Copyright & Social Media
Communications Law
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Four Notes
I was reading the following post on the class site, and it reminded me of how technically complicated musical copyright could be at times. An issue that often comes is what makes music original enough to qualify for copyright protection? In the US, I found a case that does not give an exact answer, but […]
This is a tesla, not a Tesla
In most Slavic languages, a tesla is a type of hammer (see main post picture). It’s great for pulling out nails and as a kid, grandma and I used teslas to plant potatoes on the farm. It’s also good for settling disputes. But can it be used in a lawsuit for IP infringement? Drumroll….: it […]
Colin v. Cuthbert: The Case of the Caterpillar Cake Copy-Cat
Why are these people dressed up as caterpillars? Why are they eating cake? Why are they fighting? If you are like me, you have been toiling over this mystery for several months. It has caused me many sleepless nights. I am sure you are all dying for an explanation. Luckily for you, I have investigated […]
Judge dismisses artists’ claims that AI “fed” by their works infringed copyright
Original article: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/judge-pares-down-artists-ai-copyright-lawsuit-against-midjourney-stability-ai-2023-10-30/ Summary: visual artists accuse Stability AI, Midjourney and DevianArt of misusing their copyrighted works in connection with the companies’ generative artificial intelligence systems. Allegations: Stability (AI system) used billions of images “scraped” from the internet, including theirs, without permission to teach Stable Diffusion to create its own images. Outcome: judge dismissed all […]
AI wins state fair art contest, annoys humans (and bureaucrats too!)
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/09/us-rejects-ai-copyright-for-famous-state-fair-winning-midjourney-art/ Why bother?! Was that not the first question that came to you after reading the piece? Why was the artist trying to obtain copyright registration in the first place? For possible monetary gains? To cause an outrage? To see if he can get away with it, thus gaining notoriety? Despite appearances, most of us […]
Trade Secret Law
Trade Secrets Hi everyone! Brandon and I were talking about things IP law might not cover. While chatting we started thinking about things like secret recipes or processes, and stumbled upon trade secrets as a branch of IP law. Looking further into it, we realized that this is both an important type of Intellectual Property […]
EDM Video with Live Sampling
IMG_9742 Hi everyone! Hope you’re all enjoying reading break. I wanted to share this video I took last Friday night at an EDM concert. In the clip, Timmy Trumpet is sampling a song by David Guetta, which is in turn itself sampling a song by Eiffel 65. It reminded me of our discussion last class […]
Air Fryers and Patents
After our class today on patents, I wanted to see whether it applied to my current favourite cooking appliance, air fryers! I found the link online to one of the patents for air fryers that show the history of that patent and the photos as well. I have attached the link below: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4817509A/en Additionally, I […]
IP x Nike x Off White – Post
I have been a sneakerhead for more than half of my life, and I distinctly remember the exact day that the coveted Nike x Off White collaboration, designed by Off White’s visionary creator Virgil Abloh, was released in limited quantities to the general public. Off White, a luxury streetwear style brand, is well known for […]
MetaBirkins NFTs: is there an IP claim for Hermes?
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/h-rmes-sues-metabirkin-nft-190522448.html In this article, an American law professor professes his opinion that an NFT project called “MetaBirkins,” consisting of procedurally-generated digital art that is an obvious representation of a famous series of Hermes Birkin bags, does not violate any of the IP rights of Hermes. Kal Raustiala contends that the project would be covered by […]