Showing posts with label copyright lawsuit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label copyright lawsuit. Show all posts

Sunday, March 6, 2022

ResearchGate dealt a blow in copyright lawsuit; Nature, March 4, 2022

Diana Kwon, Nature; ResearchGate dealt a blow in copyright lawsuit

"A landmark court case in which two major academic publishers sued the popular website ResearchGate for hosting 50 of their copyrighted papers has come to a close — although both sides say that they will appeal. The court in Munich, Germany, has not only prohibited ResearchGate from hosting the papers, but also ruled that it is responsible for copyright-infringing content uploaded on its platform. The decision has the potential to set a precedent for further restrictions on the site, which has 20 million users worldwide."

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

‘We Shall Overcome’ Copyright May Be Overcome One Day; New York Times, 4/12/16

Ben Sisario, New York Times; ‘We Shall Overcome’ Copyright May Be Overcome One Day:
"Last year, a federal judge ruled that the long-claimed copyright to the song “Happy Birthday to You” was invalid. Now the same could happen for another iconic tune: “We Shall Overcome.”
On Tuesday, the We Shall Overcome Foundation, a nonprofit group that works with orphans and the poor, sued the music publishers who control “We Shall Overcome,” seeking a declaratory judgment that the song is not under copyright and is in the public domain.
The case, which was filed at Federal District Court in Manhattan and seeks class-action status, also asks for the return of an unspecified amount of licensing fees that the publishers, the Richmond Organization and Ludlow Music, have collected from the use of the song.
Like the “Happy Birthday” case, the “We Shall Overcome” suit tracks a famous piece of music through a murky early history and a complex paper trail of copyright registrations."

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Beastie Boys Fight Online Video Parody of ‘Girls’; New York Times, 11/25/13

Dave Itzkoff, New York Times; Beastie Boys Fight Online Video Parody of ‘Girls’ : "GoldieBlox had filed a lawsuit on Thursday that asserted its right to use the music in the video, which has gone viral with more than eight million views. It said in the suit that it “created its parody video specifically to comment on the Beastie Boys song, and to further the company’s goal to break down gender stereotypes.” But the Beastie Boys, in the letter to GoldieBlox, said the video was essentially part of a commercial enterprise and “an advertisement that is designed to sell a product,” for which the band says it does not allow its music to be used."

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Conan Doyle estate seeks to preserve US copyright of Sherlock Holmes's 'complex personality'; Guardian, 9/19/13

Liz Bury, Guardian; Conan Doyle estate seeks to preserve US copyright of Sherlock Holmes's 'complex personality' : "...whether use of the characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson is covered by copright law until the entire Holmes canon is out of copyright in the United States. At present, 10 stories from the final collection, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, remain in copyright, with the stories due to enter the public domain in different years up to 2022. Sherlockian editor and Los Angeles entertainment lawyer Leslie Klinger filed a suit in February with the aim of establishing that the characters of Holmes and Watson are already in the public domain in the US, after he was asked to pay for a licence to use them in his planned book In The Company of Sherlock Holmes... In its defence, filed this week in Illinois district court, the Doyle estate argues that the characters remain protected until the copyrights in the final stories expire, because the subtleties and quirks of character that define the super-intelligent detective, his trusty right-hand man, and the duo's relationship, were developed throughout the entire body of works."