Artist Jeff Koons Is Being Sued for Copying An Old Gin Ad
Famed pop artist Jeff Koons was hit with a lawsuit recently by a photographer named Mitchell Gray for copyright infringement over a photo Gray allowed Gordon’s Gin to use in a 1986 ad.
January 12, 2016
Meet The Slants: This Band’s Fight Over The Right to Trademark its Name Could Impact What Happens With The Washington Redskins
This past July, a Federal District Court affirmed the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s cancellation of the Washington Redskins’s trademark for being disparaging toward Native Americans. The NFL team filed its appeal this month in a bid to get back its registration.
November 17, 2015
A Twenty-Year Perspective: The Winners and Losers of the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act
Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the its music streaming service had gained 15 million total users since its June release, with 6.5 million of them being paying subscribers. It has quickly joined the other streaming services that now make it easier than ever to enjoy the music we love in the digital space.
November 10, 2015
“Let’s get crazy” with DMCA takedown notices
On February 7, 2007, a young Pennsylvania woman named Stephanie Lenz uploaded to YouTube a video of her two adorable children dancing to the Prince song “Let’s Go Crazy.” She titled the 29-second long video “Let’s Get Crazy #1,” and then (probably) went about the rest of her day.
September 22, 2015
European Artists’ Rights Org Goes After SoundCloud for Copyright Abuse
Previously on this blog, we wrote about the current battles between the copyright holders of recorded works (you know these works as “music”) and certain scofflaw streaming services that seem to operate based on a policy of denying artists any share in the profit created from streaming their music.
September 08, 2015
Soundexchange and the Ongoing, Hard-fought Battle to Pay Performers for Their Master Royalties
Let’s acknowledge this right off the top: we live in an age where a large contingent of the population has internalized the idea that music, songs, albums, etc., are fully “free.” Nobody likes to side with, say, the RIAA, while they’re filing lawsuits against 12 year olds with Limewire (or its more current equivalent).
July 22, 2015
Advocates for the Creative Mind
