A subpoena enforcement action in the Ninth Circuit concerned the movie studio Capstone Pictures’ DMCA claim against internet service provider Cox Communications. Capstone alleged that Cox violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) by not suspending the accounts of users who were downloading and sharing its movie Fall. At issue was section 512 (“512”) of…
“Reprehensible” is a strong word, but that’s how a state court described the conduct of Phillips 66 in a trade secret case brought by the much smaller Propel Fuels. Propel Fuels, Inc. v. Phillips 66 Company was a case in the Superior Court of California that arose after a long courtship between the two companies…
Lorente-Garcia v. Giraldo-Navarro et al. was a case in the Southern District of Florida concerning two songs: 1998’s “Algo Diferente,” and 2021’s “Don’t Be Shy.” The composer of the earlier song filed suit against the singers of the new song, alleging copyright infringement. Unfortunately, plaintiff relied on a so-called “expert witness” who had been a…
Di Reed v. Marshall et al. was a case that originated in the Southern District of Texas and made its way to the Fifth Circuit. The parties consisted of members of a vocal group known as Jade that was popular in the nineties, along with an additional singer being named as a defendant. Jade in…
Bartz et al. v. Anthropic PBC is an ongoing case in the Northern District of California that is of interest because it contains a small win for creators, at least in the context of this case. In another Anthropic case from the same district, a different judge dealt a more definitive blow to plaintiffs suing…
Isaac Hayes Enterprises v. Trump is a copyright infringement case in the Northern District of Georgia that was allowed to proceed, in part, against defendant Donald J. Trump — but claims against a political action committee called Turning Point Action (“TPA”) were dismissed. Isaac Hayes Enterprises is the entity that manages the rights of legendary singer,…
Martineau v. Bungie is a case from the Eastern District of Louisiana that pits a blogging David against a gaming Goliath that allegedly had to create a plot for one of its video games in a hurry. Matthew Kelsey Martineau filed a complaint against Bungie Inc. for infringement within the extremely popular, multiplayer game Destiny…
I had always wondered how the TTAB could know whether someone had a sufficient intent, and that question was answered in a case called Tequila Cuadra S. de RL de CV v. Manufacturera de Botas Cuadra, S.A. de C.V. The presumption that the applicant intended to use the trademark CUADRA was toppled by another company…
When we first met the client, the former attorney for Backyard Brine (“BB”) had sent a demand letter to Backyard Food Company (“BFC”), saying that BFC’s name was confusingly similar to their own, especially in connection with pickle products. BB sent the demand letter the day after learning about BFC’s using its trademark in connection…
Lane Coder Photography v. Hearst Corporation is a copyright case from the Southern District of New York …which lost all its steam shortly after it began. The case was brought by a photographer who was hired to take real estate pictures of the Connecticut home of Paul Simon and Edie Brickell. The purpose was to…