Lawsuits Flashcards
Issues in Stigwood vs Sperber?
- Does the use of 20/23 songs in sequential fashion constitute a dramatic presentation?
- Can Sperber use the name OATC?
- Can Sperber use JCS in the Ads?
What happened in Sitgwood vs Sperber?
Robert Stigwood group acquired rights for stage productions and dramatic presentations of JCS, Betty Sperber wants to make a concert using 20/23 songs for her company OATC(original American theatre company)
What happened in Disney v Air Pirates?
Disney claimed that Air Pirates copied the graphic depiction of over seventeen characters, each contained in the comics. Issue was whether the Air Pirates’ work constituted fair use as a parody or an infringement on Disney’s IP rights
What were the issues in Disney v Air Pirates?
- Are the characters, as distinguishable from
the entire work, copyrightable? Disney’s characters were, yes due to the style - Is the copying protected by fair use? No, they were too similar
- Is the conduct protected by the First Amendment? No
What kind of case was Disney v Air Pirates?
Civil, involving copyright and trademark law
What were similarities and differences between Disney and Air Pirates
Similarities: graphic depiction, names of characters
Differences: themes/plots, all other respects
Disney: image of innocent delightfulness
Air Pirates: message of significance couched in allegorical terms
What happened in Haley v Courlander
Civil case: Dispute over plagiarism
Haley: famous writer (Roots: There Saga of an American Family)
Courlander: noted folklorist
(The African)
Issues: copyright infringement: Roots contained substantial portions of The African (direct passages, characters etc)
Result: settled
What was the test that emerged from the Haley case?
Substantial similarity test:
Three-fold test:
1. Access
2. Familiarity
3. Similarity
What was the George Harrison case?
Unintentional copyright infringement, civil case
“My Sweet Lord” by George Harrison was accused of plagiarising “He’s So Fine” by the Chiffons
Issues: “My Sweet Lord” copied the melody and chord progression and it would be too similar to “He’s so Fine”
Harrison argued that he hadn’t deliberately copied “He’s So Fine”
Harrison had to pay 1.6 mil in damages, songs were substantially similar
What is the ASCAP?
American Society of authors and Publishers (1914)
Oldest performance rights org in USA, protect rights of music creators by licensing their works, collecting royalties and distributing them to songwriters, and music publishers who own the rights to the music
Charge broadcasters rates to play music e.g. on the radio
What is BMI?
Broadcast Music Incorporated
Main competitor of ASCAP
What is payola?
Illegal taking of unreported gifts from record promoters in exchange of heavy airplay
What happened in Columbia Pictures v Red Horne?
Copyright infringement case: Whether a video rental store (Maxwell’s) that allowed customers to watch rented movies in private viewing booths infringed on the copyright holder’s exclusive right to publicly perform the work
What were the issues of Columbia Pictures vs Red Horne
- Does the showing of a videocassette in a private booth in Red Horne’s establishment constitute a public performance? Yes, listed on the same page as movie theatre listings
- Does the First Sale doctrine protect Red Horne from infringement claims? No, does not deal of showing of the material
- Are Robert and Glenn Zeny and the Red Horne company contributory infringers? Yes
What is the first sale doctrine?
Prevents owners of the materials from controlling the distribution and display
Significance of Red Horne case?
Killed the idea of the in-store rental concept
What happened in Spielberg v Litchfield
Litchfield wrote one-act play: “Lokey from Maldemar” (symbolic, moral and ethical questions)
Spielberg directed ET (children’s tale about befriending and saving a lost alien)
Litchfield continued to market her play after Universal rejected it, claimed that Spielberg copied her idea
What were the issues in Spielberg v Litchfield
(1) Did the producers of the motion picture, E.T., — The Extra Terrestrial, infringe the copyright of a musical play, Lokey from Maldemar No
(2) was summary judgment (court makes decision without full trial) proper on the issue of substantial similarity? No
How to prove similarity of ideas?
Extrinsic test: requires comparison of plot, theme, dialogue, mood, setting
How to prove similarity of expression?
Intrinsic test: tests the response of the ordinary person
How to prove similarity of ideas?
