Judges know fair use and parody when they see it. Especially when it comes to South Park's "distinct animation style and scatological humor" as seen through the eyes of a 4th grade character. That was the conclusion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Circuit today (read…
Articles Posted in Entertainment
A new patent infringement lawsuit accuses Apple, Electronic Arts, Target, Whole Foods, and other companies of violating a U.S. patent "for selectively rotating windows on a computer display." The lawsuit by Rotatable Technologies, LLC, a non-practicing entity (NPE), alleges that Apple iPhones and iPads violate U.S. Patent No. 6,326,978 for…
Zynga, the online game maker of multimillion-dollar blockbuster games like FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and Words with Friends, sued French gaming company Kobojo today for trademark infringement over the company's Pyramidville game (see it below). At issue are Zynga's trademark claims to all games ending with ville, the French word for…
A class-action lawsuit against Apple (read it below) accuses the tech giant of double billing customers for downloads made from the company's iTunes Store. The lawsuit filed by New York resident Robert Herskowitz alleges that Apple charged him twice for purchasing a single pop song, "Whataya Want from Me?" (Note: if you're…
"Trust me, my pungent friend. You'll get what's coming to you!" Disney's new copyright infringement lawsuit against an alleged eBay purveyor of counterfeit movies appears to be dispensing advice from Aladdin's Jafar. According to the lawsuit (read it below), Atlanta resident Michael Jones has allegedly been selling 'obviously counterfeit' Disney…
Aerosoft GMBH, the German software company that makes the 'Airbus X' game, add-on program to Microsoft's Flight Simulator, sued a host of unknown 'Does' in federal court, claiming the defendants engaged in copyright infringement via peer-to-peer ('P2P') file-sharing of plaintiff's game. The Airbus X might have been a game that…
Martha Davis, a founding member of the '80s rock band The Motels, filed a class action lawsuit today against the EMI record label. Davis and her group are known for their 1980's chart topping hits, "Only the Lonely" and "Suddenly Last Summer." The legendary songstress accuses the label that she…
East Bay soul funk legend Tower of Power filed a class-action lawsuit against Warner Music on Tuesday, charging that the record label Warner Music, Inc. stiffed them out of music royalties by mischaracterizing digital downloads as sales, instead of licenses that pay artists a much higher premium. Tower of Power…
GOP candidate Newt Gingrich and his campaign were sued for copyright infringement in federal court yesterday for reportedly playing the band Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" song at Gingrich campaign events, but without obtaining rights to do so (Read the lawsuit below). Plaintiff Rude Music, Inc. is a music publishing…
On the Internet, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to be rich and famous. Popularity can help! Take Snooki for example. The MTV star extended the reach of her intellectual property by licensing rights to her name, images, and more in a "Snookify Me" app for the iPhone…