Copyright issues in social media platforms
This change in copyright law established the right of a holder of a copyright to demand that a social media platform remove content that infringes the rights of the copyright holder.
What is the Digital Millenium Copyright Act? (DCMA is acceptable).
In Robert R. Jones Assocs., Inc. v. Nino Homes, the Court reversed a damages award because they found a double recovery between these two kinds of damages. 858 F.2d 274, 281 (6th Cir. 1988).
What are actual damages and infringer’s profits?
These are the main two groups protected by the DMCA and can respectively avoid filing a lawsuit or avoid being sued for infringement.
Who are copyright owners and service providers?
With limited exceptions, a copyright owner must meet this requirement before recovering attorneys’ fees in an infringement lawsuit.
What is the registration requirement?
“Orange Prince” is one of Andy Warhol’s portraits of the musician Prince, part of Warhol’s “Prince Series.” It was derived from Lynn Goldsmith’s 1981 photograph of Prince and later licensed by the Andy Warhol Foundation for publication, prompting the copyright dispute.
What is “Orange Prince”?
This document should be reviewed carefully before a creator uses a social media platform to post creative content to assure that they do not cede intellectual property rights to their content.
What are the terms of use of a social media platform?
In Davis v. The Gap, Inc., the court found that, although punitive damages are disallowed in copyright actions, a statutory damage award may still be increased based on a finding of this. 246 F.3d 152, 172 (2d Cir. 2001)
What is willfulness?
Alleged infringers file this if they do not believe their removed content was infringing.
What is a counter notice?
Under this rule, if a plaintiff rejects a defendant’s pre-trial offer and receives a less favorable judgment, the plaintiff may be required to pay the defendant’s post-offer costs, including attorneys’ fees.
What is Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68 (FRCP 68)?
The doctrine at issue is fair use under U.S. copyright law. The rst factor of fair use is “the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprot educational purposes,” often asking if the use is transformative.
What is the copyright doctrine at issue, and what is the rst fair-use factor?
These are provisions that protect an online service provider from copyright infringement liability based on content posted by users.
What are the DMCA safe harbors? Will also accept “Online Copyright Infringement Liability Act” or 17 U.S.C. § 512.
In Martinelli v. Hearst Newspapers, L.L.C., the 5th Circuit joined the majority of Circuits in holding that this rule applies to determine when a claim accrues under the Copyright Act’s three-year statute of limitations. 65 F.4th 231, 233(5th Cir. 2023)
What is the discovery rule?
This statement must be included in the takedown notice and is an attestation that the identified use of the work is unauthorized.
What is a statement of good faith belief?
In this case, the Supreme Court identified the following factors for courts to consider when assessing whether to award attorneys' fees.
What is Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc.?
Justice Sotomayor wrote the majority opinion, stating that to preserve a copyright owner’s right to make derivatives, “the degree of transformation required must go beyond that required to qualify as a derivative.”
Who wrote that transformation must exceed what qualies as a derivative work, and who was the majority?
When a service provide takes down content based on this, an alleged infringer, copyright owner, authorized licensee, or service provider may recover damages, costs, and attorneys' fees it incurs resulting from a service provider's removal or replacement of material (or access to it).
What is a misrepresentation that the content infringes a copyright? (17 U.S.C. § 512 (f)).
In Harbor Motor Co., Inc. v. Arnell Chevrolet-Geo, Inc., the 7th Circuit weighed in on a circuit split, finding that a plaintiff who refuses an offer of judgment and later recovers a smaller damages award than the offer is still this for purposes of awarding fees. 265 F.3d 638, 647 (7th Cir. 2001)
What is the prevailing party?
Title 1 of the DMCA incorporates these two 1996 WIPO treaties
What are the WIPO Copyright treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty?
Under this federal law, courts have complete discretion to award costs limited to the following six categories: (1) marshall and clerk fees, (2) necessary transcript fees, (3) printing and witness fees, (4) necessary copying fees, (5) docket fees, and (6) fees for court appointed experts and interpreters.
What is the Copyright Act?
The Court found that both shared the same commercial purpose: depicting Prince in a magazine. This overlap meant Warhol’s licensed version directly competed with Goldsmith’s photograph for the same editorial use.
Why did the majority conclude the photograph and Warhol’s magazine use had something in common?
This is the statutory protection that a content provider used to overcome a fraudulent take down notice.
What is a DMCA counter-notice? (17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(2)(C)).
in Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy, the Supreme Court resolved a Circuit Split by deciding that in Circuits where the discovery rule applies, the time limitation on available monetary relief extends back this long?
What is indefinitely?
In addition to incorporating the WIPO treaties, the other main provision of Title 1 prohibits this behavior
What is circumventing technology designed to prevent copyright protected material?
Although not a Fogerty factor, the Supreme Court has stated that in this situation, fees may be appropriate against a party even when the parties present reasonable arguments.
What is litigation misconduct?
The dissent argued that the majority’s narrow view of fair use undermines “stimulating creativity,” a core principle of copyright law meant to encourage transformative works and artistic progress.
What core of copyright law did the dissent worry would be diminished?