As we have covered on this blog previously, one rule of thumb in intellectual property law is: “Just because you can does not mean you should.” This applies to copyright infringement in the commercial space, where the onus is on the copyright owner to decide whether...
Copyrights
If You Post a Concert Phone Video Online, Will You Get Sued?
A quick internet search of "concert phone video" proves not only that a significant number of people do, in fact, post these types of videos – but also that the act of recording of music concerts is a sort of cottage industry. Lots of people post tips on how to do it,...
Possible Rule Change: Should Authors of 2D Artwork Be Able to Register Pieces in Groups?
Creators of two-dimensional art tend not to register their work for copyright protection. According to surveys by the Coalition of Visual Artists and the Graphic Artists Guild, somewhere between 50-60 percent of artists haven’t registered any of their work. For a...
More Than Mickey – What Is Entering the Public Domain in 2024?
If you pay any attention at all to copyright and public domain, you have probably heard the big public domain news happening this year – the original Mickey Mouse, Steamboat Willie is becoming public property. (Except, as we previously covered, it is not quite as big...
How Registering with the USCO Impacts Copyright Infringement Cases
Over the last few decades, the internet has become an increasingly large part of our lives and digital media has proliferated. It has become easier than ever to find and use copyrighted material without realizing you are doing anything wrong. I have spoken with...
Should AI-Created Works Receive Copyright Protection? The Debate Wages On
Back in October, I wrote about how a number of famous authors were banding together to file a lawsuit against OpenAI for copyright infringement. Novelists, of course, are not the only creatives who believe they are being negatively impacted by artificial intelligence...
The Substantially Similar Videos that Brought Down to Two Storage Companies
If you like something that your competitor has created, should you ever tell your team to directly copy it? Based on the outcome of an infringement case involving two door-to-door storage companies, you could get into some real copyright trouble if your marketing...
Is a “Collection” One Work or Multiple Works? The Answer Matters for Infringement Cases
Let this be a lesson to anyone producing creative works who decides to deem them a “collection.” Examples of this might include: musicians releasing an album, writers compiling essays or short stories into a single book, and visual artists placing multiple works in a...