Filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court asking the Court to hear Kienitz v. Sconnie Nation LLC, involving an errant expansion of the fair use doctrine. The brief argues that the Court could thereby: (1) Reaffirm the fundamental distinction between parody and satire. (2) Maintain the Copyright Act’s protection of derivative works [...]
Prof. Justin Hughes, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles January 29, 2015 Last month, The Hill, a Capitol Hill news source, published an op-ed piece by a Los Angeles entertainment attorney, Dina LaPolt. The basic arguments of LaPolt’s “Copyrights different than patents, trademarks” (TheHill.com, Dec. 10, 2014) are that the U.S. Copyright Office “employees are ... [...]
Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law January 26, 2015 In my last IP Viewpoints entry, I discussed the origin of “transformation” as a major factor in copyright’s fair use doctrine. In particular, I focused on “expressive” transformation, in which the user changes the actual content of the copyrighted work. Taking old works [...]
FOR RELEASE: Jan. 7, 2015 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., Jan. 7, 2015 – Media Institute President Patrick Maines issued the following statement today in the wake of the terrorist attack on the offices of a satirical publication in Paris that left at least 12 dead: “We are shocked [...]
Prof. Randal C. Picker, University of Chicago Law School January 7, 2015 It is the season for movie awards. Movie reviewers are checking their lists twice to see who has been naughty and nice. And some movies are released right at the end of the year to a limited number of theaters so as to [...]
Prof. Doug Lichtman, UCLA School of Law December 15, 2014 Jane Ginsburg wrote earlier this month about Garcia v. Google, a controversial Ninth Circuit decision that is now pending for en banc review. Her piece is excellent; but I have to admit that, even after reading Jane’s article, I remain baffled by the case. The [...]
Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law December 11, 2014 The recent Kienitz v. Sconnie Nation case has been the focus of three recent posts in this Intellectual Property Issues series – from me, Doug Lichtman, and Rod Smolla. In Kienitz, the defendant changed a photograph of the mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, into [...]
Prof. Jane C. Ginsburg, Columbia University School of Law December 1, 2014 The Ninth Circuit recently agreed to hear Garcia v. Google (original opinion 2-27-14, amended 7-11-14)1 en banc, thus vacating a controversial decision by Judge Alex Kozinski recognizing a film actor’s copyright ownership of her performance in the film. The facts of the case [...]
Prof. Rodney A. Smolla, Duke University School of Law November 26, 2014 I write this IP Viewpoints piece on the eve of Thanksgiving. One of our family rituals during the holidays is to sit down together and watch our favorite holiday films. One of our favorites – and we are not alone – is the [...]
Former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell To Chair Advisory Council And Join Media Institute Board as Ex Officio Member FOR RELEASE: Nov. 24, 2014 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., Nov. 24, 2014 – The Media Institute today announced the launch of a new initiative to help safeguard Internet freedoms around [...]