The rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd was the subject of a recent Second Circuit decision in which the widow of band founder Ronnie Van Zant sued to enforce a contract against drummer Artimus Pyle and Cleopatra Films. On October 20, 1977, a Convair propeller plane carrying the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd and a 20-person entourage ran…
I’ve written before about the legal battle between the bands Led Zeppelin and Spirit. Randy Wolf of Spirit wrote a song called “Taurus” and his estate”s representative alleged that “Stairway to Heaven” infringed on the copyright of that song. According to Wolf, the opening notes of “Stairway to Heaven” were substantially similar to the opening notes of…
In Frederick L. Allen; Nautilus Productions, LLC v. Roy A. Cooper, III, Governor of North Carolina, the shipwreck of the infamous pirate ship Queen Anne’s Revenge failed to deliver intellectual property riches its explorers had expected. The Queen Anne’s Revenge famously was run aground off the coast of North Carolina in 1717 — some say intentionally — by Edward…
Late in January 2018, a judge in New York’s Southern District denied summary judgment in a case involving trade secrets. The parties in Elsevier Inc. v. Doctor Evidence LLC are scientific publishing giant Elsevier and a medical analytics company called Doctor Evidence (DRE). When Elsevier sued DRE for breach of a professional services agreement, DRE asserted counterclaims…
Roughly speaking, the Fifth Circuit Court held that a copyright infringer has to “want” to engage in conduct that infringes. That is, plaintiff had to allege that defendant’s conduct was volitional. The U.S. Supreme Court denied review of the Fifth Circuit’s decision, effectively allowing that decision to stand. The BWP Media v T&S Software case involved an internet service…
The Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) was passed in 1990; but, to date, only around 15 artists have brought cases in attempts to enforce the rights it protects. That’s why it was notable when a jury ruled against the developer of 5 Pointz, a case we blogged about previously. Recently, another plaintiff suing under VARA was not…
In a recent trademark dispute over trade dress and color, the Western District of Kentucky found that a medium-sized agricultural equipment company violated John Deere and Company’s exclusive right to use yellow and green on farm machinery. This is going farther afield (pun intended) than what we normally see in New York, but it’s an interesting…
The United States Court of International Trade was recently the setting for an action brought by a company that wished to remain anonymous. The plaintiff, referred to as XYZ Corporation, had been importing DURACELL batteries into the United States for 27 years. When goods that are genuine products of a trademark owner like DURACELL –…
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has just rendered a decision regarding the classic Abbott and Costello bit, “Who’s on First?” (Full disclosure: I memorized the routine when I was a kid. My sons call me a nerd. They’re right.) The case involves the one-minute use of “Who’s on First” in a play entitled Hand to…
The court rendered a decision in a copyright dispute I wrote about earlier this year between playwright Matthew Lombardo and the estate of beloved children’s author Theodore Seuss Geisel (a/k/a “Dr. Seuss”). The issue was whether Lombardo had infringed on the Seuss copyright with his derivative play Who’s Holiday — or whether the play constituted fair use. As I wrote…