Extrinsic, requires comparison of plot, theme, dialogue, mood, setting
What is a derivative work?
A work based upon a pre-existing work
e.g. Madame Butterfly
Long wrote story, Belasco bought dramatic rights, Italian Opera Company purchases musical rights
Rights are divisible- as you move from one medium to another you create new rights
What is the criteria for a fair use case?
Purpose of the use, nature of the work, amount taken, market effect
What happened in Sony Vs Universal Studios and what were the issues?
Fair-use case
Determined whether Sony, as the manufacterer of the Betamax VCR, was liable for contributory copyright infringement since consumers were using VCR to record TV programs at home (without permission from copyright holders)
Ruling:
- Time-shifting fell under fair use
Majority opinion: recording TV programs to watch later was non-commercial, private use
- Sony could not be held liable for contributory infringement bc the VCR was capable of substantial infringing use
What was the impact of Sony vs Universal?
- Allowed growth of video recoding tech, paved the way for MP3 and DVRs
- Expanded the concept of fair-use, especially around the idea of time shifting
- Safe harbor for tech producers- manufacturers of tech products cannot be held liable for contributory copyright infringement
What are the two kinds of derivative works?
Public domain work and existing with a valid copyright
What happened in Yonay v Paramount Pictures 2022 and what were the issues?
Heirs of author Ehud Money sued Paramount, claiming copyright infringement related to “Top Gun: Maverick”
Copyright of Top Gun novel was terminated in 2018 under Section 203 of US Copyright Act
Paramount preceded with production of TGN without securing a new license, saying it was a new story
Court ruled that there was no substantial similarity, granted Paramount summary judgment but found that there were similar thematic elements
Nevertheless paramount did not have to reacquire rights from Yonan’s estate
What happened in Werlin vs Reader’s Digest and what were the issues?
Eileen Werlin submitted a report to Reader’s Digest on Bat Mitzvah of a girl with Down syndrome, got denied, but later staff from RD (Joseph Blank) created an agile on this topic anyways
Down Syndrome: a third copy of Chromosome 21
Significant bc introduces the idea of the “ideas” test
Court gives Werlin $500: kill fee instead of spotter’s fee
views case as “unjust enrichment”
made ideas/expression dichotomy more naucned- in some situations now we will protect ideas
What is the ideas test:
- Novel
- Concrete
- Actually appropriated by the previous party
What happened in Zacchini v Scripps and what were the issues?
Hugo Zacchini (human cannonball performer) act was recorded, broadcast on news w/o consent
Sued for “right of publicity”, argued he couldn’t profit from his performance (performed in private property)
Key issue: whether First Amendment protected news station use of the footage or whether Zacchini’s right to control the commercial exploration of his act took precedence
Court ruled in favour of Zacchini: First Amendment does not immunise unauthorised commercial use of someone’s whole performance
Significance: recognise issue of right of publicity
Covers name, likeness and appearance
Links to labor theory of IP
What happened in Presley v Russen and what were the issues?
Right of publicity case:
Estate of Elvis sued Russen, who produced a live show called “The Big El Show”- heavily featured an Elvis impersonator
Issues: Whether Russen’s use of Presley’s likeness and persona vilolated Elvis’ posthumous right of publicity?
Court’s ruling: Ruled in favour of Presley estate
Said that the show capatzlied on Elvis’ identity in a way that went beyond fair use/tribute
(Recreated specific elements of Elvis’ persona, performance, exploited his fame for commercial gain)
Significance: right of publicity after death
reeinforce how indiivduals/estates have control over the commercial exploitation of their name, likeness + image
What is the issue of colorisation?
Is it a copyright problem? No.
Arugments in favor:
-Makes movies mroe marketable
-Owners own the copyright- control the work
- Colorized work should be treated as derivative
Against:
- Movies were written, designed based upon black and white asthetic
- - Mutliating original vision of artist
- Distraction
What happened in Sellers v ABC and what were the issues?
