Courts and privacy advocates across North America have long faced challenges in resolving the questions of whether police officers should be given the right to search the contents of cellphones of an arrestee and if yes, when and under what circumstances this should be permitted. The Supreme Court of the United States has taken the […]
Marvel may have to call in The Avengers for help with this one. The comic giant filed papers on July 14th arguing to the U.S. Supreme Court that it should not review the Second Circuit appeal court's decision in Marvel Characters, Inc. v Kirby. The case concerned whether the estate of legendary comic book artist Jack Kirby […]
Avid players of the popular video game Grand Theft Auto V may recognize this scenario: your character is tasked with transporting a female celebrity named Lacey Jonas home from where she is hiding in an alleyway. During the mission, you evade the paparazzi while Lacey spouts bons mots like "I'm really famous. I didn't do anything!" […]
It’s often hard to recognize the evolving nature of legal regimes amidst the fast-paced and so-called revolutionary social and technological changes facilitated by digital and networked technologies. Laws, norms, and conventions developed over centuries are being problematized and rethought as new social, technological, and economic realities emerge. Computer software, a technology that’s mainstream adoption is […]
The football field is for helmets not headdresses. In the much talked about June 18, 2014 decision in Blackhorse v Pro Football, Inc. the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) made a clear statement that culturally-insensitive trademarks would not be tolerated. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decided to cancel six federal trademark […]
Last week, the big news in the video game blogosphere was the reported sale of the world's largest video game collection, comprising over 11,000 games, for more than $750,000 at auction. While the most salient fact of this story may be the magnitude of both the collection and the winning bid, the large numbers obscure a […]
And so the sparring will go another round. On May 19th the United States Supreme Court delivered its decision on Patrella v Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, allowing Paula Petrella to pursue her copyright infringement claim against MGM Studios despite her decision to wait 18 years to file suit. As a result, the Supreme Court has essentially informed the […]
In Kristina Hill, Brian Edwards and Thomas Privitere v Public Advocate of the United States, a homosexual couple who had posted an engagement photo on their blog were devastated to discover that the image had been used in two political advertisements that opposed same-sex marriage. After realizing the advertisements had been sent to several thousand […]
There is currently a live, ongoing legal dispute in California between former and current student athletes (SAs) and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) which reveals that regulations defining collegiate eligibility did not foresee the nexus of new media technology and sport. Consequently, NCAA bylaws do not consider the effects of athlete intellectual property on […]
In a stunning decision recently released by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Google was ordered to remove the now-infamous film, “Innocence of Muslims”, from YouTube. While the ruling challenges traditional understandings of copyright ownership and protected expression under US copyright law, the Court’s unprecedented opinion also has significant implications for […]