Copyright Infringement

October 13, 2014

Indiana Teen Indicted for Theft of Intellectual Property Valued More Than $100 Million

District of Delaware – Four members of an international computer hacking ring were

indicted for stealing gaming technology and Apache helicopter training software. Two have already pled guilty.

Four members of an international computer hacking ring have been charged with breaking into computer networks of prominent technology companies and the U.S. Army and stealing more than $100 million in intellectual property and other proprietary data. Two of the charged members have already pleaded guilty. The alleged cyber theft included software and data related to the Xbox One gaming console and the Xbox Live online gaming system; popular games such as “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” and “Gears of War 3”; and proprietary software used to train military helicopter pilots.

August 28, 2014

Indiana Copyright Litigation: Photographer Sues Theater and Publisher for Copyright Infringement

By Overhauser Law Offices, LLC

Indianapolis, Indiana – Larry G. Philpot, a professional photographer from Indianapolis, Indiana, filed two new Indiana copyright infringement lawsuits in the Southern District of Indiana. These lawsuits are in addition to another intellectual property lawsuit filed by Philpot recently.

On October 4, 2009, Plaintiff Philpot photographed Willie Nelson during a performance in St. Louis, Missouri (“Nelson photograph”). On August 2, 2013, he photographed Chris Daughtry during a performance in Indianapolis, Indiana (“Daughtry Photograph”).

In an effort to increase his marketability and reputation and to gain more work, Philpot made the photographs of Nelson and Daughtry generally available through Wikimedia under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license (“CC BY 2.0”). Philpot asserts that CC BY 2.0 requires a licensee to (a) reference CC BY 2.0 with every copy of the photo used and (b) provide attribution in the manner specified by the author. He claims that these requirements applied to republication of his copyrighted photos of Nelson and Daughtry. The two new Indiana copyright infringement complaints assert that Defendants did not comply with these licensing requirements and are, consequently, liable for copyright infringement.

In the first complaint, Mansion America, LLC d/b/a Oak Ridge Boys Theater of Branson, Missouri is accused of copyright infringement of Philpot’s Willie Nelson photograph, Certificate Number VAu 1-132-411, which was issued by the U.S. Copyright Office.

In the second complaint, Everything Brooklyn Media, LLC d/b/a The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, is accused of copyright infringement of Philpot’s Nelson photograph and also the Daughtry Photograph, Certificate Number VAu 1-164-624, which was also issued by the U.S. Copyright Office.

In the copyright complaint against Mansion, filed by Philpot acting as a pro se litigant, the following claims are made:

• Count I: Copyright Infringement and Unfair Competition
• Count II: Unauthorized Distribution of Copyrighted Material
• Count III: Removal of Identifying Information

The copyright complaint filed against The Brooklyn Daily Eagle asserts only the first count (copyright infringement and unfair competition).

In both complaints, Philpot asks the court for an injunction, damages, costs and attorneys’ fees.

Practice Tip #1: Under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(1), a copyright owner may elect actual or statutory damages. Statutory damages range from a sum of not less than $750 to not more than $30,000 per infringed work.

Practice Tip #2: The claims in these complaints may trigger the “advertising injury” clause of many general business liability insurance policies. If a defendant has applicable business insurance, it may provide coverage for the expenses of a legal defense and damages found due as a result of unintentional copyright infringement. Overhauser Law Offices, publisher of this Site, counsels clients on insurance coverage for insurance claims.

August 25, 2014

Indiana Copyright Litigation: Bake Me A Wish Sued for Copyright Infringement

By Overhauser Law Offices, LLC

Indianapolis, Indiana – Larry G. Philpot, a professional photographer from Indianapolis,

picture of a camera.jpg

Indiana, sued asserting a violation of his intellectual property rights by Bake Me A Wish, LLC of New York. The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of Indiana, alleges that Defendant Bake Me A Wish infringed the copyright of Philpot’s photograph of Willie Nelson, Certificate No. VAu 1-132-411, which was issued by the U.S. Copyright Office.

On October 4, 2009, Plaintiff Philpot photographed Willie Nelson during a performance in St. Louis, Missouri. In an effort to increase his marketability and reputation and to gain more work, on May 31, 2011, Philpot made the photograph of Nelson generally available through Wikimedia under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license (“CC BY 2.0”). Philpot asserts that CC BY 2.0 requires a licensee to (a) reference CC BY 2.0 with every copy of the photo used and (b) provide attribution in the manner specified by the author. He claims that these requirements applied to republication of his copyrighted photo of Nelson.

