules, including “maintain[ing] the status quo during a domain name dispute until receipt of directions from the registrant, an order from a court or arbitral tribunal, or the decision of an administrative panel.” Petronas uses the domain names petronas.com.my and petronastwintowers.com.my. Registrant Heiko Schoenekess registered the domain names petronastower.net and petronastowers.net using GoDaddy. He also used GoDaddy’s “dashboard” interface to forward internet traffic from these two websites to the same porn website.
January 12, 2012
The Songwriters Guild Files Amicus in First Copyright Termination Case within the Ninth Circuit
In July, 2011, Scorpio Music and Can’t Stop Productions filed for declaratory relief against Victor Willis who served Can’t Stop with a notice of termination of post-1977 copyright grants. Victor Willis was the lead singer of the 1970s disco group the Village People. Scorpio based its argument on Section 203(a)(1) of Title 17, which provides that “[i]n the case of a grant executed by two of more authors of a joint work, termination of the grant may be effected by a majority of the authors who executed it.” Scorpio asserted that the works were written as joint works and because Willis alone does not constitute a majority of the authors he does not have the right to terminate.
January 5, 2012
The Federal Circuit Convened En Banc to Hear Oral Arguments on Joint Infringement Cases
Eleven judges of the Federal Circuit convened en banc today to hear oral arguments on whether and when, to allow patent owners to pursue remedies for “joint infringement” of their patents. Joint infringement also called “divided infringement” would occur when no single defendant practices all the elements of a patent claim, but different defendants act in a way that does so. An important open issue is what type of relationship is required between the defendants for joint infringement to occur. In Akamai Technologies v. Limelight Networks, Inc., a Federal Circuit panel held that joint infringement requires “some sort of agency relationship between the parties...or [for one to be] contractually obligated to the other to perform the steps.” At today’s hearing, Akamai’s counsel argued that the panel’s holding created an “unfair loophole.” Akamai’s pointed out that the patent statute provides remedies against “whoever uses the patented invention,” and Akamai argued that “whoever” can be either a single party or more than one party.
December 27, 2011
Knowledge and Copyright Infringement Do Not Create Specific Jurisdiction in Plaintiff’s Forum State
Judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California granted a motion to dismiss Lang v. Morris for lack of personal jurisdiction. The opinion relies on recent Ninth Circuit interpretation of specific jurisdiction requirements in cases where the plaintiff was attempting to pursue litigation in the plaintiff’s resident forum-state. In Lang, the plaintiff was an origami artist who sued Sarah Morris, painter and film maker, for allegedly willful copying of plaintiff’s origami designs. Lang filed suit in California, where he resides. Morris is a New York resident and claimed she neither sold the works in question in California nor had a representative or agent in California. Lang argued that the court should find personal jurisdiction because Morris willfully infringed his work while knowing Lang resides in California. The case was dismissed because Judge Chen found Morris had insufficient personal contacts with California.
December 20, 2011
Footzyrolls Rolled into Tootsie Roll’s Mark?
Tootsie Roll Industries is suing small business shoe designer, Rollashoe LLC, for Lanham Act violations in the Northern District of Illinois. At issue in this case is whether Rollashoe’s trademark, Footzyrolls, likely causes confusion with Tootsie Roll or dilutes the value of the Tootsie Roll mark. Although tootsie roll is probably best known as a chewy, chocolate flavored confection, the Tootsie Roll mark doesn’t just appear in connection to the candy. It also appears on footwear, accessories, and clothing. The mark Footzyrolls is registered for footwear accessories, like “rollable ballet slippers, drawstring bag for alternate shoes and a small purse bag for the rollable slippers all packaged together in the small box.”
December 14, 2011
The Northern District of California Denied NBC’s Motion to Dismiss Emotional Distress and Defamation Claims in Another “To Catch a Predator” Case
Anurag Tiwari sued NBC for filming events which he asserts caused him emotional distress and defamation. These events, however, included Tiwari contacting an adult woman whom he believed to be 13 years old and visiting her in what he believed to be her home. They were the basis for an episode of “To Catch a Predator,” a television show where NBC and law enforcement work together to catch “men who show up at the undercover ‘Predator’ house thinking they would meet a young girl home alone” [taken from the MSNBC website] by using adult “’decoys’ posing as teenagers.” Tiwari was charged with two felonies. Both were eventually dismissed. Tiwari was then charged and convicted of a misdemeanor for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, which he appealed. It was reduced to a criminal infraction in a plea deal in July 2010.
December 9, 2011
Priorities and Special Projects of the Copyright Office for the Next Two Years
The U.S. Copyright Office just released its priorities and special protects for the next two years in the areas of policy and administrative law. Some highlights are: Treatment of Pre-1972 Sound Recordings, Mass Book Digitization and Rogue Websites.
December 4, 2011
Sam Francis Files Class Action Suit against Art Galleries under California’s Resale Royalty Act
In 1976, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the Resale Royalty Act, which allows artists to profit from the resale of their visual works in secondary markets. According to the statute, if the artist is a U.S. citizen or California resident for at least two years at the time of resale, if either the seller resides in California or the sale is held in California, and if the work is valued at over $1000, then the artist is entitled to a 5% royalty of the sale price. If the sale price depreciates in value, the artist is owned nothing. When a reseller cannot locate the artist, it is required to transfer the royalty payment to California’s Art Council. The concept that artists should profit from the appreciation of their visual works is called droit de suite, which was borrowed from French law and adopted into the European Union. California is the only state to recognize resale royalties to visual artists.
November 29, 2011
UMG will Continue to Defend Its Accounting Methods in Recording Artists’ Class Action Suit
Rick James, named plaintiff in a class action suit against UMG Recordings, convinced a court in the Northern District of California to deny UMG’s motion to dismiss. James claimed that UMG violated California’s Business & Professions Code Section 17200 which prohibits unfair competition, or “unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act[s] or practice[s].” Specifically, James contended that companies like Apple/iTunes, Liquid Digital Media, and Rhapsody Music, have entered into licensing agreements with UMG which allow them to distribute and sell musical tracks from UMG’s catalog. However, UMG “improperly characterize[ed]” these agreements as resale agreements. Resale agreements entitle artists to a smaller percentage of income as compared to licensing agreements.
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