Google v. Oracle: Weighing Fair Use Factors in Software Copyright Infringement Cases
Guodong Fu The ongoing battle for clarity on the limitation of United States copyright protection in the software industry has yielded inconsistent results over the past ten years. Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., currently before the Supreme Court, may finally shed some light on the status of copyright protection as applied to software. In deciding the case, the Court must balance the four fair use factors as applied to software copyrights. The Court will likely navigate a fine line to balance maintaining a market of interoperability with fair competition. This Essay argues that the Supreme Court should maintain a...
Defining Copyright Protections on Social Media in the Age of Instagram #Reposts
Jessica Barbaria Globally, more than one billion people use Instagram every month. It is no wonder Instagram’s impressive user base has attracted big businesses to the platform. Brands seeking to grow their audiences often turn to social media to reach new customers, engage with existing customers, and source marketing content. Despite brands’ increasing reliance on Instagram, the legal boundaries of social media marketing are not well defined. Brands do not always know when they have permission to exploit user-generated content, and users do not always feel their content is fully protected. To clarify this uncertainty, Congress should amend the Copyright...
Don’t Sue Meme, It’s a Parody
Lea Silverman Memes have become one of the most prolific posts on social media websites. Memes exploit familiar templates of existing images overlaid with text, typically to make a point or a joke. There have been very few court cases and almost no rulings on the issue of memes and copyright infringement. By applying a fair use analysis and the Supreme Court’s 1994 decision in Campbell v. Rose-Acuff Music, Inc., this Essay argues that meme creators can successfully assert the parody defense to copyright infringement. Read Full Text Here
The Internet of Things: How Digital Copyright Rules Govern Our Physical World
Jessica Barbaria Intellectual property law governs the digital world. Thus, copyright law controls how digital content, such as software, is shared and accessed. Digital content is generally licensed, permitting users to save and use a copy of software but not to own it outright. Because the internet enables monitoring of these licenses, copyright holders can ensure users do not infringe on copyright or violate their license agreements in other ways. Software also enables advanced capabilities in physical products. For example, car manufactures can remotely modify settings to benefit drivers after they buy their cars. That said, software updates come with...
No Safe Harbor: YouTube’s Content Id and Fair Use
Robert Andrea YouTube is arguably the world’s foremost platform for user-generated content. When users upload material to YouTube, there is a possibility that the uploaded content is protected by copyright. Under traditional copyright law, YouTube is technically liable for allowing copyrighted material to be disseminated. But the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) insulates YouTube and other internet service providers from liability if the companies take certain steps to filter out copyrighted material. For YouTube, the only feasible way to fulfill its copyright protection obligations is to utilize automated copyright protection software. Nevertheless, YouTube’s software, Content ID, and the copyright policies...
Deep Fakes Accountability Act: Overbroad and Ineffective
Zachary Schapiro Improvements in technology have made it easy to create deep fakes: realistic false digital records depicting a person performing actions that did not occur. Although there are legitimate uses for deep fakes, like parodies or finishing a movie where a principal performer has died, they can inflict harm upon the individual depicted or the general public if, for example, used to influence the outcome of an election. Considering these detrimental uses, Congress has proposed the Defending Each and Every Person from False Appearances by Keeping Exploitation Subject to Accountability Act of 2019 (DEEP FAKES Act) to impose civil...
Blockchain and Copyright: Vain Hope for Photographers?
Jason Kim Blockchain technology has near unlimited application potential, and its influence could extend all the way to the copyright industry. For photographers, blockchain technology might serve as a safe and efficient tool to detect infringement. However, this notion must be treated with caution. Blockchain’s security applications are indeed a valuable prospect, but the technology has critical flaws that prevent it from becoming the panacea for photographer. Read Full Text Here
Protection of Characters: Creator of The Moodsters Sues the Walt Disney Company over Allegedly Stolen Characters
Bertie Magit Movie studios, authors, musicians and other creative-types frequently find themselves on the receiving end of lawsuits for copyright infringement. Factual elements such as whose idea was first and whether the original work was protected under copyright may become wholly irrelevant if the two works are markedly different. In June 2017, Childhood Development expert Denise Daniels filed a complaint against The Walt Disney Company for copyright infringement of her anthropomorphous, color-coded emotion characters she originally conceived as The Moodsters. Daniels alleged that these characters were the real inspiration for Disney-Pixar’s Inside Out and Walt Disney Company has stolen the...
YouTube’s ContentID Copyright Infringement Flagging System: Using Its Corporate-Assuaging Origins in Viacom v. YouTube as a Jumping-Off Point for the Way It’s Been Used and Altered over the Years
Emily Tate The idiosyncrasy of the Internet often invites colorful analogies in its description: high seas and piracy, Wild West and lawless frontier. This is not undeserved; despite great strides over the course of its development, the Internet remains unexamined and unregulated in many ways, and the regulations that do exist are largely self-governed. Copyright law in particular has proven contentious for lawmakers who are forced to balance digital rights management on a massive scale with the rights of end users. Nowhere is this conflict more apparent than in the practices of the video-sharing juggernaut YouTube. Read Full Text Here
Copyright Issues and Implications of Emerging Virtual Reality Technologies
Lauren E. Beausoleil Virtual reality (“VR”) technologies allow users to experience three-dimensional, multi-sensory environments (“virtual worlds”). This new and rapidly-developing technological platform is promising, but does not come without legal challenges. Issues regarding copyrights for virtual worlds and creations within those worlds can be expected. This article involves an exploration into potential application of copyright law to virtual reality technologies, focusing on what might be protected by copyright, potential infringement challenges, and how enforcement of these copyrights might play out for both users and developers. Read Full Text Here