The Internet Archive Is a Library; Inside Higher Ed, March 17, 2023

Dave Hansen, Deborah Jakubs, Chris Bourg, Thomas Leonard, Jeff MacKie-Mason, Joseph A. Salem Jr., MacKenzie Smith, and Winston Tabb, Inside Higher Ed; The Internet Archive Is a Library

"Why is it so important to the publishers that the Internet Archive not be identified as a library? Primarily because Congress has long recognized the valuable role that libraries play in our copyright system and has created special allowances in the law for their work. In this suit, the publishers seek to redefine the Internet Archive on their own terms and, in so doing, deny it the ability to leverage the same legal tools that thousands of other libraries use to lend and disseminate materials to our users.

The argument that the Internet Archive isn’t a library is wrong. If this argument is accepted, the results would jeopardize the future development of digital libraries nationwide. The Internet Archive is the most significant specialized library to emerge in decades. It is one of the only major memory institutions to be created from the emergence of the internet. It is, and continues to be, a modern-day cultural institution built intentionally in response to the technological revolution through which we’ve lived."

Imitation Is The Best Form Of Flattery. Flattery Is Not A Defense To Copyright Infringement.; Above The Law, January 18, 2023

CHRIS WILLIAMS, Above The Law; Imitation Is The Best Form Of Flattery. Flattery Is Not A Defense To Copyright Infringement.

"Unless you’ve been living under a law library, it would be hard to not take note of the rapid influx of AI art. Face modifying apps, extended shots of events and people that never happened that uncanny only begins to explain their weirdness, you name it. The figure of AI as artist has arrived, but is any of it legal? A small group of artists aim to find out."

AI Art Generators Spark Multiple Copyright Lawsuits; The Hollywood Reporter, January 17, 2023

 Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter; AI Art Generators Spark Multiple Copyright Lawsuits

"Whether AI programs, built on models that analyze the patterns of copyrighted works, violate the intellectual property rights of artists is up in the air. Engineers build AI art generators by feeding algorithms large databases of images downloaded from the internet without licenses. The artists’ suit asks whether the AI firms infringed on the copyrights of artists by using copyrighted works to train AI tools and when consumers used the art generators to create new works. It also asks whether the conduct is protected under fair use, which allows for use of protected works without permission as long as they are transformative."

DeviantArt, Midjourney Face Lawsuit for Using 'Billions of Copyrighted' Images in AI Art; CBR, January 15, 2023

BRIAN CRONIN, CBR ; DeviantArt, Midjourney Face Lawsuit for Using 'Billions of Copyrighted' Images in AI Art

"A lawsuit on behalf of a group of plaintiff artists has been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against three companies: Stability AI, DeviantArt, and Midjourney, over the alleged infringement of the copyright of the artists in the creation of so-called "artificial intelligence" art."

Photo Agency Sues Twitter for $228.9 Million Over Copyright Infringement; PetaPixel, January 12, 2023

 PESALA BANDARA, PetaPixel; Photo Agency Sues Twitter for $228.9 Million Over Copyright Infringement

"Photo agency Backgrid and ten anonymous defendants have sued Twitter for allegedly failing to take down more than 1,500 photographs of celebrities owned by them and illegally posted to the platform by users.

According to the lawsuit filed on December 30, 2022, Backgrid alleges it sent over 6,700 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices to Twitter requesting the removal of its copyrighted photos, but Twitter failed to respond or take down a single image.

Furthermore, Backgrid claims that its images were posted continuously by some Twitter users, but the social media platform failed to suspend any accounts under its “repeat infringer” policy."

What You Need to Know about Small Claims and the Copyright Claims Board; U.S. Copyright Office, January 12, 2023 2 PM EST

U.S. Copyright Office; What You Need to Know about Small Claims and the Copyright Claims Board

"You may have heard about the Copyright Claims Board, or CCB for short. But what is the CCB? Who can use it? In this fifty-minute session, learn the basics about what anyone should know before filing or participating in a CCB proceeding. Attendees will learn about the types of claims the CCB can hear, legal resources to be aware of, and why respondents might want to consider participating in the United States’ first intellectual property small claims tribunal.

