Justia Copyright Opinion Summaries

The Second Circuit appealed the district court's dismissal of Great Minds' copyright infringement action against FedEx. The court found that Great Minds' license did not explicitly address whether licensees may engage third parties to assist them in exercising their own noncommercial use rights under the license. The court held that, in view of the absence of any clear license language to the contrary, licensees may use third‐party agents such as commercial reproduction services in furtherance of their own permitted noncommercial uses. In this case, because FedEx acted as the mere agent of licensee school districts when it reproduced Great Minds' materials, and because there was no dispute that the school districts themselves sought to use Great Minds' materials for permissible purposes, FedEx's activities did not breach the license or violate Great Minds' copyright. View "Great Minds v. FedEx Office & Print Services, Inc." on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's summary judgment for defendants and its order denying attorneys' fees in a copyright case alleging infringement of pornographic content. The panel held that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's safe harbor applied to defendants because the material at issue was stored at the direction of the users and defendants did not have actual or apparent knowledge that the clips were infringing. Furthermore, defendants expeditiously removed the infringing material once they received actual or red flag notice of the infringement, they did not receive financial benefit, and they had a policy to exclude repeat infringers. Finally, the district court did not abuse its discretion in not exercising supplemental jurisdiction over a California state law claim, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying an award of attorneys' fees to defendants. View "Ventura Content, Ltd. v. Motherless, Inc." on Justia Law

Where a foreign broadcaster uploads copyrighted content to its website and directs that content onto a computer screen in the United States at a user's request, the broadcaster commits an actionable domestic violation of the Copyright Act. The D.C. Circuit agreed with the district court's finding, based on supportable factual findings, that TV Polska was liable for infringing Spanski's copyrights in fifty-one episodes of certain Polish-language television programs that TV Polska transmitted into the United States via its online video-on-demand system, and concluded that damages of $60,000 per episode were appropriate in light of the circumstances. Therefore, the court affirmed the district court's judgment as to both liability and damages. View "Spanski Enterprises, Inc. v. Telewizja Polska, S.A." on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of a copyright infringement action brought by renowned photographer Jacobus Rentmeester against Nike. Rentmeester alleged that Nike infringed a famous photograph he took of Michael Jordan when Nike commissioned its own photograph of Jordan and then used that photo to create the "Jumpman" logo. The panel held that, although Rentmeester plausibly alleged that he owned a valid copyright in his photo and a presumption that the Nike photo was the product of copying rather than independent creation, he failed to plausibly allege that Nike copied enough of the protected expression from his photo to establish unlawful appropriation. The panel explained that Rentmeester was entitled to protection only for the way the pose was expressed in his photograph, a product of not just the pose but also the camera angle, timing, and shutter speed he chose. In this case, Rentmeester's photo was entitled to broad rather than thin protection. Nonetheless, the panel held that the works at issue were as a matter of law not substantially similar, and thus the Jumpman logo was even less similar to Rentmeester's photo than the Nike photo itself. View "Rentmeester v. Nike, Inc." on Justia Law

Fox filed suit against TVEyes for copyright infringement after TVEyes, a media company that continuously records the audiovisual content of more than 1,400 television and radio channels, enabled its clients to watch Fox's programming. The Second Circuit held that TVEyes's actions were not protected by the fair use doctrine. The court explained that, although TVEyes's re‐distribution of Fox's content served a transformative purpose by enabling clients to isolate material and to access it in a conventional manner, such re‐distribution makes available to clients virtually all of Fox's copyrighted content that clients wish to see and hear. Therefore, TVEyes deprived Fox of revenue that properly belongs to the copyright holder. The court reversed the district court's order to the extent that it found fair use; affirmed the district court's order to the extent that it denied TVEyes's request for additional relief; and remanded for entry of a revised injunction. View "Fox News Network, LLC v. TVEyes, Inc." on Justia Law

DRK, a purported assignee of photographers' rights to sue for infringement, filed suit seeking statutory damages from Wiley, a licensee, for exceeding its licensed use of certain photographs as to which DRK non‐exclusively represents the photographers. The Second Circuit invoked its precedent in Eden Toys v. Florelee Undergarment, Co., 697 7 F.2d 27 (2d Cir. 1982), and held that as a matter of law the Copyright Act did not permit prosecution of infringement suits by assignees of the bare right to sue that were not and have never been a legal or beneficial owner of an exclusive right under copyright. In this case, the court held that DRK was not and has never been the holder of an exclusive right in the photographs. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. DRK Photo" on Justia Law

DRK, a purported assignee of photographers' rights to sue for infringement, filed suit seeking statutory damages from Wiley, a licensee, for exceeding its licensed use of certain photographs as to which DRK non‐exclusively represents the photographers. The Second Circuit invoked its precedent in Eden Toys v. Florelee Undergarment, Co., 697 7 F.2d 27 (2d Cir. 1982), and held that as a matter of law the Copyright Act did not permit prosecution of infringement suits by assignees of the bare right to sue that were not and have never been a legal or beneficial owner of an exclusive right under copyright. In this case, the court held that DRK was not and has never been the holder of an exclusive right in the photographs. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. DRK Photo" on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's summary judgment in favor of defendant in an action under the Copyright Act, alleging that defendant infringed on plaintiff's pen and ink depiction of two dolphins crossing underwater. The panel applied the objective extrinsic test for substantial similarity and held that the depiction of two dolphins crossing underwater in this case is an idea that is found first in nature and is not a protectable element. The panel explained that when as here, the only areas of commonality are elements first found in nature, expressing ideas that nature has already expressed for all, a court need not permit the case to go to a trier of fact. View "Folkens v. Wyland Worldwide, LLC" on Justia Law

BMG filed suit against Cox, alleging copyright infringement, seeking to hold Cox contributorily liable for infringement of BMG's copyrights by subscribers to Cox's Internet service. On appeal, Cox argued that the district court erred in denying it the safe harbor defense and incorrectly instructed the jury. The Fifth Circuit held that Cox was not entitled to the safe harbor defense under section 512(a) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 U.S.C. 512(a), because it failed to implement its policy in any consistent or meaningful way. The court held that the district court did erred in charging the jury as to the intent necessary to prove contributory infringement. Accordingly, the court affirmed in part, reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded. View "BMG Rights Management v. Cox Communications" on Justia Law

Oracle filed a copyright infringement suit against Rimini, a provider of third-party support for Oracle's enterprise software, and Rimini's CEO. The Ninth Circuit affirmed partial summary judgment and partial judgment after trial on Oracle's claims that Rimini infringed its copyright by copying under the license of one customer for work performed for other existing customers or for unknown or future customers; reversed judgment after trial in regard to Oracle's claims under the California Comprehensive Data Access and Fraud Act (CDAFA), the Nevada Computer Crimes Law (NCCL), and California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL), because taking data from a website, using a method prohibited by the applicable terms of use, when the taking itself generally was permitted, did not violate the CDAFA or the NCCL; reversed the determination that Rimini violated the UCL; reduced the award of damages based on Rimini's alleged violation of the CDAFA and NCCL; affirmed the award of prejudgment interest on the copyright claims; reversed the permanent injunction based on violations of the CDAFA; vacated the permanent injunction based on copyright infringement; reversed with respect to the CEO's liability for attorneys' fees; vacated the fee award and remanded for reconsideration; reduced the award of taxable costs; and affirmed the award of non-taxable costs. View "Oracle USA v. Rimini Street" on Justia Law