Creedence Clearwarter Revival sang it best: Long as I remember The rain been comin’ down. Clouds of myst’ry pourin’ Confusion on the ground. Good men through the ages, Tryin’ to find the sun; And I wonder, Still I wonder, Who’ll stop the rain. For as long as we can remember, the rain of infringements been […]
Archive for category Copyright
What is a group of trolls called? A gaggle, a craven, a drool, a pollution? Scanning the Internet, we actually found a discussion about this and a crèche of trolls seems to be the most popular. We pondered this subject as we’ve seen an infestation of trolls (good one, right?) regarding copyright lately. In two […]
A lot of people have been asking about the 3-year statute of limitation for filing an infringement lawsuit. It’s taken us a while, because legally, from experience in these matters, it’s not a simple answer. As most legal questions, this question contains many shades of grey, well beyond the popular 50 shades. We know, unfortunately, […]
Sue Me? No, I’m Suing you!
Apr 11
An interesting graffiti case, filed under “We told you this can happen”, but not in the way expected. A lawyer representing graffiti artists contacted the Mercedes Benz company (also known as “Holy crap, how is Fred able to buy that Mercedes Benz on his crappy salary?!) about Mercedes Benz infringing on his client’s graffiti artwork. […]
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) just issued two decisions, both by 9 -0 votes directly affecting the rights and legal remedies available to copyright owners who choose to protect their work either defensively or by bringing an action for money damages for infringement. As we have written, lectured, screamed and cajoled for decades, […]
It is with much trepidation that we dive into this topic. It is very hard to just dip your toe into the graffiti water without jumping in the pool. The use of graffiti – plural for graffito – as either background or integral to a photo shoot is fraught with easily avoidable peril. We suggest […]
The two of us love great quotes, like almost every quoted line in Young Frankenstein (what’s not to love). Here’s one by the great writer Henry James (1843 – 1916) that is not as famous as Igor’s “What hump?”, but probably more meaningful for this column – “She had an unequalled gift, usually pen in […]
Our friend, Steve Brazill, posted a great instructional video on the new procedures and his workflow for registering a group of published or unpublished photos at the Copyright Office. He’s posted it on his blog and video channel called “Behind the Shot”, which is a great video blog and worth subscribing to follow. This video […]
“Moral Rights” is concept that artists have an ethical right to control their creations, and protect the integrity of their work and their own reputation. So-called “moral rights” in intellectual property exist in various countries outside of the USA particularly in the EU. There is however, a portion of the US Federal Copyright Law, which […]
Copyright Troll – Part 2
Oct 30
Just in time for Halloween comes a droll “troll” decision by Judge Denise Cote out of the United States District Court for The Southern District of New York. The Southern District is the federal court that covers Manhattan, The Bronx, Westchester and Rockland Counties. Several months ago we wrote about a decision made by Judge […]
