A preliminary injunction against a competitor was upheld in light of costume maker Rasta Imposta’s likelihood of success on the merits of its copyright infringement suit. Costume supplier Silvertop Associates, Inc., doing business as Rasta Imposta, was entitled to a preliminary injunction stopping competitor Kangaroo Manufacturing from selling a “knock-off” full-body banana costume because Rasta…
In the consolidated claims of Mircom & GoldenEye v Virgin Media, the claimants sought court orders from the UK court requiring Virgin Media to disclose the names and addresses of tens of thousands of its broadband subscribers who, the claimants say, had unlawfully downloaded pornographic films. The claimants required the individuals’ names and addresses in order…
Introduction and background Most internet pages are put together from different elements and can include text, pictures or videos which are originally displayed on websites and stored on servers of third parties. Visitors to the internet page usually cannot distinguish between content that is stored on servers controlled by the webpage owner and that stored…
Part I of this blogpost was dedicated to the background which led to Articles 8-11 of the CDSM and to the concept of out of commerce works. Part II critically overviews the core of the mechanisms established by the Directive. The dual regime of the Directive The crux of the provisions certainly lies in the…
In Part I of this two-part post on Chapter 3 of the new Copyright Directive, I argued that Articles 18-23 were well-intentioned. It is now up to Member States to send clear signals of support to their creative community by not rendering these provisions ineffective. In addition, while there is ample opportunity to harmonise creator-protective…
In this Estonian case the court analysed whether a photo model can be regarded as the joint author of the (copyrightable) photograph in which she poses. The court stated clearly that merely posing for a picture did not automatically create any copyright for the photo model. In order to acquire copyright to a photograph, the…
Protected elements of illustrated children’s book were not substantially similar to defendants’ book and animated adaptation as a matter of law. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has affirmed a district court’s decision holding that an author of a children’s illustrated book failed to state a copyright infringement claim against media company Viacom International,…
Articles 8-11 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (CDSM) aim to establish a clear framework for the digitisation and dissemination, including across borders, of works or other subject matter that are considered to be out of commerce. Mass digitisation and the making available online of copyright protected content brought new dimensions…
Art. 2(2) of the DSM Directive defines ‘text and data mining’ as “any automated analytical technique aimed at analysing text and data in digital form in order to generate information which includes but is not limited to patterns, trends and correlations”. Text and data mining (TDM) generally refers to the computer-based analysis of large bodies…
A clothing company that knowingly included inaccurate information in its copyright application—which rendered its registration invalid—was ordered to pay $121,423 in costs and attorney fees to retail outlets that successfully defended themselves against infringement claims. In a copyright infringement action brought by clothing company Gold Value International Textile, Inc,. alleging infringement of its fabric design…
