Copyright Infringement Archives -

Are your musical works protected like Taylor Swift’s?

On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Copyright on Wednesday, March 7, 2018. Pop star Taylor Swift recently prevailed in a lawsuit regarding one of her popular songs. Four co-songwriters claimed that she copied a phrase from their 2001 song written for another band and used it in her 2014 hit song "Shake If Off." The lyrics regarding the notions that players play and haters hate was used in both songs. Fortunately for Swift, the judge decided that the "two truisms" were not creative and original enough for copyright protection, and he dismissed the case. While the songwriters have the right to [...]

Nicholas D. Myers2023-08-16T10:04:22+00:00March 7th, 2018|Tags: Copyright Infringement, Intellectual Property|

Monkey’s selfie case is a lesson in copyright law

On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Copyright on Friday, August 18, 2017. The story sounds a bit like the beginning of a joke: A photographer goes into the jungle. A monkey grabs his camera and takes a selfie. Who owns the rights to the photo? The funny -- not funny -- thing is that this is no joke. In 2011, freelance photographer David Slater traveled to Indonesia to photograph macaque monkeys. After coaxing some of the monkeys into taking photos of themselves, Slater copyrighted his favorite photo and published it in a book. Why the photographer was sued by PETA The [...]

Nicholas D. Myers2023-09-12T20:24:19+00:00August 18th, 2017|Tags: Copyright, Copyright Infringement|

Music copyright battle over Prince’s unpublished songs

On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Copyright on Monday, May 8, 2017. When Prince died suddenly last year, he left behind a number of unpublished songs. Just days before the one-year anniversary of the famous musician's death, his former sound engineer and mixer, George Ian Boxill, released six songs. Within days, a court in Prince's home state of Minnesota ordered Boxill to unpublish the songs at the request of Prince's estate. A temporary injunction stopped the release of the songs with the exception of the 'Deliverance' single, which is still available for downloading. Boxill claims that he and Prince jointly owned [...]

Nicholas D. Myers2021-10-13T16:36:30+00:00May 8th, 2017|Tags: Copyright Infringement|

The Unauthorized Pop-Up Art Exhibit: Artist Discovers Knock-Offs of His Artwork All Around OC

By The Myers Law Group posted in Intellectual Property on Friday, March 17, 2017. A Southern California artist, Donald Wakefield, was surprised to find unauthorized knock-offs of his art years after he created and gifted his one-of-a-kind granite sculpture to a colleague's son. His original sculpture, "Untitled" (pictured on the far left), was created in 1992. Approximately sixteen (16) years after Wakefield's creation, Wakefield endeavored to investigate whether other unauthorized knock-offs of his work existed. He discovered that knock-offs of his work, and the work of other artists, were displayed throughout Orange County on properties developed by Olen Properties Corporation ("Olen") which is owned [...]

Nicholas D. Myers2021-10-13T16:38:04+00:00March 17th, 2017|Tags: artwork, Copyright Infringement, Intellectual Property, sculpture|

FASHION DESIGNERS HIT A ROAD BLOCK: Moschino and Roberto Cavalli Sued For Infringing on Street Art

By The Myers Law Group posted in Copyright on Friday, September 30, 2016. Lately, fashion designers have been losing their artistic inspiration and instead have turned to grabbing the design work of others, specifically street artists. Italian Fashion house Moschino was sued by street artist Joseph Tierney, also known as Rime, for using his "Vandal Eyes" mural in Moschino's February 2015 fashion line. The brand also publicly flaunted the design on singer Katy Perry alongside Moschino designer Jeremy Scott at the 2015 Met Gala, an event that is highly publicized. Tierney claims that the dress constituted unfair competition and violated his publicity rights. Right of [...]

Nicholas D. Myers2021-10-13T16:45:45+00:00September 30th, 2016|Tags: Copyright, Copyright Infringement, fair use, Intellectual Property|

PIKASUE NO MORE: RageOn Clothing Company and Pokemon Company Settle Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

By The Myers Law Group posted in Copyright on Friday, September 23, 2016. RageOn, a Cleveland based t-shirt company, recently faced a copyright infringement lawsuit from Pokemon Company International for depicting their protected Pokemon characters on clothing. One character in question was Pikachu, dressed as a Hasidic Jew surrounded by piles of cash and renamed as Pikajew. Another shirt had a character called Jiggly Puff that was smoking marijuana. RageOn claimed protection under the fair use doctrine because their shirts are "clearly socially and politically-relevant commentary." However, the Court would have looked at the four factors of fair use: (1) the purpose and character of [...]

Nicholas D. Myers2023-08-16T09:45:37+00:00September 23rd, 2016|Tags: Copyright, Copyright Infringement, fair use, Intellectual Property, licensing agreements|