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The featured image shows the symbol of copyright in purple colour on a white background.The post is about the recent allegation of copyright infringement against the short movie 'kriti'. To know more, please click here.

Kriti V Bob : Who owns the copyright?

  Kriti, a short film by Shirish Kunder, has been taken down by YouTube amidst a copyright controversy initiated by a filmmaker from Nepal, Aneel Neupane. The short film, Kriti, was uploaded on YouTube on June 22, 2016. The short film had bagged   over two million views within 2 days. However, on June 24, Kriti found itself in controversy as Neupane updated a facebook status, openly accusing Kriti to be a copy of his short film, Bob. Neupane claimed that he…

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Latest updates in Copyright case decisions

Jury clears Led Zeppelin’s "Stairway to Heaven" from copyright infringement claim A lawsuit alleging copyright infringement was brought against Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin group  by Michael Skidmore. He alleged that there were similarities between the opening chords for 1971 song Stairway To Heaven  and a composition called Taurus  which was released four years earlier by a band called Spirit. The US District Judge Gary Klausner had ruled in April that “Stairway to Heaven” bore “substantial” similarities with…

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The featured image depicts the word sony written in big bold letters with it's tagline (make, believe) below it. The post is about the release of a movie titled "emoji"by Sony and a possible trademark dispute over it. To know more. please click here.

Sony’s use of Emoji: A possible legal dispute

Sony might have to settle a possible trademark as well as copyright dispute with Marco Husges, before it can release an animated film titled “The Emoji ”. Marco Husges, is a game developer and emoji creator who has previously worked on the MMO Shadowbane, Starbreeze Studio’s Enclave and had filed for commercial trademark of the word "emoji" back in 2013. He claims to have trademark merchandising rights over 3000 emojis. The rights over the emoji shouldn’t be confused…

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ABS Entertainment, Inc. v. CBS Corporation, et al.

  This article relates to an interesting summary judgment passed by the District Court of California in a suit brought for copyright infringement.  The Plaintiffs, ABS Entertainment Inc., Barnaby Records, Inc., Brunswick Record Corporation, and Malaco Inc. (collectively addressed as “Plaintiffs”) brought a copyright infringement suit against CBS Corporation and CBS Radio Inc. (collectively addressed as “CBS” or “Defendants”) for publicly performing, through radio broadcasts or digital internet streams, the Plaintiffs’ pre-1972 sound recordings. It is necessary to state the…

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Disney and Dalian Engage in Comic Wars

A conflict for the protection of intellectual property right arose recently in China when a Chinese based Infrastructure Company, Wanda Company diversified its business and entered in to a theme based park. It is interesting to note how the conflict arose in this case. The facts are as follows: on the inauguration of the theme park of Wanda Group on 28th May 2016,  few people who were alleged to be workers of the park, were seen clad in Captain America,…

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Google’s use of Java APIs in Android – fair use?

  The District Court of the Northern District of California held last week that Google's use of 37 Java APIs of Oracle does not give rise to copyright infringement liability because it is fair use. On remand from the Federal Circuit, in a Jury trial, Google's use of Java APIs and around eleven thousand lines of code was held to be fair use as it is meant to promote inter-operability and compatibility between programs. You may read our earlier post for…

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The featured image shows the logo of google. To read more on the google versus oracle dispute click here.

Is use of Java APIs by Google Fair Use?

In 2010, Oracle sued Google for copying 37 Java packages, 8 specialized Java security  packages, and a routine called “rangeCheck" in its Android operating system. Oracle claimed in the suit that Google is liable for infringing two of its patents in the software and that Google is also liable for copyright infringement for literally copying the code. The suit was filed in a California District Court. Oracle claimed damages to the tune of nine billion dollars in the suit. …

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The featured image shows the first page of the National IPR Policy document. To read more about the National IPR Policy, click here

National IPR Policy – Copyright Related Objectives

On the 13th May 2016, the much anticipated National IPR Policy was released which aims to lay down a system of growth for intellectual property rights (IPRs) in India by ensuring the protection of new innovations ,research and development while establishing a stable framework in the country for the domestic and foreign investors alike. Though the salient features of the IPR Policy have been explained in detail in our previous post, the core objectives of the Policy are highlighted below…

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The featured imnage is of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner as Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk from the television program Star Trek. The post is about a copyright issue with Star Trek. To read more click here.

Complaint against Crowdfunded Star Trek Film Prevails

By virtue of being the owner of a movie,the producer (or his licensee) as a sole proprietor or the right holders have exclusive rights to use the trademarks, copyright and any Intellectual Property contained in a motion picture, in any manner whatsoever, including the right to reproduce, make derivative works, distribute, perform or right to publicly display the work.  These intellectual Properties in a movie includes, but is not limited to names, photographs, the specific characters, likeness, titles, artworks/images/stills/posters, dialogues…

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The image is of in flight entertainment where Global Eagle Entertainment was sued for copyright infringement. To read more click here.

UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Global Eagle Entertainment Inc.

IP Kat recently reported a summary judgement granted in a copyright infringement case involving various record companies and music publishers and an in flight entertainment provider. A motion for summary judgment was brought by various record companies and music publishers which included UMG Recordings, Inc. (“UMG”), Capitol Records, LLC (“EMI”) and Universal Music Publishing Group (“UMPG”) alleging copyright infringement of sound recording, copyright infringement of musical compositions, amongst other assertions against the defendant In-flight Productions (IFP) and parent company Global…

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