Date: January 12, 2:00 p.m. eastern time

Speakers

• Maya Burchette, Attorney-Advisor, Copyright Claims Board 
• Dan Booth, Attorney-Advisor, Copyright Claims Board
• 
  

* * *

About the CCB: The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act of 2020 established the Copyright Claims Board (CCB), a tribunal located in the Copyright Office and available as a voluntary alternative to federal court. The CCB is an efficient, streamlined way to resolve copyright disputes involving claims seeking damages of up to $30,000 and is designed to be less expensive than bringing a case in a federal court."

Register Here

Dr. Dre, Greene Feud Over Music Copyright in Politics: Explained; Bloomberg Law, January 11, 2023

Isaiah Poritz, Bloomberg Law; Dr. Dre, Greene Feud Over Music Copyright in Politics: Explained

"The dust up is the latest in a long history of musicians fighting politicians they say use their songs for political purposes—like campaign rallies and ads—without permission, and in violation of copyright law.

The complaints go back decades. Bruce Springsteen famously demanded that Republican President Ronald Reagan stop using his “Born in the U.S.A.” for his re-election campaign. The soul duo Sam & Dave in 2008 requested that then-presidential candidate Barack Obama stop playing “Hold On, I’m Comin’” at his campaign events."

Photographer Sues Gannett for $34 Million For Copyright Infringement; PetaPixel, December 15, 2022

PESALA BANDARA, PetaPixel ; Photographer Sues Gannett for $34 Million For Copyright Infringement

"Photographer Stephanie Campbell filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against major media company Gannett and more than 220 Gannett news outlets on Friday, reports Rochester Beacon.

In the lawsuit, Campbell alleges that hundreds of Gannett’s news titles published her photo of former NFL coach Katie Sowers without seeking the photographer’s permission...

[Kip Currier: The photographs, as described in the article, would be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office as copyrightable subject matter, not with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which, as its eponymous name indicates, has jurisdiction over patents and trademarks.] Campbell registered the photographs of Sowers with the U.S. Patent and Trademarks office...

According to the Rochester Beacon, Campbell is seeking damages of up to $150,000 for each alleged infringement, a sum that, if each supposedly infringing publication used the Sowers photo only once, could see the photographer winning $34 million."

YouTube and content creators clash over the platform’s automated copyright tool; Marketplace, November 4, 2022

Marketplace; YouTube and content creators clash over the platform’s automated copyright tool

"Every minute, people upload more than 500 hours of video to YouTube — cat videos, music videos, even videos of people recording their audio podcasts.

And some of those clips include content the people uploading them don’t own, like clips of music from popular songs.

YouTube, and its owner, Google, have an automated technology called Content ID that regularly scans for copyrighted material — including music — and flags it for copyright holders.

Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams spoke about this with Marketplace’s Peter Balonon-Rosen, who explained why the system has some musicians frustrated."

Pasternak ordered to pay 99% of costs in copyright case; The Bookseller, December 5, 2022

SIAN BAYLEY, The Bookseller; Pasternak ordered to pay 99% of costs in copyright case

"Pasternak’s book is a factual account of the real-life inspiration for the character of Lara in Dr Zhivago, who she argued was Olga Ivinskaya, the author’s secret mistress and literary muse. Prescott’s novel uses the Cold War response to the publication of Dr Zhivago as part of its narrative, describing how the CIA smuggled copies of Dr Zhivago into the Society Union after the communist regime banned it. 

Speaking about today’s costs hearing, Prescott said: “I’m greatly relieved that the High Court has ruled that Anna Pasternak must pay 99% of our legal costs. It’s a shame so much time and money has been spent on a claim that never should have been brought in the first place, by a person who never even read my book. I’ve moved on, and I hope that Anna too can move on and find some personal peace. I hope this ruling means that in the future, baseless claims can be avoided; they only hurt writers during a time where the world needs books more than ever.”"

Two Russian Nationals Charged with Running Massive E-Book Piracy Website; Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York, November 16, 2022

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Eastern District of New York

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

"Two Russian Nationals Charged with Running Massive E-Book Piracy Website

Defendants Operated Z-Library, Which Offered Free Download of Copyrighted Works

Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, an indictment and a complaint were unsealed charging Russian nationals Anton Napolsky and Valeriia Ermakova with criminal copyright infringement, wire fraud and money laundering for operating Z-Library, an online e-book piracy website.  The pair was arrested on November 3, 2022 in Cordoba, Argentina at the request of the United States.  At the same time, Z-Library’s network of online domains was also taken offline and seized by the U.S. government, pursuant to a court order that was also unsealed today.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the arrests and charges.

