Law Commons^™

Gif Gaffe: How Big Sports Ignored Lenz And Used The Dmca To Chill Free Speech On Twitter, Andrew T. Warren

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Many major sports leagues including the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and Ultimate Fighting Championship have consistently used the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) to remove user-created GIFs, Vines, and related content that make use of the leagues’ copyrighted broadcast material on Twitter. This Article analyzes Twitter users’ right of fair use in the leagues’ copyrighted material, while suggesting that sports leagues and their agents may not be following the Ninth Circuit’s Lenz v. Universal Music Corp.decision, which requires copyright owners to consider fair use before submitting DMCA takedown notices. Sports leagues’ protocol and actions towards GIFs and Vines …

Fair Use’S Unfinished Business, Rebecca Tushnet

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Edelman V. N2h2: Copyright Infringement? Reverse Engineering Of Filtering Software Under The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Cathy Nowlen

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

How To Get The Mona Lisa In Your Home Without Breaking The Law: Painting A Picture Of Copyright Issues With Digitally Accessible Museum Collections, Lara Ortega

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Making Others Do The Work: Secondary Liability And The Creation Of A General Obligation To The Copyright Industries, Liam O'Melinn

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

This Essay argues that the growth of secondary liability actions represents a larger attempt to impose a general obligation to protect the copyrights of the content industries, and that the full significance of secondary liability cannot be understood unless it is considered alongside other manifestations of this tendency. This Essay contends that secondary liability takes on a much greater meaning when it is seen as closely related to other efforts in extending responsibility for protecting copyrights: in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, in various measures intended to increase the government's responsibility for copyright enforcement, in attempts to make universities accountable …

Looking For Fair Use In The Dmca's Safety Dance, Ira S. Nathenson

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

Today, it is encouraging to hear another Senator - now, Senator McCain - speak up for fair use, but it is also worth noting that McCain voted for the Senate version of the DMCA. Regardless, McCain's request to YouTube contains an intriguing premise: implicit in it is the assumption that fair use can be protected under Section 512 as it exists without amendment. In this Article, I test McCain's assumption, asking whether we can interpret Section 512 to better foster fair use. I believe that we can. In this Article, I argue that copyright owners must consider fair or other …

Secondary Liability And The Fragmentation Of Digital Copyright Law, Jacqueline D. Lipton

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

The digital age brought many challenges for copyright law. While offering enticing new formats for the production and dissemination of copyright content, it also raised the specter of large scale digital piracy. Since the end of the 20th century, content industries have reeled to keep up with technological developments that offer significant promise as well as threats of large scale piracy. There has always been some tension between promoting innovation in content creation and promoting innovation in technologies that enable the enjoyment of copyright works, such as photocopiers, audio tape recorders, video tape recorders, and peer-to-peer file sharing systems. The …

The Evolution Of Copyright Law And Inductive Speculations As To Its Future, Orit Fischman-Afori

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Using Copyright To Remove Content: An Analysis Of Garcia V. Google, Elizabeth Martin

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

This Note will investigate how individuals attempt to use copyright law, instead of seeking damages for emotional distress or privacy, by using Garcia I and Garcia II as examples. Part I will provide background on Garcia I and Garcia II, the facts leading up to the lawsuit, the first decision and the criticism surrounding it, and the second decision. Part II will discuss what other legal methods Garcia may have used to achieve the same result and potentially obtain the same relief if she decided not to sue for copyright infringement. Part III will look beyond Garcia I and Garcia …

Two Comparative Perspectives On Copyright's Past And Future In The Digital Age, Timothy K. Armstrong

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

A review of two recent scholarly books on digital copyright law: The Copyright Wars: Three Centuries of Trans-Atlantic Battle by Peter Baldwin (Princeton, 2014), and Copyfight: The Global Politics of Digital Copyright Reform by Blayne Haggart (Univ. of Toronto, 2014). Both books are meticulously researched and carefully written, and each makes an excellent addition to the literature on copyright. Contrasting both titles in this joint review, however, helps to reveal a few respects in which each work is incomplete; indeed, at times each book reads as a critique of the other.

Baldwin's The Copyright Wars argues that modern debates over …

You(Tube), Me, And Content Id: Paving The Way For Compulsory Synchronization Licensing On User-Generated Content Platforms, Nicholas Thomas Delisa

Brooklyn Law Review

The changing landscape of digital media technology makes it increasingly difficult for owners of copyrighted music to monitor how their works are being exploited across the Internet. This is especially true of user-generated content (UGC) platforms—websites and applications such as Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat, where content is created or uploaded predominantly by users. These services pose a special problem to copyright owners because, instead of content being uploaded from a single source that is easily sued and has deep pockets, content is uploaded by users. Users are a troublesome group because they are innumerable, sometimes anonymous, and mostly click on …

Commentary To The U.S. Copyright Office Regarding The Section 512 Study: Higher Education And The Dmca Safe Harbors, Christopher A. Cotropia, James Gibson

Law Faculty Publications

The nearly twenty-year history of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe harbor provisions has been marked by criticism from content owners, online service providers, and end users. Content owners complain about the cost of monitoring online content and sending take-down notices. Online service providers complain about the cost of receiving and processing the notices. And end users complain about their legitimate use of copyrighted works being subject to DMCA take-down. Colleges and universities have been at the forefront of this controversy; as providers of online services to their students, they have been a focus of both Congress and copyright owners. …