Keep Moving Forward: Performance of the Copyright Office during COVID-19 — Acting Register of Copyrights Maria Strong takes stock of the US Copyright Office’s work in the past twenty weeks since remote operations began.
U.S. Copyright Office Celebrates 150 Years of Fostering American Creativity and Innovation — Speaking of the US Copyright Office, it marked a notable anniversary this week. The U.S. Chamber’s Frank Cullen offers some celebratory remarks.
Loveland company Anatomy in Clay wins copyright ruling — A recent Tenth Circuit decision rejected defendant’s argument that plaintiff’s anatomical model was a “useful article” and thus excluded from copyright protection. In part, the court said, “The Maniken might be useful for teaching anatomy, but a fact finder could reasonably attribute this usefulness to the information that the Maniken conveys about human anatomy. If the Maniken’s usefulness lies solely in the information it conveys, the Maniken would not be a useful article.” Interestingly, the opinion does not cite once to the Supreme Court’s recent decision on useful articles, Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands.
Round Hill Music Files $32M Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against TuneCore — Billboard reports on a recently filed lawsuit against indie distributor TuneCore, which alleges (complaint here) the company failed to license mechanical reproductions of musical compositions embodied in the sound recordings it distributed to download and streaming services.
YouTuber Wins Attorneys’ Fees in Clinton Party Copyright Case — “YouTube personality Carl Benjamin—known on the platform as Sargon of Akkad—won attorneys’ fees in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday after successfully defending a copyright suit over his mocking of a video taken at Hillary Clinton’s election night party. Comedian Akilah Hughes’ lawsuit was objectively unreasonable and meant to ‘inflict financial harm on Benjamin and to raise her own profile in the process,’ the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said.”