Thanks to a recent court decision, we’re looking at some big changes in online copyright law. A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that you need to consider fair use before sending a DMCA copyright takedown notice. What does this mean for copyright holders and users of online media?
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Archives: Constitutional Law
Parody Trademark Battle: Yankees v. Steroids
July 14, 2015
Today’s question is fairly straightforward: can you register a parody trademark? If your logo or word mark is explicitly making fun of another party’s registered trademark, will the United States Patent and Trademark Office allow yours to be registered? A recent case involving the New York Yankees answered this question.
Who Owns the Copyright on a Monkey’s Self-Portrait?
August 19, 2014
When people ask me questions like “who owns the copyright on a monkey selfie,” I feel so full of…what’s the opposite of shame? Pride? No, not that far from shame. Less shame? Yeah. Let’s examine this serious, important, and hilarious issue. Photographer David Slater was in the Indonesian wilderness in 2011 when a crested black macaque used one of his cameras and took a bunch of pictures with it. One of those pictures was the amazing selfie seen above. Eventually the photo was uploaded to Wikipedia’s Wikimedia Commons. Slater filed a takedown request on the grounds that he owns the…
Court Rules Facebook “Likes” are Speech Protected by the First Amendment
September 18, 2013
Court Rules Facebook “Likes” are Speech Protected by the First Amendment For a while now, I’ve had an interest in “Social Media Law.” I’m using quotes because, when people ask me, “What is Social Media Law?,” I have to answer that there’s no such thing, exactly. The issues relate to how existing laws apply in the social media context. A recent case demonstrates the intersection between so-called Social Media Law and Constitutional Law (which is a real thing).
