Warhol soup can parody from Wikimedia Commons

Warhol Foundation Doesn’t Benefit From ‘Plagiarist Privilege’

Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. V. Goldsmith concerns whether the Andy Warhol Foundation (AWF) infringed the copyright held by Lynn Goldsmith in her photograph of the artist Prince, when it licensed Warhol’s version (“Orange Prince”) of Goldsmith’s photograph to the media company Condé Nast for a magazine cover. At issue was whether the fair use defense applies to appropriation. Rather than broadly refashion the law, the Court issued a narrowing interpretation of the first fair use factor, in the form of a new judicial test.

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A comic book image of a cosmic attorney

Comics, Creators, Copyrights and Collaboration

Representing comic book creators can be exciting: you get to use your JD to protect costumed heroes and villains! Given Hollywood’s love of the comic book property, attorneys who practice IP law and work in the entertainment industries should have a working knowledge of the legal issues comic book creators face each time they begin […]

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GoldieBlox Pt. 2 from WLA

GoldieBlox, License to Will

This post was written by Jesse Woo and originally published on the Washington Lawyers for the Arts Blog. Read the full post. In addition to the basic overview and fair use analysis, public perception of Girls and this case raises another issue that I want to address. There has been much talk of the Beastie Boys’ decision not to allow commercial advertising […]

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GoldieBlox Pt. 2 from WLA

GoldieBlox, Rhymin and Stealin Intellectual Property

This post was written by Jesse Woo and originally published on the Washington Lawyers for the Arts Blog. Read the full post. To recap where we left off, in a very short period of time we went from feminist Legos (K’Nex?) to full blown intellectual property litigation. It seems that GoldieBlox’s offer to drop its […]

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online security

What Your Clients Need to Know About Cyber Responsibility

Americans are increasingly concerned about the privacy of their personal data. For example, an ESET and Harris Interactive survey reveals an uptick in “cyber responsibility,” that can be defined as the ability of individuals to exercise certain levels of protection over their personal data. The survey reveals 4 out of 5 individuals surveyed have adjusted […]

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3 Cases to Read While Talking Like a Pirate, Mateys

Avast! Celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day with historical and modern day cases of pirates. Ahoy! Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. While you should probably abstain from observing this holiday in court or in emails to opposing counsel, you can still celebrate with these three cases about pirates. Captain William Kidd […]

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