As we blogged back in April, the estate of Randy Craig Wolfe’s copyright lawsuit against Led Zeppelin went to trial in California. The verdict is in: a jury found that Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” does not infringe the copyright of Spirit’s “Taurus.” But the litigation is not over yet and so the Led Zeppelin […]
Category: Copyright Spotlight
Music & Politics Don’t Mix – Or Do They?
It’s political convention time once again and that means more intellectual property drama! This political season has already given us trademark disputes involving cease and desist letters and living person name registrations. Now we have copyright issues – specifically, music copyright issues. Politicians and political parties often choose popular music as the background for their conventions. […]
It’s Official: Happy Birthday To You Is In The Public Domain
This week, Judge King granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs in Marya v. Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., ruling that Warner/Chappell does not own a valid copyright to the lyrics to “Happy Birthday.” For those of you not familiar with summary judgment, that means that the court decided the case as a matter of law – meaning […]
Happy Birthday Case Continues to Twist and Turn
Last year we wrote about Good Morning to You Productions’s class action lawsuit against Warner/Chappell Music over that ubiquitous song “Happy Birthday to You”. Well, the wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn. The parties completed discovery and each filed a motion for summary judgment, asking the court to decide the dispute as […]
Ashley Madison, the DMCA, and the Misuse of Copyright Law
As I was reading about the Ashley Madison hack yesterday, I was surprised to learn that Avid Life Media, the company behind this website, claimed to be mitigating the damage to its users by using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, known as the DMCA. That’s right, the company that helps facilitate millions of extra-marital affairs, […]
Periscope, Meerkat, and Vine – IP Infringers?
Between the Women’s World Cup and the U.S. Open golf tournament, we watched a lot of great competition this weekend and are looking forward to more this week. But while others may just see the brilliant play of Megan Rapinoe and Abby Wambach on the pitch or the victorious play of Justin Spieth on the […]