Philpot states that Bake Me A Wish owns and operates the website www.bakemeawish.com and a related Facebook page and that those websites are used to generate business. Defendant Bake Me A Wish is accused of placing a copy of the Nelson photo on its Facebook page on April 30, 2013 without displaying the proper attribution to Philpot.

In the copyright complaint, filed by Philpot acting as a pro se litigant, the following claims are made:

• Count I: Copyright Infringement and Unfair Competition
• Count II: Unauthorized Distribution of Copyrighted Material
• Count III: Removal of Identifying Information

Philpot asks the court for an injunction, damages, costs and attorneys’ fees.

Practice Tip #1: This complaint suffers from a number of legal and factual deficiencies. Among them is that Philpot simultaneous admits that Bake Me A Wish removed the content when requested and also alleges not only willful conduct but ongoing willful conduct. The allegation of ongoing willful conduct is made by Plaintiff in support of his contention that Defendant’s conduct entitles him to the maximum statutory damages allowable. Statutory damages may be awarded in a sum not less than $750 or more than $30,000 for each finding of infringement. A determination of willful copyright infringement permits the court in its discretion to increase the award of statutory damages up to $150,000 per infringement.

Practice Tip #2: Defendants who fail to appear run a significant risk of having a default judgment entered against them. There is a significant disparity in the dollar amount awarded in default judgments against defendants in copyright infringement cases. In two separate cases, Judge William T. Lawrence ordered defendants who failed to appear to pay $20,000 for the copyright infringement that was deemed to have been admitted by the defendants’ failure to defend against the allegations. See here and here. However, in a similar case, Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ordered an entry of default judgment against a defendant for $151,425, the full amount requested.

Overhauser Law Offices, the publisher of this website, has represented several hundred persons and businesses regarding copyright infringement and similar matters.

August 21, 2014

U.S. Copyright Office Announces Release of Draft of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition

By Overhauser Law Offices, LLC

This Tuesday Register of Copyrights Maria A. Pallante (pictured) released a public draft of the

Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition (the “Third Edition”). The first major revision in more than two decades, the draft presents more than 1200 pages of administrative practices and sets the stage for a number of long-term improvements in registration and recordation policy. It will remain in draft form for approximately 120 days pending final review and implementation, taking effect on or around December 15, 2014.

“The new Compendium is an exhaustive undertaking that explains and reconciles the many legal interpretations, regulations, and procedures of the Copyright Office in administering the copyright law,” said Pallante. “At the same time, it provides a necessary and authoritative foundation for ongoing policy and regulatory discussions that are pertinent to the digital era.”

August 11, 2014

Consumers May No Longer Have to Fear Copyright Litigation Resulting from Unlocking Cell Phones

By Overhauser Law Offices, LLC

Washington D.C. – The Leahy-Grassley cell phone unlocking bill has been signed into law.

The House unanimously passed bipartisan legislation recently that would restore the ability of consumers to more easily transfer their cell phones to other wireless carriers, just one week after the Senate approved the same measure. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) coordinated with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Ranking Member John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) on the issue. The lawmakers praised Congress’s action to pass the pro-consumer bill, which was signed by President Obama on August 1, 2014.

The legislation approved by the House, which the Senate unanimously approved, reinstates a 2010 rulemaking by the Librarian of Congress so that consumers can transfer, or “unlock,” their cell phones without running afoul of copyright laws. It also directs the Librarian of Congress to consider whether other wireless devices, like tablets, should be eligible for unlocking.

July 9, 2014

Indiana Copyright Litigation: Dallas Buyers Club, LLC Sues 24 Doe Defendants for Copyright Infringement

By Overhauser Law Offices, LLC

Indianapolis, Indiana – A copyright attorney for Dallas Buyers Club, LLC of The Woodlands, Texas sued in the Southern District of Indiana alleging that 24 Doe defendants infringed the copyright of the motion picture “Dallas Buyers Club,” which has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

The movie in question, Dallas Buyers Club, stars Matthew McConaughey as an AIDS patient who smuggled unapproved AIDS-treatment drugs into the United States during the 1980s for his own use and to distribute to others afflicted with AIDS. The movie was nominated for six Academy Awards and won three. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto also won Oscars for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, for their performances in the movie.

