1. COPYRIGHT CURRENT
DEVELOPMENTS!
Katherine C. Spelman
Cobalt, LLP
Berkeley, CA
ICLE’s 38th Annual
IP Law Summer Institute
Grand Traverse
July 19-21, 2012

2. Legislation – U.S.!
• SOPA/PIPA and the January 18th Internet
Tantrum
• Legislation derailed

3. Beijing WIPO Treaty on
Audiovisual Performances !
• June 26th, 2012 marked first treaty in
copyright since 1996
• Provides rights to audiovisual performers
similar to those that music performers
have already under WIPO

4. Copyright Litigation
25% up!
• Law 360, Erin Coe “IP Litigation Takes
Off in First Half of 2011”

5. Publishers suing
Patent Firms - 03/2012 !
Texaco Redux?!
• Wiley v. McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert &
Berghoff (MBHB), No. 12-CV-01446 (N.D.
Ill).
• Wiley v. Schwegman Lundberg, No. 12-528
(RHK/JJK) (U.S.D.C. Minn.)

6. Public Performance!
• American Broadcasting Co. v. Aereo,
Inc., 12 CIV 1540 (AJN) (S.D.N.Y. July
11, 2012)

7. Termination
Notice - Standing!
• Scorpio Music v. Willis, 2012 WL
1598043, 1 (S.D. Cal. 2012)
– 30% enough, not statutory 51% "

8. Public Domain!
• Warner Bros. Enterm’t, Inc. v. X One
X Prods., 644 F.3d 584 (8th Cir.
2011)

9. Standing !
• Righthaven, LLC v. Hoehn, 792 F.
Supp. 2d 1138, (D. Nev. 2011)

10. Jurisdiction!
• Shropshire v. Canning, 809 F.Supp.2d 1139,
1145 (N.D.Cal. 2011)
– All Canadian acts, except upload was to YouTube
servers in California

11. Originality!
• Nielsen Co. (US), LLC v. Truck Ads,
LLC, 2011 WL 3857122, 1 (N.D. Ill.
Aug. 29, 2011)

12. Copyrightability!
• Oracle v. Google, No. C-10-03561,
U.S.D.C. N.D. Ca. (June 1, 2012)
– Oracle’s Java APIs not copyrightable

13. DMCA!
• Personal Keepsake Inc. v.
Personalizationmall.com, Inc., 2012 WL
414803 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 8, 2012)

14. DMCA!
• Capitol Records Inc. v. MP3tunes LLC,
2011 WL 3667335 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 22,
2011)

15. DMCA!
• Wolk v. Kodak Imaging Network Inc.,
2011 WL 940056 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 17,
2011)

16. DMCA!
• Viacom International, Inc., v. YouTube,
Inc., 10-3270-cv, 2012 WL 1130851 (2d
Cir. Apr. 5, 2012)

17. Oldest Copyright Class
Action (1997): Certification
Fails!
• In re: Literary Works in
Electronic Databases (Aug.
17, 2011)

18. Mass Digitization!
• Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc., (2011)
– Formerly called ‘GBS’
– Infringement alleged
– Defense claims ‘Fair Use’

19. Mass Digitization!
• American Society of Media
Photographers (ASMP) v. Google
– Not consolidated with Authors Guild
– Infringement alleged
– Defense claims ‘Fair Use’

20. Mass Digitization!
• The Authors Guild v. Hathi Trust,
(S.D.N.Y. 2011)
– Hathi Trust = academic universal library
– Authors Guild claims unauthorized
library copies of Google Corpus
infringed by HathiTrust

21. Google Book Cases !
2012 Docket Dates!
• Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc. - September 6th
Summary Judgment hearing
• ASMP v. Google, Inc. - October 29th Summary
Judgment briefing ends
• Authors Guild, Inc. v. Hathi Trust - November Trial

22. Fair Use!
• Publishers v. Georgia State (2012)
– May 14, 2012, 390 page opinion
– 99 claims of infringement & 5 found infringing
– Bright line test = 1 chapter or 10% Fair Use

23. Fair Use !
• Cariou v. Prince, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
29070 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 18, 2011)

24. Licensing!
• Kno, Inc. v Cengage Learning, Inc., N.D.
CA CV 12-00121 (Jan. 6, 2012)

25. Post E-Bay Injunction!
• Flexible Lifeline Sys., Inc. v. Precision Lift,
Inc., 654 F.3d 989 (9th Cir. 2011)
– End of an era – proven, not presumed

26. Actual
Damages!
• Gaylord v. U.S., 98 Fed. Cl. 389
(2011)

27. Actual damages!
• Oracle USA Inc. v. SAP AG, 100 USPQ2d 1450
(N.D. Cal. Sept. 1, 2011)
– Facts:
• Jury awards Oracle $1.3 Billion in Actual Damages based on
“hypothetical negotiation.”
• Defendant moves for new trial

28. Licensing!
• Range Road Music Inc. v. East Coast
Foods Inc., 668 F.3d 1148 (9th Cir. 2012)

29. First Sale
Doctrine!
• Adobe Sys. Inc. v. Hoops Enter. LLC,
2012 WL 892162 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 14,
2012)

30. First Sale
Doctrine!
• John Wiley & Sons Inc. v. Kirtsaeng, 654
F.3d 210 (2d Cir. 2011)

31. Archive Versions!!
• Aviation Software Inc. v. United States, 100
U.S.P.Q.2d (BNA) 1943 (Fed. Cir. 2011)

32. Fee Award!
• Brownmark Films LLC v. Comedy Partners,
101 USPQ2d 1241 (E.D. Wis. Nov. 30, 2011)

33. Questions?!
Thank You!