I’ve been traveling and am, therefore, late to mention that the hotly-contested EU Copyright Directive passed last week. Not surprisingly, the usual critics have spared little hyperbole referring to the new legislation as the “end of the open internet” and a “disastrous decision.” Meanwhile, many of the copyright proponents I know view the directive as having had the teeth negotiated out of ...
Last October I reported that the Supreme Court granted cert in a case that might have led to a decision regarding complaints that cy pres awards in class action lawsuits wind up funding organizations anathema to the interests of the class. Specifically, I addressed the amicus brief filed on behalf of copyright owners outlining the ways in which, for instance, ...
Oral arguments were presented this week at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Brammer v. Violent Hues Productions, Ltd. I first wrote about this story in June of 2018 after a district court in Virginia concurred with an incomprehensible fair use defense—one with implications that threaten the interests of copyright owners in every category. To quote ...
In response to a recent social media dustup, Mike Masnick writes on Techdirt, “…we’ve got quite a story today about how copyright is a total mess and not really fit for the way the internet works today.” To his credit, Masnick does a solid job describing both the circumstances and the legal mechanisms relevant to a conflict that arose when ...
Though most people can be forgiven for missing it, two Supreme Court Decisions and a District Court granting a motion for summary judgment made a fair bit of copyright news this week. In a pair of unanimous decisions the Supreme Court settled two statutory disputes relevant to a rightsholders’ ability to enforce his copyrights. And pursuant to findings at the ...