In this Indiana copyright infringement lawsuit, filed by a copyright lawyer for Dallas Buyers Club, LLC, plaintiff asserts that the copyrighted movie was infringed by 24 as-yet unnamed individuals, who were sued as “Doe” defendants. It alleges that this copyright infringement took place using the “BitTorrent protocol,” which is different from the standard peer-to-peer protocol. Specifically, the BitTorrent protocol enables numerous computers, even those with low bandwidth, to exchange pieces of a computer file among themselves. Each computer that has downloaded a particular piece of a file then becomes a source from which other computers may then download that piece of the file. As a result, the entirety of a computer file may be disseminated across the Internet quickly without having to rely on a central source from which to download.

Plaintiff contends that the 24 defendants acted as part of a “collective enterprise” to infringe its work and that the acts constituting the infringement were “willful, intentional, and in disregard of and with indifference” to plaintiff’s intellectual property rights.

The court is asked to enter judgment for the following monetary and injunctive relief:

• for entry of permanent injunctions providing that each defendant shall be enjoined from directly or indirectly infringing plaintiff’s rights in the movie;
• for judgment that defendants have: a) willfully infringed plaintiff’s rights in its federally registered copyright pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §501; and b) otherwise injured the business reputation and business of plaintiff;
• for actual or statutory damages pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §504 in an amount to be determined at trial;
• for an Order of Impoundment under 17 U.S.C. §§503 and 509(a) impounding all infringing copies of the movie that are in defendants’ possession or under their control; and
• for attorneys’ fees, litigation expenses, including fees and costs of expert witnesses, and other costs of this action.

Practice Tip: Defendants who fail to appear run a significant risk of having a default judgment entered against them. There is a significant disparity in the dollar amount awarded in default judgments against defendants in copyright infringement cases involving BitTorrent. In two separate cases, Judge William T. Lawrence ordered defendants who failed to appear to pay $20,000 for the copyright infringement that was deemed to have been admitted by the defendants’ failure to defend against the allegations. See here and here. However, in a similar case, Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ordered an entry of default judgment against a defendant for $151,425, the full amount requested.

Overhauser Law Offices, the publisher of this website, has represented several hundred persons and businesses regarding copyright infringement and similar matters.

June 23, 2014

Indiana Copyright Law: Three Default Judgments of $2,500 Ordered for Copyright Infringement

By Overhauser Law Offices, LLC

Indianapolis, Indiana – In Bell v. Glacier International, District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt (pictured) of the Southern District of Indiana granted default judgments against three defendants, DiamondIndyLimo.com, Lon Dunn and Glacier International. In the three nearly identical opinions, the three defendants were each ordered to pay statutory damages of $2,500 for infringing a copyrighted photograph.

In January 2013, Indiana copyright attorney and professional photographer Richard N. Bell, acting as his own copyright lawyer, sued alleging copyright infringement under the Copyright Act and conversion under Indiana statutory law as a result of the allegedly unauthorized use of a photograph he had taken. This photograph had been registered with the United States Copyright Office.

In this lawsuit, Bell sued forty-eight Defendants: Jerry Gordon; Demand Media, Inc.; Bryce Welker; Royal Corniche Travel Ltd.; VRBO.com, Inc.; Experience Credit Unions, LLC; Jaclothing.com; Glacier International; ABNHotels.com; 1&1 Internet, Inc.; Conde Nast Digital; Flixter, Inc.; Financing-USA.com; SodaHead, Inc.; NuMedia Marketing, Inc.; Jynell Berkshire; Tzvetelin Petrov; Los Pentecostales del Area de la Bahia; 10Best, Inc.; Keyes Outdoor Advertising; Zoom Communications Inc.; Christine Nevogt; Zarzar, Inc.; Hydro-Gear; Tam T. Dang; Lon Dunn; William McLaws, Trustee; Natl-electronic Residential Payment History Recording Agency; CVI; Constant Contact, Inc.; Charles Lantz; Schumacher Cargo Logistics; Eventbrite, Inc.; Celebrity Entertainment Corp.; Association of Equipment Manufacturers; Yardi Systems Inc.; DiamondIndyLimo.com; Marcelo Santos; National Rural Recruitment & Retention Network; Anbritt Stengele; Pinnacle Sports Equipment, Inc.; Marygrove College; RunAnyCity.com; Buzzle.com, Inc.; Charles Onuska; University of Indianapolis; and PersephoneMagazine.com.