“As alleged, the defendants profited illegally off work they stole, often uploading works within mere hours of publication, and in the process victimized authors, publishers and booksellers,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “This Office is committed to protecting the intellectual property rights that enable creative and artistic expression, and holding individuals accountable for threatening those rights.”

“The defendants are alleged to have operated a website for over a decade whose central purpose was providing stolen intellectual property, in violation of copyright laws.  Intellectual property theft crimes deprive their victims of both ingenuity and hard-earned revenue. The FBI is determined to ensure those willing to steal and profit from the creativity of others are stopped and made to face the consequences in the criminal justice system,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Driscoll.

As alleged in the indictment and court filings, Z-Library bills itself as “the world’s largest library” and claims to offer more than 11 million e-books for download.  Z-Library, which has been active since approximately 2009, offers e-book files in a variety of file formats, stripped of their copyright protections, and encourages users to upload and download titles.  Many of the e-books offered by Z-Library are protected intellectual property for which authors hold copyrights and publishers hold exclusive distribution rights, and which Z-Library has no right or license to distribute, and which are available elsewhere only with anti-circumvention measures applied. As such, a central purpose of Z-Library is to allow users to download copyrighted books for free in violation of U.S. law.   In addition to its homepage, Z-Library operates as a complex network of approximately 249 interrelated web domains.  As part of this action, those domains were taken offline and seized by the U.S. government.

The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.  

The government’s case was initiated by the Office’s Cyber Crime Task Force.  Assistant United States Attorney Chand Edwards-Balfour, Alexander Mindlin, Antoinette N. Rangel and Kaitlin Farrell are prosecuting the case.  Brian Morris of the Office’s Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, the FBI’s Legal Attachés abroad and foreign authorities in multiple countries provided critical assistance in this case.  In particular, the Office extends its appreciation to the Argentine authorities for their assistance in the capture of Napolsky and Ermakova.

Multiple organizations representing the victim authors and publishers also provided critical assistance in this case.  The Office extends its particular appreciation to The Authors Guild in New York and The Publishers Association in London for their assistance.  The Office also extends its appreciation to the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance for its assistance in the domain takedown.     

The Defendants:

ANTON NAPOLSKY
Age:  33
St. Petersburg, Russia

VALERIIA ERMAKOVA
Age:  27
St. Petersburg, Russia

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 22-CR-525 (NM)

Attachment(s): 

Download Indictment"

Descendant of Doctor Zhivago author loses copyright court case; The Guardian, October 25, 2022

Haroon Siddique, The Guardian; Descendant of Doctor Zhivago author loses copyright court case

"A descendant of the Doctor Zhivago author, Boris Pasternak, has lost a claim for copyright infringement against the writer of a novel about the publication of the Russian epic.

Anna Pasternak claimed seven chapters in Lara Prescott’s work of historical fiction, The Secrets We Kept (TSWK), copied elements from her own book Lara, a 2016 biography of her great uncle’s lover Olga Ivinskaya."

‘Copyright Trolls’ Are Suing People Over Creative Commons Photos; PetaPixel, June 1, 2022

MATT GROWCOOT, PetaPixel ; ‘Copyright Trolls’ Are Suing People Over Creative Commons Photos

"An Alleged Copyright “Trap”

Mike Hiestand from SPLC was damning in his condemnation: “let’s call it what is: a trap. And once a user falls into their trap, a demand letter soon follows.

“Unfortunately some photographers and companies are now intentionally taking advantage by including very specific or complex licensing terms that they know most — or at least many — users probably won’t comply with.” 

These “traps” are perfectly legal but appear to be done in bad faith. Users of CC images are strongly advised to read the fine print less they fall foul of one of these demand letters." 

Ed Sheeran and co-writers awarded £900,000 in costs over copyright case; The Guardian, June 21, 2022

PA Media, The Guardian; Ed Sheeran and co-writers awarded £900,000 in costs over copyright case

"Ed Sheeran and his co-songwriters have been awarded more than £900,000 in legal costs after winning their high court copyright trial over the hit Shape of You earlier this year."

