HHR New Media, Entertainment and Technology Group

A recent settlement has spared Warner Bros the potential expense of having to alter “The Hangover, Part II” prior to its scheduled home video release.  However, the underlying questions raised by S. Victor Whitmill, who has a copyright in Michael Tyson’s famous facial tattoo and claims that Warner Bros. infringed that copyright when actor Ed Helms wore a similar tattoo in the film, remain unanswered.  The question of whether a valid copyright can exist in a design inscribed on another person’s body is a novel one for copyright law.  However, while cases involving copyrights in tattoo art may not necessarily be commonplace, the implications of the case illuminate a broader problem for content producers.  As copyright protection expands into previously unrecognized forms of artistic expression, such producers much consider whether the copyright clearance process they have in place is adequate to address potentially novel claims in the future.  Continue Reading »

In the rush to take advantage of the boom in the apps market, developers may have–consciously or not–overlooked the fact that some of the software building blocks they were using to create apps were governed by their own license restrictions, which may have been violated by the developers.  A recent report published by OpenLogic found that 7 out of 10 apps that contained open source software were in severe breach of the open source license requirements.  Continue Reading »

As we recently reported here, a  new Internet-connected software application, called “ivi tv”, was just released that allows pc, mac and linux end users to stream live feeds from over-the-air television stations to their computers anywhere in the world. Unlike other online content distributors, however, the start-up recently confirmed that it has elected not to negotiate with the copyright holders for the license of its programming, and has instead elected to wager its future on a seemingly liberal interpretation of certain provisions of the Copyright Act (the “Act”), which permit qualifying “cable systems” to rebroadcast over-the-air television signals upon the payment of certain statutorily mandated revenues (see Section 111).

As we suspected, the response from the entertainment community has been swift, and the company has since received a barrage of cease and desist letters from television networks, movie studios, sports leagues, broadcasters, syndicators and others in the entertainment industry alleging that the operation of the service as currently conducted amounts to copyright infringement. In response, the company has now filed a complaint for declaratory judgment in Seattle district court alleging that by complying with the Act’s compulsory licensing scheme in Section 111 “it has not infringed any of the copyrights owned by the any of the Defendants.”

We will obviously keep an eye on future developments as this complaint now moves its way through the court system and the entertainment industry’s forthcoming response.

Over the last year, we’ve been following the recent trends in Europe regarding “three strikes” legislation, where end-users may be subject to sanction by their ISPs for repeated acts of copyright infringement.  Following passage of the first such law in France last fall, the United Kingdom followed suit in early 2010 with passage of the Digital Economy Act.  While it is too early to say with certainty whether the laws will achieve their stated goal of deterring and ultimately reducing infringement, the debate surrounding these laws and early experience under their enforcement schemes provides insight into whether or not “deputizing” ISPs to police piracy will become more prevalent or whether yet another approach will need to be devised to protect content owners. Continue Reading »

We had recently written about how a dispute over the ownership of certain IP threatened to derail eBay’s proposed sale of Skype.  Reports last week have revealed that Skype and parent eBay Inc. have reached a definitive settlement agreement with Skype’s founders that resolves litigation over the critical GI technology necessary to run Skype and removes the major obstacle that threatened  the $1.9 billion cash deal for Skype.  Under the terms of the settlement, Zennstrom and Friis will join the investor group and in exchange for contributing Joltid’s GI technology, they will receive a 14 percent stake in Skype, effectively regaining part ownership of their creation.  The other investors will hold 56 percent of Skype with eBay to retain the remaining 30 percent.  The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009.