According to The Wall Street Journal, “[t]wo lawyers are taking on legal database providers Westlaw and LexisNexis with what appears to be a novel interpretation of copyright law.” Sure, Westlaw and LexisNexis are making money from reproducing public documents authored by others, but this lawsuit is bordering on ridiculous. People are paying the providers for [...]

After a Judge ruled that the heirs of the late Jack Kirby, creator and co-creator of Marvel Comics superheroes including the Fantastic Four, X-Men, the Hulk and more, have no legal claim to the copyrights of those characters, artists are trying to form a boycott of the Avenger’s movie over the treatment of co-creator Jack [...]

This article asks a question relevant to all of us students: who owns the copyright to their class notes?  Do the rights belong to the students writing the notes, or to the teachers who dictate them?  Two California universities appear to believe the rights belong to the teachers – and have initiated action against various [...]

This blog’s tech editor started doing yoga recently. Sure she’s, like, 10 years behind, but late is better than never right? Knowing nothing about yoga she started sampling different studios and even tried doing Bikram Yoga which is the 90 minute, twenty-something poses in a 105-degree-room yoga. It was difficult! It was sweaty! But mostly [...]

On December 31, 2011—70 years after James Joyce’s death in Zurich—the Irish writer’s published works passed into the public domain in the European Union.  The end to copyright protection of a major author’s works is an event in and of itself, but to many Joyceans, the event is made sweeter because the Joyce estate has [...]

Well it’s primary season once again, and that means lots of negative ads and political talking heads making their prognostications.  But primary season also brings back the ever-exciting victory, “I exceeded expectations,” and the “Uh oh, I just fell flat, but let’s pretend I’m still positive” speeches by presidential candidates in front of a crowd [...]

IPLJ BLOG FEATURE: From the Desk of the Editor Each month, Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline McMahon weighs in on topics and legal issues covered in the IPLJ. This month Jacqueline looks back on the key stories the IPLJ focused on this past year. “In keeping with the situation”… what better time to recap the exhaustive year of [...]

Once again, Congress is considering strengthening copyright laws. More specifically, a bill has been introduced to require large auction houses to pay a royalty to artists who own the copyright in a work sold at auction. A similar law already exists in California, but it is difficult to enforce, and its Constitutionality is questionable. The [...]

Okay, okay, last week in the Supreme Court. A week ago, Monday, the Supreme Court heard petitions for certiorari on two cases involving section 109(a) of the Copyright Act, which codifies the first sale doctrine.  The first sale doctrine provides a defense against a copyright infringement action for the the resale of a copyrighted good [...]

The RIAA has submitted an Amicus brief in support of unpopular “copyright troll” Righthaven in a fair use case that suggests it might be fair to re-post entire news articles on a blog. The RIAA opposes any ruling that threatens to strengthen fair use or the public’s interest in copyrighted material, so it is no [...]