Author Archives: rtushnet

House fair use hearing

Posted on January 29, 2014 by rtushnet

Hearing on Fair Use, House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Internet/IP Rep. Coble (subcommittee chair): Fair use is important.  North Carolina universities rely on copyright law and on fair use.  Fair use’s strength is its ambiguity/freedom for courts, but also its … Continue reading →

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Fair use hearing testimony available

Posted on January 27, 2014 by rtushnet

House website here.  Written testimony from June Besek (fair use is too big, especially with respect to Google), Peter Jaszi (no, it’s not), David Lowery (music remixes and sampling etc. aren’t fair use; licensing is perfect),  Naomi Novik (transformative works are great and need protection; … Continue reading →

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TM claims in DMCA notice may lead to 512(f) liability

Posted on January 27, 2014 by rtushnet

CrossFit, Inc. v. Alvies, No. 13–3771, 2014 WL 251760 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 22, 2014) CrossFit sued Alvies for trademark infringement, among other things, and Alvies counterclaimed for false advertising/unfair competition.  CrossFit moved to dismiss the counterclaims and partially succeeded.  CrossFit … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, dmca, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, trademark, unfairness | Leave a comment

Mastercard v. Nader updated

Posted on January 27, 2014 by rtushnet

Seen in Arlington, VA, Jan. 2014: Photo by Zachary Schrag. http://tushnet.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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Congressional hearing on the scope of fair use

Posted on January 24, 2014 by rtushnet

Coming Tuesday to a streaming website near you. http://tushnet.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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unfair competition in the news

Posted on January 24, 2014 by rtushnet

The facts described in this article about Uber’s alleged attempt to crush competitor Gett by booking and then cancelling rides seem like a pretty good candidate for application of the general unfair competition tort.  Hypo of the day: what causes … Continue reading →

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Organization for Transformative Works gets a Hugo nomination

Posted on January 23, 2014 by rtushnet

For Best Related Work.  Awesome!  (I guess being Hugo-adjacent runs in the family.) http://tushnet.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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FTC goes after advertiser and ad agency for false dramatization

Posted on January 23, 2014 by rtushnet

Read all about it.  One great feature: the complaint includes the challenged ad!  The FTC at least wants us to see for ourselves. http://tushnet.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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Reading list: Without Copyrights

Posted on January 22, 2014 by rtushnet

Robert Spoo, Without Copyrights: Piracy, Publishing, and the Public Domain: An engaging, detailed account of trade courtesy in the US before the US recognized foreign copyrights (including the period when foreign authors could in theory get a US copyright but faced … Continue reading →

Posted in http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, reading list, right of publicity | Leave a comment

false omission claim fails for insufficiently alleged facts about crib bumper risks

Posted on January 22, 2014 by rtushnet

Corral v. Carter’s Inc., 2014 WL 197782, No. 1:13–cv–0262 (E.D. Cal. Jan. 16, 2014) Plaintiff sued Carter’s for basically the usual California claims in connection with Carter’s crib bumpers—“a strip of thin padding that is intended to affix to the … Continue reading →

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