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…
This case, filed against my client in the Eastern District of Arkansas in the middle of 2019, started with two lamps made to look like they were made of deer antlers. Ultimately, we brought a motion for summary judgment and argued that the plaintiff’s lamp was not sufficiently original to merit copyright protection — because it…
The copyright bar got some attention at the Supreme Court recently with the decision in Unicolors v. Hennis & Mauritz LLP (H&M). Originating from the Central District of California, this decision ended up being a victory for pro se applicants — with a caveat. Unicolors filed a copyright infringement action against H&M for using Unicolors’…
In Cat and Dogma v. Target Corporation, the Western District of Texas weighed claims of copyright infringement. At issue was a design for which Cat and Dogma (“Dogma”) had secured a copyright. The design consisted of the words, “I love you,” in a font that was script and fanciful. Dogma alleged that Target, in making…
A U.S. Supreme Court decision interpreting what’s necessary to sue under the Copyright Act is both very interesting, and very important. For years, the federal Courts of Appeal have been divided into two schools of thought regarding when a copyright holder has standing to sue for infringement: Those Circuit Courts (like the Second Circuit, presiding…
Big girls may not cry, but the creative team behind the smash Broadway musical Jersey Boys might be doing just that. On November 28, a jury in Nevada federal court found that the musical’s creators were guilty of copyright infringement—to the tune of 10% of the show’s profits. Jersey Boys centers around the life and times of 1960s doo-wop…