9th Circ. Affirms Dismissal of Copyright Infringement Case Involving the 2002 Hit Song, ‘You Raise Me Up’
On November 29, 2021, a Ninth Circuit panel agreed with a lower court in putting an end to a copyright case over “You Raise Me Up,” saying major record labels and Spotify did not transform a 1977 hit from Iceland into the chart-topper sung by Josh Groban. The panel turned down arguments from Johannsongs-Publishing Ltd.,…
Read MoreOn November 4, 2021, a federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, handed a loss to Atari concluding its lawsuit against Redbubble for selling merchandise with images allegedly stolen from Atari’s video games like Pong and Asteroids, finding Redbubble did not infringe upon any of Atari’s intellectual property. The…
Read MoreOn October 20, 2021, Plaintiffs Selton Shaw, Langston Shaw, and their production company, Changing the World Films, filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, for copyright infringement against multiple Defendants, including producers Spike Lee and Nate Parker. Shelton and Shaw are brothers who co-wrote the Screenplay, “A Routine Stop.”…
Read MoreOn October 5, 2021, Brandon Cooper, and his producer, Timothy Valentine, filed a copyright infringement suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Drake, Chris Brown, and seven other songwriters credited on Drake and Brown’s track “No Guidance.” “No Guidance” is an R&B Grammy-nominated song that landed at number…
Read MoreOn September 22, 2021, a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Florida granted ViacomCBS’s summary judgment motion against MGFB Properties’ trademark infringement claim under the Lanham Act. The producers of MTV’s “Floribama Shore,” a spin-off of MTV’s popular “Jersey Shore” franchise, used the same name for their show as a restaurant in Florida…
Read MoreAfter a years-long battle between Dr. Seuss Enterprises and ComicMix LLC, the two have finally settled the copyright infringement lawsuit, which was initially filed by the famed author’s estate over Dr. Seuss/Star Trek mashup book entitled “Oh the Places You’ll Boldly Go.” On October 5, 2021, Dr. Suess Enterprises, the group that controls the famous…
Read MoreOn August 16th, 2021, a Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in favor of a special effects company, and against Disney, on a motion for summary judgement in a copyright infringement dispute. Disney used the special effects company’s technology to animate characters for blockbuster films including Beauty…
Read MoreOn September 15, 2021, model and former “Bachelor” contestant Hannah Ann Sluss (“Sluss”) sued Procter & Gamble Company, Inc. (“P&G”) for copyright infringement, claiming that P&G is still using her image to sell products, even though its license to do so has long since expired. According to Sluss’s complaint, she licensed one of her modeling…
Read MoreOn July 7th, 2021, in a unanimous, unpublished decision, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s finding that entrepreneur Damon “Dame” Dash (“Dash”) was guilty of copyright infringement. The ruling held that Dash infringed upon the copyright of an upstart author/filmmaker named Edwyna Brooks (“Brooks”) movie “Mafietta” when Dash placed it for…
Read MoreOnly July 8th, 2021, Hard Rock Cafe filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in Florida federal court accusing a South Carolina hemp company. According to the lawsuit, the famous Rock n’ Roll chain accused the hemp company of profiteering off the restaurant and hotel conglomerate’s famous name to sell its CBD creams and edibles. Hard Rock…
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