In a move that is sure to make legislators around the world stand up and take notice, the French Senate recently sent a clear message to those engaged in illegal…
Category: Infringement
Viacom v. YouTube and Infringement Monitoring in the DMCA: Who Should Have the Burden?
In March 2007 Viacom filed a $1 Billion lawsuit alleging that YouTube “actively engage[s] in, promote[s] and induce[s] [copyright] infringement”. Viacom properties such as South Park, Mean Girls and An…
American Airlines drops trademark lawsuit against Google
When American Airlines filed a lawsuit last year against Google claiming trademark infringement, many people hoped that this case would clarify the otherwise confusing jurisprudence surrounding the issue- whether or…
What’s In a Name? That Which We Call a...Likeness
Shakespeare was thinking about roses, but his question is of contemporary relevance: is our understanding of a thing conditioned exclusively by its name, or does it encompass its function and…
'Scrabulous' gets a nip-tuck, returns as 'Wordscraper'
July 29, 2008 was a day of mourning for half a million procrastinators around the world. It was the day Scrabulous, a notoriously popular application on Facebook, was removed from…
Facebook photo free-for-all. Is media's use of photos fair dealing or freeloading?
As a result of the recent proliferation of social networking sites, a debate has emerged over the media’s ability to use photos added to user profiles, in the absence of…