28 Tuesday Jul 2015
Posted in Copyright, Fair Use, Intellectual Property, Patent Law, Trademarks
≈ Comments Off on How To Take Out Trademark Bullies.
Are Trademark Bullies Bringing Plausible Claims? by Guest Blogger Draeke Weseman, Weseman Law Office, PLLC, Duets Blog
Intellectual property enforcement continues to make news, and new solutions to curb abusive enforcement – i.e. trademark bullying, patent trolling, and copyright trolling – are being proposed regularly. Central to these solutions is the idea of a ‘fast-lane’ that kicks bad claims to the curb before the bullied or trolled party has incurred significant legal costs. . . .
11 Tuesday Nov 2014
Posted in Copyright, Fair Use, Intellectual Property, Public Domain
≈ Comments Off on Copyright Infringement and Fair Use.
Tags
beSpacific Blog., Copyright, Copyright Infringement, Fair Use, Public Domain, Sabrina I. Pacifici, Trademarks
Law Firm Copying and Fair Use: An Examination of Different Purpose and Fair Use Markets, by Sabrina I. Pacifici, BeSpacific Blog
Jones, D. R., Law Firm Copying and Fair Use: An Examination of Different Purpose and Fair Use Markets (September 29, 2014). South Texas Law Review, Vol. 56, No. 2, 2014 – Forthcoming; University of Memphis Legal Studies Research Paper No. 144. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2503089
‘In several recent lawsuits, publishers sued law firms for copyright infringement. The lawsuits focused on making unlicensed copies of scholarly articles to file with patent applications, including copies for the firms’ internal use and for the firms’ clients. In two of these cases, lower court judges determined that the making of unlicensed copies was fair use. The decisions hinged on transformative use, focusing on the defendant’s purpose for using the works. There was no alteration or change in the works. The judges found fair use, despite the possible availability of licensing. These patent application cases fit within a larger category of cases involving the use of copyrighted works in judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings. This article uses these cases as a vehicle to review the use of purpose in fair use analysis. It advocates that the review of the character and purpose of a use should include a deeper examination of the policies and societal interests underlying the use. This broader consideration is especially important if a plaintiff asserts the presence of a ready market for the payment of fees for use of a copyrighted work. This article explores the determination of a fair use market as a way to support the unlicensed use of copyrighted works although a ready market exists for the payment of fees. These cases offer an excellent model for the analysis necessary to determine a fair use market.’
27 Sunday Jul 2014
Posted in 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, Fair Use, Intellectual Property
≈ Comments Off on Second Circuit Decision Gives Libraries Full Advantage of Fair Use.
Tags
Authors Guild v. HathiTrust, Fair Use, Google Book Search, Intellectual Property, Libraries, Mass Digitization, Savings Clause, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The library community welcomed the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Authors Guild v. HathiTrust, __ F. 3d __, 2014 WL 2576342 (2nd Cir. 2014). [Note – a copy of the decision is available here via EFF]. The decision has implications for libraries that go far beyond the specific facts of the case. This paper offers some preliminary thoughts on what these implications may be.
The broadest implication of decision arises out of a footnote. Ever since the adoption of the library exceptions in 17 U.S.C. § 108, rights holders have argued that section 108 limits the availability of fair use to libraries, notwithstanding the savings clause in section 108(f)(4) that states explicitly that ‘nothing in this section in any way affects the right of fair use as provided by section 107.’ In this litigation, the Authors Guild repeatedly argued that section 108 restricted fair use. Judge Baer rejected this argument in the district court, and the Second Circuit rejected it again in footnote 4. Citing the savings clause, the Second Circuit stated that ‘we do not construe § 108 as foreclosing our analysis of the Libraries’ activities under fair use….’ HathiTrust at *4, n. 4. Thus, the decision holds unambiguously that libraries may take full advantage of the fair use right.
The decision also demonstrates how the fair use right applies in the context of a specific library activity: mass digitization. . . .
The Researching Paralegal 
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