Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, known for his satirical sculptures, has found himself in the unique position of being a defendant in unrelated copyright suits on both sides of the Atlantic. On July 8, 2022 a three-judge intellectual property court in Paris dismissed a claim by wax sculptor Daniel Druet seeking to be considered the “sole […]
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Copyright and Photography: An Overview of Ongoing Cases
This is the first Insight in a series addressing how photographers can exploit and protect their rights. The 2021 Google v. Oracle decision was viewed by many as blurring the line between transformative use of a copyrighted work and the author’s right to make a derivative work. This conflation was highlighted by the dissent, which argued […]
Read more2022 Brings New Requirements Via ID.me for Filing Trademark Applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Fourth Addendum
This post is an update. Read the original post here, the first addendum here, the second addendum here and the third addendum here. Throughout 2022 we have reported on the plans of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) to require filers’ biometric data collected through a private firm, ID.me, and its subsequent postponement of the initial […]
Read moreA Joint Study by the USPTO and the Copyright Office on NFTs and Intellectual Property
At the request of Senators Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., two members of the Senate’s intellectual property subcommittee, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) and the Copyright Office have announced that they are launching a joint study of NFTs and their impact on intellectual property rights. The Senators’ letter raised several questions […]
Read moreMuseums and Questions of Donor Morality: The Sackler Case
In an earlier Insight, we discussed the issue of renaming by public and private educational institutions in situations where naming honors previously bestowed are now considered inconsistent with the institution’s goals of diversity, inclusion and other questions of morality. We have explored the renaming of public spaces for similar reasons. We have also noted that denaming and […]
Read moreStamping Out Uyghur Culture: The Winter Olympics Shine a Light on Misappropriation of Traditions — Addendum
We have previously written about the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) in the context of the Chinese government’s systematic persecution of this primarily Muslim ethnic minority living in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region (XUAR) region in northwestern China, including its misappropriation of Uyghur cultural heritage. As part of the U.S. effort to combat these […]
Read moreThe Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (CASE Act) — Addendum: Open for Business
This post is an update. Read the original post here and the first addendum here. As of June 16, 2022, the Copyright Claims Board (“CCB”) is open for business. As we have previously reported, the new tribunal, established by the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (the “CASE Act”) is intended to provide an […]
Read moreTrademarks in the Metaverse
What is the Metaverse? As terms like metaverse expand into the popular lexicon, it becomes easy to fall into the same hyperbolic craze around futurism and virtual reality that was common in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Depictions of interconnected virtual worlds have invoked media like Ready Player One, the 2011 science fiction novel […]
Read moreHow Can You Protect Your NFTs?
In recent months several major collectors have suffered staggering losses after their NFTs fell victim to phishing schemes. Collector Larry Lawliet lost $2.7 M when hackers convinced him to sign bogus agreements giving them access to a digital wallet containing identifying information concerning his assets. New York art collector and gallerist Todd Kramer suffered a […]
Read moreEU Court Decision Invalidating Privacy Shield Results in Massive Confusion for U.S. Businesses: Addendum
This post is an update. Read the original post here. As we previously reported, in July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”), in a case known as Schrems II, invalidated the Privacy Shield, the safe harbor mechanism relied on by businesses to transfer personal data from the EU to the United […]
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