A federal court has shot down a copyright infringement lawsuit claiming that Top Gun: Maverick flew too close to a 1983 magazine article that inspired the original film. A California federal judge has permanently grounded a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by the heirs of Ehud Yonay, the writer whose 1983 article in California Magazine inspired the original Top Gun film. Yonay’s widow and son launched the legal action in June 2022 after Paramount Pictures released the blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick without renegotiating a license to adapt Yonay’s “Top Guns” article, despite a 20 ..read more

Using the DMCA to target hundreds of Wordle-likes, the publication claims exclusive rights in the game’s grid dimensions and color scheme. Fresh on the heels of filing an infringement lawsuit against OpenAI, The New York Times Co. is flexing its copyright muscles once again, this time targeting the developers of hundreds of games inspired by Wordle, the popular word game the Times purchased in 2022. While some of these games are straight-up clones, others share little in common with Wordle beyond basic game mechanics, which, as I’ve discussed before, typically aren’t protected by copyright. Th ..read more

If you like your turkey with a side of copyright infringement, you’ve come to the right place. Ahh, Thanksgiving. There’s nothing quite like eating dinner at 4 p.m. and falling asleep on your brother’s couch by 4:30. But before you enter your tryptophan-induced coma, feast your eyes on Copyright Lately‘s platter of 5 Thanksgiving-themed copyright cases, all stuffed with a generous helping of legal fowl play. 1. I’ve Got It—Now Who Do I Sue? First up is a 2010 copyright infringement lawsuit by Texas-based Greenberg Smoked Turkeys over turkey preparation directions (read the complaint here). To ..read more

In a first-of-its-kind ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has revived choreographer Kyle Hanagami’s copyright lawsuit against Fortnite’s Epic Games. Choreography is like the Rodney Dangerfield of copyright law. It wasn’t until 1952 that modern dance pioneer Hanya Holm was able to secure the first ever copyright registration for her choreography of the Broadway musical Kiss Me Kate. It took another quarter-century for the U.S. Copyright Act to explicitly recognize standalone “choreographic works” as eligible for copyright protection. Labanotation ain’t cheap, and since then, countless a ..read more

Trump is actively litigating a copyright infringement lawsuit over the Eddy Grant song “Electric Avenue” while trying to keep relevant deposition testimony in the case permanently under seal. For someone accused of treating classified documents with about the same care as old CVS receipts, Donald Trump is going to great lengths to keep his deposition testimony in a long-running copyright infringement case confidential, redacted, and permanently under seal. I previously wrote about this lawsuit three years ago when musician Eddy Grant first sued Trump over the unauthorized use of his 1983 hit ..read more

As screenwriters and studios negotiate AI’s role in the entertainment industry, it’s important to be mindful of some core copyright protection principles. In a decision that surprised exactly no one, D.C. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled last Friday that the Register of Copyrights did not act “arbitrarily or capriciously” in denying a copyright registration to Dr. Stephen Thaler for artwork generated entirely by artificial intelligence. “Human authorship,” Judge Howell wrote, “is a bedrock requirement of copyright,” which has never stretched so far as to protect works generated “abse ..read more

Photographer Jeff Sedlik and tattoo artist Kat Von D each claim that the Supreme Court’s Warhol decision entitles them to summary judgment in their long-running copyright dispute. Fifteen minutes of fame, meet permanent ink. A Los Angeles federal judge is set to decide the impact of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith on a first-of-its-kind copyright infringement lawsuit involving celebrity tattoo artist Katherine Von Drachenberg (aka Kat Von D). Photographer Jeff Sedlik filed the lawsuit in February 2021, claiming that Von D infringed the copyright in hi ..read more

The server test is alive and well—at least in the Ninth Circuit—and shields the embedding of social media posts from copyright infringement liability. In a published opinion (read here), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today affirmed the dismissal of a closely-watched class action lawsuit alleging that Instagram induced and contributed to “widespread copyright infringement” by allowing third parties to embed photos from public Instagram feeds onto their own websites. The Court held that the plaintiff photographers’ lawsuit was foreclosed by its 2007 decision in Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon, I ..read more

A new complaint involving competing pooping puppy puzzles shows why drawing the line between ideas and expression can be difficult business. 2023 is shaping up to be a year of crappy IP lawsuits. In January, BMG sued over a glitter-pooping unicorn doll that sings “My Poops” to the tune of the Black Eyed Peas pop-rap hit “My Humps.” Then in June, the Supreme Court decided a trademark dispute sparked by a poop-themed dog toy that resembles a Jack Daniel’s liquor bottle. But number 1 when it comes to number 2 is a new copyright infringement lawsuit filed this week over a jigsaw puzzle called “101 ..read more

In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, Columbia Pictures claims that a writer’s use of a loan-out company prevents him from terminating the studio’s rights in the film Bad Boys. It’s finally happened. A major motion picture studio has filed a lawsuit challenging the termination of a copyright assignment made by a writer’s loan-out company. Given the near-universal use of loan-outs among Hollywood screenwriters, I’m frankly amazed that it’s taken so long. But here we are, and to quote our current president, “This is a Big F—ing Deal.” The complaint (read here) was filed on Friday by Sony’s Columbia Pi ..read more