Legal References:
17 U.S.C.A. § 302 Duration of Copyright
17 U.S.C.A. § 107 Fair Use
Sonny Bono Term Extension Act of 1998
Viacom Int’l, Inc., Football Ass’n Premier League Ltd. v. YouTube, Inc, Docket No. 10-3270-cv (2nd Cir. April 5, 2012) (Viacom Int'l Inc. v. YouTube, Inc., 718 F. Supp. 2d 514 (S.D.N.Y. 2010))
Golan v. Holder, 132 S.Ct. 873 (2012). The Supreme Court held that works in the public domain can be pulled out and put back under copyright. This was in response to treaties signed in the Uruguay round of negotiations. It means any good-faith users may become liable for statutory damages upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars for copyright infringement, so the law can encourage further creative production by artists who have been dead for more than 70 years.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., 545 U.S. 913 (2005) {inducement doctrine}
Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 U.S. 186 (2003). Approved the constitutionality of the Sonny Bono CopyrightTerm Extension Act, which extended copyright protection to life + 70 years and applied retroactively. Congress appeared to be extending protection ad infinitum. The Supreme Court upheld this, past any reasonable expectation of incentivizing dead people to produce more, and violating both Congress’ Constitutional grant of power and the First Amendment.
New York Times Co., Inc. v. Tasini, 533 U.S. 483 (2001) {finding copyright infringement where articles were reproduced and distributed in a manner not authorized by author}
Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., Inc., 499 U.S. 340, 111 S. Ct. 1282, 1285, 113 L. Ed. 2d 358 (1991) {must be original; minimal standards of creativity}
Sony Corp. of Am. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984) {substantial non-infringing uses; protecting technological development (layers); secondary liability safe harbor; some uses are fair use even when a work is copied in its entirety}
Cartoon Network LP v. CSC Holdings, Inc., 536 F.3d 121 (2nd Cir. 2008)
UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Veoh Networks Inc., 665 F. Supp. 2d 1099 (C.D. Cal. 2009) aff'd sub nom. UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Shelter Capital Partners LLC, 667 F.3d 1022 (9th Cir. 2011). {sufficient for DMCA 512(c)(1)(A)that content removed after actual knowledge, not “red flags”}
Cartoon Network LP v. CSC Holdings, Inc., 536 F.3d 121 (2nd Cir. 2008) {momentary copy of data stream for buffering not copy; time shifting – replaying content to original audience – not public performance; automated copying at user request not direct infringement; but see 9th Cir. MAI (1993)}
Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., 508 F.3d 1146 (9th Cir. 2007) {framing in-line linked images of copyrighted works not “display” nor distribution; transformative fair use; direct and vicarious claims dismissed, contributory remained; “server test”; “distinguishes HTML link, which instructs a user’s browser where to find the code for an image on a remote server, from the graphic code that instructs a browser to display the image itself.}
In re Aimster Copyright Litig., 334 F.3d 643 (7th Cir. 2003) {contributory and vicarious infringement+; likelkihood of substantial non-infringing uses; DMCA not apply b/c of inducement}
A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001) {direct economic benefit not required to demonstrate commercial use; very insightful fair use analysis, esp. as addressing commercial v. noncommercial, possibility for greater liability (tertiary liability) for investors}
Megavideo Indictment