Raw Story Media v. Open AI, Inc. was a case filed in the Southern District of New York involving the generative artificial intelligence app ChatGPT. The court dismissed the case before the parties even started discovery. A group of news media companies sued the collection of companies that make up ChatGPT. The organizations suing Open…
The Second Circuit reversed a district court opinion that cited the plaintiff’s history as an active litigant as a reason to side step the Second Circuit’s discovery rule in Michael Grecco Productions v. RADesign et al. Grecco is an accomplished photographer who has enforced his rights prolifically in federal courts. In copyright infringement cases, the…
George Santos v. James C. Kimmel et al was a case in the Southern District of New York that pitted a cultural pariah against a popular late-night host. At issue was Jimmy Kimmel tricking Santos into making ridiculous videos Santos posted on the website “Cameo,” which Kimmel then posted on his show. Former Congressman George…
Kelly Toys Holdings v. Build-A-Bear Workshop is an ongoing case involving a smaller toy company suing the legendary Build-A-Bear. Kelly Toys manufactures and distributes its own plush toys called SQUISHMALLOWS, and Build-A-Bear sells things called SKOOSHERZ. But this wasn’t a trademark infringement case. Rather, the plaintiff alleged that it has a protectable trade dress and that it…
In X Corp v. Bright Data LTD, X Corp, formerly known as Twitter, sought to put an end to the practice of “scraping” by a company called Bright Data. (A scraper requests and retrieves information without manually browsing pages, often for tailored reasons.) The Northern District of California dismissed the case, finding that X failed…
The Supreme Court recently handed down a decision in Warner Chappell v. Nealy that some practitioners view as disappointing. We wrote about the underlying 11th Circuit case a year ago. Nealy was incarcerated during the time period when some of the songs he had co-produced were infringed. He claimed that because he was deprived of access…
Sepi v. Netflix et al. was a case in the Western District of Oklahoma that brought the much reviled/loved reality show star Joe Exotic into the national spotlight. The suit against the “Tiger King” was brought by a videographer challenging his work-made-for-hire agreement with Exotic. (Really, the judges refer to him by that name). Sepi…
In Thumbtack v. Liaison, plaintiff sued for copyright infringement and trade dress infringement for allegedly copying its website. The Northern District of California granted in part the motion to dismiss, because many of the plaintiff’s claims were too vague to address. The court pointed to things in Thumbtack’s exhibits, like circling part of an exhibit without…
Richardson vs. Kharbouch, brought in the Northern District of Illinois, was an infringement case that illustrated the dangers of doing copyright work on a shoestring. The plaintiff, Eddie Lee Richardson, also known as Hotwire the Producer, sued Karim Kharbouch, also known as French Montana. According to plaintiff/Richardson/Hotwire, he came up with a song when he was just…
Amazon v. Pionera, out of the Eastern District of California, is notable not for its legal maneuvering, but rather the elaborate scam that was at the center of the dispute. The plaintiff, Amazon, alleged trademark infringement and cybersquatting against defendant Manoj Goel and his company, Pionera. The defense did not answer the allegations for most…