In a recent post, I described how the “server test,” established in the Perfect 10 case, obliterates the display right for visual artists on the internet. I further opined that the “server test” is an irrational standard and also stated that Perfect 10 may not be the final word on the matter. For recap, the Ninth Circuit held in Perfect ...
In my experience, the number-one complaint about contemporary copyright is that it is unenforceable in the digital age. Independent creators take one look at the scope of infringement relative to the cost of a single litigation and give up on the idea that they have any control. Many infringers—from casual to corporate—are either unaware that they’re infringing or they know ...
You might think that among the most straightforward relationships between a user and a creator of a copyrighted work would be that of a news organization and a photographer—namely that the news organization should license the photographs it uses for any of its stories. It is also common-sensical that whenever a news organization displays a photograph in a manner that ...
That may seem obvious, but if you’re an internet service provider who fails to uphold your end of the DMCA bargain, you’d sure like the courts to think of your service as analogous to the VCR. Certainly, this is fundamental to the appeal filed in the case of BMG v. Cox Communications, for which oral arguments were heard at the ...
For years, “old model” artists have been told to quit whining. Every time some well-known and well-established creator has spoken out about the issue of mass copyright infringement online, or the hazards that monopsonies like YouTube pose for all creators, the response from the “new model” gurus has always been nauseatingly repetitive. These legacy artists should stop clinging to old models; ...
