A Brief on the Supreme Court Google v Oracle Amicus Brief
DMLA joined nine other organizations that represent authors, artists, and other creators across the spectrum of copyright discipline in filing an amicus brief before the Supreme Court on behalf of Oracle in the ongoing Oracle v. Google case. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case on two questions 1. Whether copyright protection extends to […]
Case Act Overwhelming Passes the House of Representatives
We are thrilled to report that the CASE Act (H.R. 2426) was passed by the House of Representative this evening, October 22, 2019, by a vote of 410-6.  It’s a great day for creators! “Today’s vote by the House further attests to the tremendous support that’s been demonstrated for the CASE Act, legislation that will provide U.S. […]
PERMISSION MACHINE AND THE COPYRIGHT ACT: WHEN YOU CREATE IN-DEMAND IMAGES, YOU NEED PROTECTION.
“The Congress shall have Power…To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Tımes to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8 An image that speaks to the viewer, and tells a story without words is the ultimate goal […]
Copyright Small Claims: A Solution for Many Creators
Since the bill Copyright Small Claims Bill, H.R. 3945,  entitled, the “Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2017†(the “CASE Actâ€) was introduced by Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), there have been many articles published in support of this important legislation. Here is a great article to help you understand why this bill is so important to our industry […]
Ninth Circuit Affirms Right To Display, License And Sell Photographic Prints Without Violating Subject’s Publicity Rights.
Maloney v. T3Media By Brianna Dahlberg of Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP On April 5, 2017, in a victory for visual content creators and licensors, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by former college athletes alleging that T3Media had misappropriated their names and likenesses by selling licenses to photographs from […]
Hawaii-based Tiki Shark Art Settles Copyright Infringement Case with Cafe Press
It’s not always easy to go up against the big guys, but when your copyrighted image is being infringed you have to try.  Brad Parker, owner of Kailua-Kona-based Tiki Shark Art, claimed his art was used on beachwear on CafePress.com without his permission.  You can read the entire article here. Elaine Vitt
Copyright on the Wild Side
Two Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard Attorneys, associate Scott J. Sholder and staff attorney Marissa Lewis, released a new blog today discussing Copyright Authorship and the Ownership of Photographs in response to the recent facts regarding a British photographer and a photo that was taken during an expedition of his.  Much press has already been given […]
Copyright on the Wild Side: With a Push of a Button, Monkey Raises New Question About Copyright Authorship and Ownership of Photographs
By Scott J. Sholder and Marissa Lewis, Attorneys at CDAS “It’s been theorized that if you give a million monkeys a million typewriters, they will eventually produce the entire collected works of William Shakespeare. It’s been proven, however, that if a troupe of monkeys steals a camera, one will eventually take […]
Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices Released
Maria A. Pallante has released a public draft of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition (the “Third Editionâ€). The first major revision in more than two decades, the draft presents more than 1200 pages of administrative practices and sets the stage for a number of long-term improvements in registration and recordation policy. It will […]
REASONS PHOTO TECH NEEDS TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT RIGHTS
In Rob Henson’s latest post in TallFirsMedia.com he points out problems that some of the new photo startups may face where business models are targeted largely on accelerated aggregation of imagery.  The commonality among them is a move away from verifying rights of an image and providing assurances to end users, to shifting risk back onto […]