Triumph Development sends cease and desist letter to Vail Resorts over alleged use of its intellectual property; Vail Daily, May 25, 2022

Scott Miller , Vail Daily; Triumph Development sends cease and desist letter to Vail Resorts over alleged use of its intellectual property

Letter alleges East Vail housing project is improperly using old designs

"The letter to The Vail Corporation states that the firm has submitted a “nearly identical” design for its East Vail project.

The letter alleges that The Vail Corporation “is well aware that Triumph owns the Intellectual Property. Indeed, (The Vail Corporation) repeatedly expressed interest in modifying the original contract with Triumph to provide for a transfer” of that intellectual property. “Triumph declined, and now (The Vail Corporation) is using it anyway.”"

Ed Sheeran now films “every single writing session” to prevent future copyright cases; NME, April 11, 2022

 Elizabeth Aubrey, NME; Ed Sheeran now films “every single writing session” to prevent future copyright cases

"Ed Sheeran has said that he now films “every single writing session” to prevent future copyright cases into his songs."

PRH, Internet Archive Clash Over ‘Maus’; Publishers Weekly, February 15, 2022

Calvin Reid, Publishers Weekly; PRH, Internet Archive Clash Over ‘Maus’

"However, Lisa Lucas, senior v-p and publisher of Pantheon Schocken, the PRH division which publishes Maus, denies the allegation. In response, Lucas emphatically denied the claim. “That is not true,” she said, framing the issue around copyright concerns rather than consumer demand. “Art Spiegelman has never consented to an e-book of Maus," Lucas said. "Therefore, PRH asked the Internet Archive to remove the PDF and stop pirating Maus because it violates Art Spiegelman’s copyright.”

Although best known for its collection of public domain titles, the Internet Archive also offers a lending library of more than 2 million modern titles “not in the public domain,” Freeland said. IA offers digital lending of these titles under a controversial policy called Controlled Digital Lending, or CDL, in which IA scans the book and lends out a PDF of the title, one copy per lender at a time, much like a physical book.

In June 2020, four publishers, including PRH, filed a lawsuit against the IA charging it with copyright infringement. The case is still working its way through the courts."

Music group sues NBC, US figure skating pair over use of song during Winter Olympics; USA Today, February 19, 2022

Jordan Mendoza,USA Today ; Music group sues NBC, US figure skating pair over use of song during Winter Olympics

"Music group Heavy Young Heathens filed a lawsuit on Thursday against NBC, U.S. Figure Skating and figure skating pair Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, saying their copyright for the song "House of the Rising Sun" was violated when the pair used it for their short program earlier this week.

The group, comprised of brothers Robert and Aron Marderosian, are known for their compositions in numerous television shows, movies, trailers, advertisements and video games, such as ESPN's "30 for 30," Adidas, "Deadpool" and "The Simpsons." One of their compositions, "House of the Rising Sun" is based on a traditional folk song, but their version of it "is a signature song of theirs throughout the world," as it has been famously used for the film "The Magnificent Seven" and Ford auto commercials.

During the team figure skating event of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Knierim and Frazier used the composition for the short program portion of the event in which the United States won a silver medal for." 

Lego sued over leather jacket worn by toy Antoni in Queer Eye set; The Guardian, January 16, 2022

Sian Cain, The Guardian; Lego sued over leather jacket worn by toy Antoni in Queer Eye set

"An artist has accused Lego of recreating a leather jacket he made for Queer Eye cast-member Antoni Porowski without the artist’s permission, claiming that a toy jacket included in a Lego set based on the Netflix show is a “blatant copy” of his design.

James Concannon, whose clothes have been regularly worn by Porowski on the popular program, filed a lawsuit against the Danish toy giant in a Connecticut district court last month. The designer, who is seeking damages, alleges that one of the outfits included in the set for Porowski’s figurine copies “the unique placement, coordination, and arrangement of the individual artistic elements” on the jacket."

Judge Rules in Favor of Nicki Minaj in Tracy Chapman Copyright Dispute; Variety, September 16, 2020

Gene Maddaus , Variety; Judge Rules in Favor of Nicki Minaj in Tracy Chapman Copyright Dispute

"A judge handed a significant win to Nicki Minaj on Wednesday, finding that she did not commit copyright infringement when she created a song based on Tracy Chapman’s “Baby Can I Hold You.”

The ruling protects the industry practice of developing a new song based on existing material, and then seeking a license from the original artist prior to release. U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips ruled that Minaj’s experimentation with Chapman’s song constitutes “fair use” and is not copyright infringement."