Reforming Copyright Law of Damages to Avoid Results Like “Blurred Lines” and “Dark Horse”
How Can Copyright Law Be Reformed to Avoid Results Like “Blurred Lines” and “Dark Horse”? Part 2. Damn the Damages! Full Speed Ahead! This is the third in a series of posts about the dread supposedly wrought by recent music copyright cases (all of which were filed in...
CCPA “Do Not Sell” Notices Are Everywhere. You Just Can’t Find Them.
Last week I read a smart post about some of the shortcomings of the now 20-day-old California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and how it may not cover downstream data resellers in any kind of an effective way. I encourage anyone working in the data protection space to...
How Can Copyright Law Be Reformed to Avoid Results Like “Blurred Lines” and “Dark Horse”?
Reforming Copyright Law Last time, I questioned the premises and theses of the common notion that the “Blurred Lines,” “Stairway to Heaven” and “Dark Horse” cases are chilling creativity. My main point was that the only way to determine whether this was happening is...
Is “Blurred Lines” Hurting Songwriting?
And What Should We Do About It? Ever since the shocking “Blurred Lines” jury verdict, there has been a steady drum beat about how that case, and some subsequent music-and-copyright cases, has chilled songwriting. Since “Blurred Lines,” the same U.S. District Court has...
A Look Toward the 2020 Privacy Landscape
2019 will be remembered as the year we still tried to figure out how to get the GDPR right, we spent time trying to understanding what “sale” will mean under CCPA, and we went through about two data breaches a day. Will next year be more of the same? The CCPA will...
There’s Now Less to Hate Hate Hate About That Swift Decision
When Is it Appropriate to Knock Out a Copyright Case Based on Lack of Substantial Similarity? Last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals revised its opinion in the “Haters Gonna Hate” case, Hall v. Swift, which I blogged about recently. The main holding remains the...
Thai Jasmine Rice and Running Shoes: A Tale of Two Trademark Injunctions
Why Did the Easy One Fail and the Hard One Succeed? Many years ago, the Vinh-Sanh Trading Corporation began selling rice it imported from southeast Asia under the following trademark, which it called the THREE LADIES BRAND: Here it is on a bag of Thai jasmine rice:...
If You Hated Hated Hated That Swift Decision, Walk and Talk Over to This Decision
You Must Be THIS Tall for Copyright Protection Last time I said you should “hate hate hate” a decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that reversed Taylor Swift’s victory in a copyright case based the lyrics, “’Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play,...
You Should Hate Hate Hate This Swift Decision
Maybe Don’t Calm Down This Time When it comes these high-profile music-and-copyright cases, my usual advice has been for everyone to calm down. In the “Blurred Lines” case, I explained that the facts were highly unusual, especially Robin Thicke’s admission that he and...
Adventures in Drafting: Making Sure You Own the Rights You’re Trying to Enforce
You Acquired Their Assets, But Did You Get Their Copyrights? The legal equivalent of this— —is trying to assert rights you only think you have. You cock your arm back, ready to throw your rights accurately through your adversary’s defenses, but the ball isn’t there...
California Releases Proposed Regulations for Consumer Privacy Act
Last Thursday, Xavier Becerra, the Attorney General of the State of California, held a press conference to announce the release of the first draft of the regulations to govern business conduct under the CCPA. The press conference...
Getting Sloshed: A Controversy About “Controversy”
Whining About Wine The Winestore is a wine retailer based in North Carolina. And all it wants (for purposes of this discussion) is to sell a California cabernet sauvignon called OVERBROOK. The Winestore doesn’t make the wine, of course, but it appears that it’s the...
