In Cambridge University Press v. Albert, 2018 WL 5095004 (11th Cir. Oct. 19, 2018), the Eleventh Circuit issued its second decision in a decade-long dispute over Georgia State University’s practice of distributing digital excerpts of copyrighted works to students without paying a royalty. The district court now faces its third trial to assess the fair-use…
Category: Intellectual Property
Laws for the People, By the People, Are Not Copyrightable
A March 23, 2017 order from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia immediately prompted headlines such as “If you publish Georgia’s state laws, you’ll get sued for copyright and lose.” The case, Code Revision Commission v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., 244 F. Supp. 3d 1350 (N.D. Ga. 2017), examined whether the Official…
Supreme Court Grants Certiorari on Copyright Issue
The Supreme Court this morning granted certiorari on a circuit split involving the Eleventh Circuit. The Eleventh Circuit (along with the Eighth) has previously held that the fee provisions of the Copyright Act, which allow recovery of the “full costs” of attendance, do not displace general statutes that limit awards to taxable costs. Artisan Contractors Ass’n…
Defendant Sails to Victory in Trade Secret Case
In Yellowfin Yachts, Inc. v. Barker Boatworks, LLC, 2018 WL 3734344 (11th Cir. Aug. 7, 2018), the Eleventh Circuit upheld the dismissal of trade-secret claims related to the manufacture and sale of fishing boats. Yellowfin Yachts is a manufacturer of high-end fishing boats, allegedly known in the marketplace for the “swept sheer line” of their…
Foreign Companies Can Acquire U.S. Trademark Rights without Direct Sales to Consumers
Direct Niche, LLC v. Via Varejo S/A, 2018 WL 3687868 (11th Cir. Aug. 3, 2018), emphasizes that foreign companies can acquire trademark and service mark rights in the United States even without selling products directly to consumers domestically. Instead, contracts with third parties and publication of the mark are sufficient to confer rights. The Eleventh…
Eleventh Circuit Digs Deep to Revive SCAD Trademark Suit
In an October 3, 2017, opinion, a panel of the Eleventh Circuit reversed the Northern District of Georgia’s grant of summary judgment for the defendant in a trademark-infringement suit brought by Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). In Savannah College of Art and Design, Inc. v. Sportswear, Inc., 2017 WL 4369451, the court held…
Eleventh Circuit Weighs in on Circuit Split Defining Copyright Registration
Registration of a copyright is a precondition to a suit for copyright infringement. The Eleventh Circuit joined the minority of circuits to have addressed whether registration occurs when an owner files an application to register the copyright or when the Register of Copyrights registers the copyright in Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC,…
Fee Awards – Maybe an Art; Not a Science
In Yellow Pages Photos, Inc. v. Ziplocal, LP, 2017 WL 343520 (11th Cir. Jan. 24, 2017), the Eleventh Circuit reversed a district court’s decision to use a mathematical formula to award costs and fees in proportion to the degree of success in litigation of the underlying claims. Yellow Pages Photos, Inc. (“YPPI”) and Ziplocal entered…
Trademark Plaintiff Waited Too Long to Douse the Fire
When an opinion opens with “the plaintiff pursued its preliminary-injunction motion with the urgency of someone out on a meandering evening stroll rather than someone in a race against time,” there isn’t much suspense about who’s going to win and why, and the court did indeed affirm the denial of preliminary injunctive relief in Wreal,…
Trademark Battle SCARs Between Assault Rifle Makers
A trademark dispute between assault rifle makers turned on whether promotional activities associated with an unregistered mark having no public sales are sufficient to establish prior analogous use, and whether that mark could acquire distinctiveness through secondary meaning based at least in part on these promotional activities. FN Herstal SA v. Clyde Armory Inc., 2016…