Fish Hook℠ Blogs

By 1930, efforts began in New York to replace Mother's Day with Parent's Day because men were more than just breadwinners. Those efforts didn't catch on, probably because in that era, women often spent more time in the home.

Did a federal court in Louisiana recently decide that US copyrights are global rights? It seems so.

One of the most common challenges is whether AI should be free to train on data that is protected by copyright and owned by third parties without first obtaining permission.

The U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) recently published its latest report on AI and “copyrightability.” In short, the USCO considers only some AI-generated works to be sufficiently creative as to deserve copyright protection, and thus, registration.

Back in the 1940’s assignments by independent contractors could be permanent and irrevocable. Things changed in 1976, when Congress overhauled the Copyright Act.

In the US, Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. For many, Thanksgiving and (American) football go hand-in-hand, with the Detroit Lions’ game as much a staple of the holiday as turkey and pie. However, this year’s game arrives amid controversy: Lions’ legendary Hall of Famer Barry Sanders is facing a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement.

After three years of litigation, a court has held that the “beat that goes on” for Cher’s right to continue receiving royalties on songs created during her marriage to Sonny Bono, despite attempts by Sonny’s widow, Mary Bono, to invoke federal copyright termination rights to end those payments. 

In 2023, California artist Joe Morford lost his copyright infringement lawsuit against Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. Morford claimed that Cattelan's viral artwork "Comedian," which features a banana duct-taped to a wall, was a copy of his own work, "Banana and Orange."

Fourteen teams of the US National Basketball Association (NBA) have been sued in federal district court for copyright infringement. The complaints were filed by companies claiming to own rights in various musical works.

In a recent decision, the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a jury verdict holding that the use of the "Success Kid" meme by a congressman's reelection campaign for fundraising purposes did not qualify as fair use.

In February 2024, proposed legislation was introduced in US House of Representatives which would extend copyright protection to golf courses. The bill is titled “Bolstering Intellectual Rights against Digital Infringement Enhancement Act” or the “BIRDIE Act”.