Related to television broadcast about Elvis’ death
Larry Sellers contracted with Geraldo Rivera about a story about Elvis’ death
Sellers signed an agreement guaranteeing him all copyright privileges, requiring AC to credit him hit uncovering the true cause of Elvis’s death: that his physician replaced cortisone he was supposed to be taking with placebos bc they wanted to prevent him from seeking repayment f a $1.3 million loan
Nine months after getting Seller’s story, Rivera does a story
Conclusion: Elvis did of a bad interaction of drugs (polypharmacy), not cardiac arrthymia
Seller claims that he told Rivera about the interaction of drugs and negligence of physicians in overprescribing them
Court says: because he didn’t use the cortisone theory, Rivera was in the clear
Significant because uses ideas test:
Needs to be
- Novel
- Concrete
- One appropriated by the defendant
But what Seller wasn’t concrete enough to meet this test
What happened in Midler v Ford Motor Co?
Right of publicity case
Ford Motor Co wants to do an ad using Bette Midler’s voice singing “Do you want to dance”
She refused, so they used her backup singer Ula Hedwig to imitate her
9th circuit decision, adds “voice” to protectible elements of copyright
conclusion: voice is not copyrightable, but can be protected under right of publicity
ruled in favour of bette midler, awarded 400,000 in damages
What happened in Basic Books v Kinkos?
1991 Innovative technology case: involves creation of a course packet to distribute reading materials to students
Kinko’s bookstore that sells college course packets
Several major publishing companies including Basic Books sued Kinko’s alleging copyright infringement
Kinko’s argued that it was fair-use, as course packets were being used for educational reasons
However
Court ruled against Kinko’s
found that commercial sale of course packets did not qualify for fair-use, done for profit, involved substantial portions of the works
What happened in LA Times v Free Republic?
Fair-use case
Free republic (bulletin board-like website) took LA times articles and put it on their website
FR claims readers sometimes go back to the original source
Purpose of the use:
FR claims its transformative, does not use linking bc that would confuse readers
Nature of the work?
Defendant claims its non-profit- doesn’t market/sell a product or generate revenue
Amount taken: whole article
Market effect:
FR has 20,000 registered users, receives as many as 100,000 hits per day
Attracts between 25 to 50 million page views each month
Court says that FR copies are exact substitutes for plaintiff’s works
Finds 3/4 factors to weigh in plaintiffs favor- defendant’s motion is denied
What happened in Kelly v Arriba?
Search engine case with Fair-use
Arriba operates a visual search engine on internet. The engine retrieves images, not descriptive text. Produces a list of reduced thumbnail sketches
Kelly: photographer who specializes in images of Gold Rush era. In Jan 1999, 35 of Kelly’s pictures put into Arriba database
Purpose + character of the use:
use of thumbnails was transformative, changes Kelly’s works from artistic tools to search engine tools
Nature of the work: artistic work
Amount taken:
Images were significantly reduced in size and quality, but still too big when full-size
Effect on market:
Did not harm market for images
Result
2/4 factors favoured fair use
Bc first factor most important, ruled that it was fair-use
What happened in Mattel v MCA
2002, Mattel sued MCA records over the song “Barbie Girl” by Danish band AQUA
Claimed that the song infringed on the Barbie trademark, tarnished image of Barbie brand
Issues:
Fear of trademark dilution
First Amendment Defense: MCA records contended that the song was a parody, protected by First Amendment’s free speech rights
Court’s ruling:
“Barbie Girl” was a parody
Use of Barbie seen as artistic expression and social commentary on the doll’s cultural significance, not an attempt to dilute/tarnish the trademark.
“The parties are advised to chill”
What happened in Quality Inn v McDonald’s
1988, Quality Inn attempted to launch new chain of budget hotels: McSleep Inn
Issues: McDonald’s argued that use of “Mc” infringed on its family of trademarks e.g. McMuffin
Fear of trademark dilution, even though businesses were in different industries
Court ruled in favour of McDonald’s saying that the name was likely to cause consumer confusion.
Created a permanent injunction prohibiting Quality Inns from using the name “McSleep” or any variation of “Mc” in connection with its hotels
What is summary judgment?
When the judge makes a determination on all the issues in dispute
