By Ryan Smith and Thomas F. Zuber of Zuber & Taillieu LLP
The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals joined the Fifth and Seventh Circuits in holding that a completed application filed with the U.S. Copyright Office suffices for “registration” for litigation purposes. In Cosmetic Ideas, Inc. v. IAC/Interactivecorp. 606 F.3d 612 (9th Cir. 2010), the Ninth Circuit determined that although the… More...
The California State Assembly and Senate have passed AB 819, a legislation that imposes double fines for copyright and trademark infringement. More...
The Senate has unanimously approved legislation sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to make clarifications and technical fixes in the federal copyright laws. More...
The American Workers, State, and Business Relief legislation passed by the Senate included provisions on statutory copyright licensing and communications regulatory framework that enables satellite providers to offer local broadcast stations to their subscribers. More...
The Senate Judiciary Committee has passed the Satellite Television Modernization Act of 2009, S. 1670, a bill that would amend and extend through December 31, 2014, the requirement that satellite carriers pay royalty fees to the Copyright Office for transmission of certain copyrighted broadcasts. More...
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed by a vote of 394-11 the Satellite Home Viewer Reauthorization Act of 2009 (“SHVRA”), H.R. 3570. More...
U.S. Representatives Williaml Delahunt (D-MA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Jerry Nadler (D-NY) have introduced the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, bipartisan legislation which provides copyright protections to fashion designs. More...
The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee has conducted hearings on the Performance Rights Act (H.R. 848), a bill to require over-the-air radio broadcasters to pay performance rights royalties to performers and recording owners. More...
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and senior panel member Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) have unveiled legislation that will reduce the theft of U.S. intellectual property around the world -- including the piracy of American films, the counterfeiting of American-designed products and other violations of U.S. intellectual property rights ("IPR") worldwide. More...
House Representative John Conyers, Jr. (MI) has filed a bill entitled 'Fair Copyright in Research Works Act’ that seeks to protect the rights of authors and publishers of copyrighted, peer-reviewed scientific journal articles. More...
The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property (“House Subcommittee”) approved a bill seeking to provide fair compensation to artists for use of their sound recordings. The bill, known as “The Performance Rights Act of 2007,” will remove a More...
