IP: Copyright



Copyright Office Weighs in on Monkey Pictures

In the draft of its new “Compendium,” the U.S. Copyright Office has stated that it will not register works created by animals. The “human authorship” requirement isn’t new, but the specific example of “[a] photograph taken by a monkey” is:…



Ninth Circuit: The Shape of a Hookah Can’t Be Copyrighted

O'SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judge:     We must decide whether the shape of a hookah water container is entitled to copyright protection. That is (minus the footnote explaining what a "hookah" is) the first paragraph of today's decision by the U.S….


Here Come the Other “Happy Birthday” Lawsuits

Here we go: according to a press release I just got, two more plaintiffs have filed "Happy Birthday" lawsuits—not meaning that they sued somebody on his or her birthday but they are jumping into the litigation over whether "Happy Birthday…



Judge Orders Prenda Law Group Beamed Out Into Space

For full coverage of the Prenda Law debacle, let me refer you to Popehat, where Ken has been following it closely for a while now and has written many excellent posts on the saga (with help from, among others, Cathy Gellis). As a…



Ecce las Velas (Behold the Candles)

Following up on yesterday's post about the lady who painted over Jesus and now wants royalties—according to a Reddit post, these are currently on sale in Los Angeles: Looks like Ms. Jiménez (or the artist's heirs, or both) may need…