Tourists hoping to visit the Mushroom Kingdom may have to make other plans, after Nintendo filed a lawsuit against a Japanese company offering real-life Mario Kart inspired tours of Tokyo. According to the New York Times, Nintendo is claiming that the rental company, which operates under the name of MariCar in English, violates Nintendo’s intellectual […]
As reported by Complete Music, in early March 2017, relatives of the late Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi filed new papers in their ongoing appeal of a moral rights claim against music icons Jay-Z and Timbaland. The case began in 2007, when Hamdi’s family alleged that Jay-Z and Timbaland’s sampling of Hamdi’s music in their 2000 smash
As reported by Law360, the estate of deceased YouTube performer, Anthony Barré, has filed a suit against Beyoncé and Sony Music Entertainment seeking $20 million in damages as well as declaratory and injunctive relief for copyright infringement. The complaint alleges that the pop star sampled phrases from Barré’s YouTube videos in her 2016 chart-topping hit
As reported by The Fashion Law, in an ironic turn of events, retailer Forever 21, which has been sued over 50 times in recent years for copying others’ protected designs, has filed suit against C. Luce and CornerStone Apparel (doing business as TCEC and Papaya Clothing, respectively) for infringing on one of its protected designs. The suit centers around the
In the post-“Blurred Lines” music industry, where an artist even casually admitting that their work was influenced by another may expose them to potential copyright infringement lawsuits, music labels are taking no chances when commissioning official remixes. In what appears to be a direct response to the surprising verdict in which a jury awarded $5.3
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a judge ruled Wednesday that a 20-minute Star Trek fan video and proposed feature-length film produced by Axanar Productions cannot be considered fair use, and therefore may constitute copyright infringement. Paramount Pictures and CBS, owners of the Star Trek copyrights, filed the lawsuit against Axanar last year after Axanar began
When the owner of a public space plays recorded music, she must obtain a license for the public performance of the copyrighted musical work. American copyright laws require the owner to only obtain one license for the song copyright, whereas in other countries, owners are required to obtain an additional license for the recording copyright,
On Halloween this past Monday, costumes were not only on the minds of trick-or-treaters and partygoers, but also of the eight Supreme Court Justices, who heard a copyright case concerning cheerleader costumes. According to the Wall Street Journal, Varsity Brands Inc., the country’s leading cheerleader uniform maker, is suing smaller manufacturer Star Athletica for copyright
Minneapolis college funk band, Collage, has sued Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars for copyright infringement over the 2014 hit song “Uptown Funk.” According to Pitchfork, the complaint claims the track is a “strikingly and/or substantially similar copy” of a Collage song entitled “Young Girls” the band wrote in 1983. The alleged similar elements include the
Lil’ Wayne has been keeping his attorneys extremely busy the past two years, and with his latest $40 million case it looks like there is no end in sight. The first suit came in early 2015, when the rapper petitioned the court to release him from his contract with record label Cash Money, award him
Despite marketing itself as a law-abiding and musician-friendly service since its launch in 2006, Spotify’s latest lawsuit settlement has helped unmask its less than aboveboard practices. Several months ago, the National Music Publisher’s Association (NMPA) sued the popular music streaming service for failure to properly obtain mechanical licenses for a significant portion of its library
