Carol Highsmith took this photo of Seattle, gave it to the Library of Congress for public use, and we downloaded it for free after double-checking with Highsmith’s attorney. Will Getty slap us with a threatening letter to sue The Stranger if we don’t pay a usage fee? As reported by Carey Dunne on Hyperallergic, the photographer Carol Highsmith has filed a lawsuit against Getty Images because in …
Earlier this year, Voltage Pictures, which previously engaged in a lengthy court battle to require Canadian ISPs to disclose the names of alleged file sharers, adopted a new legal strategy. While the company obtained an order to disclose names in the earlier case, it came with conditions and costs. Its latest approach involves filing a reverse class action lawsuit against an unknown number of …
A California federal judge is allowing Paramount Pictures and CBS to boldly go where no Star Trek rights holder has gone before. The two studios are suing over Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar, a short film, as well as Axanar, a proposed feature-length picture that’s been raising money on Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms. In response to the lawsuit, Alec Peters’ Axanar Productions …
When it comes to the business model of turning piracy into profit, the name Voltage Pictures is never far from the action. The Los Angeles-based movie outfit has tested the legal waters in several jurisdictions in an effort to extract cash settlements from alleged pirates, most recently in Australia with its movie Dallas Buyers Club. In 2012, Voltage targeted Canadian ISP Teksavvy in a long …
Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin are defendants in a copyright lawsuit that accuses their band of lifting music from the song “Taurus” by the Los Angeles band Spirit.Laurance Ratner/WireImagehide caption Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin are defendants in a copyright lawsuit that accuses their band of lifting music from the song “Taurus” by the Los Angeles band Spirit. A …
“We Shall Overcome,” a song that was the “unofficial anthem to the civil rights movement,” was wrongly placed under copyright and should be put in the public domain, according to a lawsuit filed today in federal court. The complaint (PDF) was filed by the same group of lawyers who succeeded at putting the world’s most famous song, Happy Birthday, into the public domain after years of …
Fresh from a $14 million victory that had Warner/Chappell backing off from ownership claims over “Happy Birthday to You,” the attorneys at Wolf Haldenstein now have chosen their encore with a new lawsuit that seeks to establish that the worldwide famous protest song, “We Shall Overcome,” is conclusively in the public domain. The putative class action, filed Tuesday in New York federal court …
Sing the song, blow out the candles, eat the cake and unwrap the gifts. According to a court filing on Monday, music publisher Warner/Chappell will pay $14 million to end a lawsuit challenging its hold on the English language’s most popular song, “Happy Birthday to You.” Additionally, the settlement stipulates a proposed final judgment and order that would declare the song to be in the public …
Three book authors and their advocacy organization have taken to the Supreme Court their decade-long copyright fight with Google over its massive book-copying and search project. The new appeal , filed on Thursday, asked the Justices to take away the giant digital firm’s legal protection against paying fees and getting permission to add whole volumes to its database. The filing accuses Google …
US artist Melissa Ferrick is seeking $200 million from the streaming giant. A second songwriter has sued Spotify, accusing the streaming service of copyright infringement. As the Los Angeles Times reports, Massachusetts-based artist Melissa Ferrick is accusing Spotify of uploading her music to the service without properly licensing her work.