Summary
This weekly update presents key developments in copyright and entertainment law. It reports the settlement of a copyright infringement suit between Nykaa and L'Oréal regarding packaging similarities with the Maybelline brand. The bulletin also highlights a copyright suit against NBC and US figure skaters for unauthorised music use and discusses the reinstatement of a copyright lawsuit against the Apple TV+ show 'Servant' by the Ninth Circuit Court. Additionally, it notes Google's erroneous flagging of Mac OS system files on Google Drive as copyright infringements. The news is compiled from various sources and aims to provide structured, factual updates for legal professionals.
This is the weekly news update for copyright and entertainment law.
Nykaa and L’Oreal settle the Copyright infringement Suit
In November of 2019, the French cosmetic giant, L’Oréal had filed a civil suit in a Delhi District Court alleging copyright infringement owing to similarity of Nykaa’s certain packaging items with L’Oréal’s trademark ‘Maybelline’ brand. The suit was recently settled. Under the new settlement terms, L’Oréal has approved the modified artwork adopted by Nykaa. Additionally, L’Oréal is also seeking reliefs of damages, rendition of accounts and any costs against Nykaa. Both the parties have also agreed to not make any claims against each other or claims relating to payment of costs or charges in relation to the settlement.
NBC and US Figure Skaters Sued for Copyright infringement
A copyright infringement suit was filed in the Central District of California’s Southern District by Robert and Aron Marderosian (also known as musical duo Heavy Young Heathens), alleging blatant and purposeful infringement on their version of “House of the Rising Sun”. The musicians claimed that, this version was used without their permission, in a routine by US figure skaters, Brandon Frazier and Alexa Knierim, during a recent short performance at the Beijing Winter Games to ride on the popularity and goodwill of the plaintiffs.
Copyright infringement verdict against Apple TV+ show ‘Servant’ overturned
A Copyright infringement suit was filed by Francesca Gregorini alleging that the Apple TV+ show ‘Servant’ is a “brazen copy” of his 2013 film titled “The Truth about Emanuel.” In May 2020, the federal Judge dismissed the lawsuit ruling that the TV show was not similar enough to the film. This judgement has been overturned and the Ninth Circuit Court reinstated a copyright lawsuit against Apple claiming the first three episodes of its “Servant” psychological horror series are a “wholesale copy” of the 2013 feature film.
Google Drive flags Mac OS system files for Copyright infringement
Google Drive has been flagging some users for violating its copyright infringement policy when they copy ‘.DS_Store’ files (metadata files that are usually created when Mac users copy an archived file or folder) to their Drive. However the Drive has a tendency to incorrectly identify a file as copyrighted and flagging for copyright infringement of nearly empty text files and restrict them from being shared.
Authored and compiled by Neharika Vhatkar (Associate, BananaIP Counsels) and Parikha Rathi (Legal Intern)
Disclaimer:
Please note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to contact@bananaip.com for corrections and take down