Home » Copyright Law Updates » New Judicial Opinions » Current Summary
Copyright Law Summary
Straus v. DVC Worldwide, Inc.
H-04-4625, 2007 WL 1097858, S.D. Tex., 03/23/2007
Holding
An isolated and inadvertent unauthorized use of copyrighted photo was so trivial as to fall below the threshold required for actionable copying, and unauthorized use of that same photo on defendant's website did not constitute "fair use."
Detailed Summary
Plaintiff, a professional photographer, took a photograph of Arnold Palmer, copyrighted it, and then licensed it to defendants for use in a smoking cessation program marketing campaign, for which Palmer was the spokesperson. One month after the license agreement expired, plaintiff discovered that advertising materials using the photograph remained in one drugstore. The court held this use was de minimis, since it was in only one store of 23,000 that originally carried the advertisement and remained for less than a month. Plaintiff also learned that the photograph appeared in advertising materials on defendant’s website as part of defendant’s promotion of its own advertising business. Defendant argued that posting advertising materials is had created to promote itself to potential clients constituted “fair use,” but the court held that position strained the concept of fair use too far, particularly since defendant’s use of the photograph was wholly for private commercial gain.
Service
Link to this article · 
Send via E-mail · 
Printable Version (opens in new window)
Copyright Law
Enter our NEW discussion forums to interact with other readers about Copyright Law.
Companies Mentioned
Copyright Law
The following companies are mentioned in Copyright Law Updates:
American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers
Northern Lights Products, Inc. d.b.a. GlowProducts.com
Litecubes, LLC
Poof Apparel Corp.
Derek Andrew, Inc.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Inc.
Mattel, Inc.
Geoffrey Productions, Inc.
MGA Entertainment, Inc.
Universal City Studios LLLP
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.
Turner Network Television LP, LLLP
Turner Network Sales, Inc.
Turner Classic Movies, LP, LLLP
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
The Cartoon Network LP, LLP
Paramount Pictures Corp.
NBC Studios, Inc.
Disney Enterprises, Inc.
CSC Holdings, Inc.
CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Cablevision Systems Corp.
Cable News Network LP, LLLP
American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
Westbound Records, Inc.
UMG Recordings, Inc.
Janice Combs Publishing, Inc. d.b.a. Justin Combs Publishing
Bad Boy Records LLC
Bad Boy Entertainment, Inc. d.b.a. Bad Boy Records
Yahoo! Inc.
Television Music License Committee
SESAC, Inc.
RealNetworks, Inc.
AOL LLC f.k.a. America Online, Inc.
Sony ATV Tunes, LLC
3D Recon
MLE Music
Saatchi & Saatchi North America
Julie Ann’s, Inc.
National Geographic Society
Julie Ann Bible
National Geographic Enterprises, Inc.
Hampshire House Publishing Corp.
Mindscape, Inc.
YouTube, LLC
YouTube, Inc.
Viacom, Inc.
Google, Inc.
Future Association Premier League Limited
H2O Industrial Services, Inc.
The lawyers at Zuber & Taillieu LLP have top credentials, and offer exceptional services in all areas of law found on LawUpdates.com.
Visit Zuber & Taillieu LLP
