Social Links: Rules for researching jurors via social media; law enforcement and new technologies; Facebook tool allows copyright owners to claim ad earnings from unauthorized video uploads
- - Advertising, Artificial Intelligence, Live streaming, Marketing, Copyright, Litigation, Wearable ComputersA nice overview of the rules on researching jurors’ social media accounts in various jurisdictions from Law.com. The importance of appearing at the top of Google search results, especially on mobile devices, is driving retailers to spend more and more on the search engine’s... ›
5th Circuit: ISP Not Liable for Infringement Due to Lack of Volitional Conduct, Despite Ineligibility for DMCA Safe Harbor
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently considered in BWP Media USA, Inc. v. T&S Software Associates, Inc. whether volitional conduct is required to establish a claim for direct copyright infringement against an Internet service provider (“ISP”). The defendant ISP, T&S Software Associates (“T&S”),... ›Limiting Statutory Damages in Internet Copyright Cases
By: Paul Goldstein and Joyce Liou
One of the most significant legal concerns for Internet service providers is the risk of exposure to liability for the copyright infringements of their users. The concern is not unreasonable. Because Internet service providers can be held secondarily liable for the infringements of their... ›Now Available: The April Issue of Our Socially Aware Newsletter
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The latest issue of our Socially Aware newsletter is now available here. In this edition, we explore the threat to U.S. jobs posed by rapid advances in emerging technologies; we examine a Federal Trade Commission report on how companies engaging in cross-device tracking can stay on... ›Social Links: Burger King ad triggers Google Assistant devices; suits allege infringement of copyrights in content posted to social media; Twitter’s hidden “dislike” button
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Without Google’s permission, Burger King ended one of its television commercials with a statement designed to automatically cause Google Assistant devices to read a list of the Whopper’s ingredients out loud. Having passed the 1.2-billion-user mark, Facebook Messenger is now twice as popular as... ›Social Links: Instagram makes it easy to label content as “sponsored”; Facebook combats fake news; better firefighting through drones
By: Aaron P. Rubin
A court ruled that a particular 98-character tweet wasn’t sufficiently creative to warrant protection under German copyright law. Inspired by a recording posted to Snapchat of a physical attack on a 14-year-old boy, a California bill would make it illegal to “willfully record a... ›Supreme Court Rules Cheerleading Uniform Designs Are Copyrightable
On March 22, 2017, the Supreme Court held in Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands that design elements of cheerleading uniforms may be protected under the Copyright Act. The 6-2 decision, written by Justice Thomas, clarified the scope of protection afforded to clothing designs... ›New Copyright Office Rule Creates Potential “Gotcha” for Blogs and Websites Hosting User-Generated Content
If your company operates a website or blog that hosts user-generated content, you’ll want to read this post carefully. We’re ringing the alarm bell on an important new U.S. copyright law development that, if ignored, could significantly increase your company’s potential liability exposure in... ›Commercializing User-Generated Content: Five Risk Reduction Strategies
By: Anthony M. Ramirez
We’re in the midst of a seismic shift in how companies interact with user-generated content (UGC). For years, companies were happy simply to host UGC on their websites, blogs and social media pages and reap the resulting boost to their traffic numbers. And U.S.... ›The Kirtsaeng Opinion: Supreme Court Guidance on Attorneys’ Fees Awards in Copyright Cases
Recently, in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. , the U.S. Supreme Court provided substantial guidance in an unsettled area of law by holding that, when deciding whether to award attorneys’ fees under 17 U.S.C. §505 , the Copyright Act’s fee-shifting provision, a... ›