Bell alleged that each Defendant, independent of each other Defendant, “created a website to promote and advertise its own business” and placed Bell’s copyrighted photo on each of the Defendants’ respective websites. In addition to asserting copyright infringement, Bell also alleged criminal misconduct under Indiana statutory law. Bell requested an injunction and a declaratory judgment. He also asked the court for damages for copyright infringement under the Copyright Act as well as treble damages under an Indiana criminal statute prohibiting conversion.

In September 2013, the court entered default judgments against each of the three Defendants. Last week, the court issued three new opinions addressing the damages to be assessed against those Defendants.

The court first discussed the issue of damages for copyright infringement. Under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(1), statutory damages, in lieu of actual damages and profits, may be awarded “in a sum not less than $750 or more than $30,000” for each finding of infringement. A determination of willful copyright infringement permits the court in its discretion to increase the award of statutory damages up to $150,000 per infringement.

In determining the appropriate measure of statutory damages, the court considers factors including: (1) the infringer’s state of mind; (2) the expenses saved, and profits earned, by the infringer; (3) the revenue lost by the copyright holder; (4) the deterrent effect on the infringer and third parties; (5) the infringer’s cooperation in providing evidence concerning the value of the infringing material; and (6) the conduct and attitude of the parties.

The court declined to find the copyright infringement to be willful, in part because Bell requested statutory damages well under $30,000.00 per instance of infringement. Instead, the court found that $2,500 per Defendant was an appropriate measure of damages. An injunction was also granted, as it would serve the public interest by protecting copyrighted material and encouraging compliance with federal law. The injunction will be lifted upon payment of the award of statutory damages.

A claim of conversion under Indiana state law, and treble damages awarded pursuant to such a claim, was denied as preempted by the Copyright Act. Indiana code § 35-43-4-3(a) provides that a “person who knowingly or intentionally exerts unauthorized control over property of another person commits criminal conversion.” However, section 310 of the Copyright Act preempts “all legal or equitable rights that are the equivalent to any of the exclusive rights within the general scope of copyright” and that “no person is entitled to any such right or equivalent right in any such work under the common law or statutes of any State.” The court held that the photograph in question was clearly under the scope of the Copyright Act and that Bell had not sufficiently alleged a right apart from the Act. Thus, no damages were available under Bell’s state law conversion claim.

Practice Tip:

Deciding to simply ignore a complaint, as these defendants apparently did, can be a costly error. Failing to present the defendants’ versions of the facts and arguments results in the court considering only the plaintiff’s side of the story. Here, because the defendants chose to leave the complaint unanswered, the well-pled allegations of the plaintiff relating to liability were taken as true.

After the entry of default judgment, the court then conducted an inquiry to ascertain the amount of damages. Again, in such circumstances, it serves a defendant well to plead his case – to present the court with reasons that the plaintiff should not get 100% of what he requests.

Under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(1), a copyright owner may elect actual or statutory damages. Statutory damages range from a sum of not less than $750 to not more than $30,000. The determination of the exact amount is left to the discretion of the court. In this case, Richard Bell asked the court for no less than $5,000. In some cases, courts in determining damages in cases of default judgment have granted the entire amount. In this case, the court took the additional step of considering the cost to purchase Plaintiff Bell’s picture – $200 – and incorporated that into its determination of the proper amount of damages to be awarded.

June 16, 2014

Appeals Court Disallows Mass Joinder in Copyright Infringement Litigation

By Overhauser Law Offices, LLC

Washington, D.C. – The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia handed copyright trolls a major defeat recently by removing one of their most powerful tactics: the ability to sue large groups of John Doe defendants together with minimal evidence.

The case, AF Holdings v. Does 1-1058, is one of the few mass copyright cases to reach an appellate court, and the first to look into fundamental procedural problems that have tilted the playing field firmly against the Doe Defendants. With this decision on the books, it appears likely that even more federal trial courts will disallow cookie-cutter lawsuits seeking cash payouts from dozens or even hundreds of Internet subscribers.

The appeal was brought by several internet service providers (Verizon, Comcast, AT&T and affiliates) with amicus support from copyright attorneys for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (“EFF”), the ACLU, the ACLU of the Nation’s Capital, Public Citizen, and Public Knowledge.

June 11, 2014

Indiana Copyright Litigation: Malibu Media Sues Nine Additional “John Does” Asserting Copyright Infringement

By Overhauser Law Offices, LLC

Indianapolis, Indiana – Nine copyright infringement lawsuits have been filed in the Southern District of Indiana on behalf of Malibu Media, LLC of Los Angeles, California. The lawsuits assert that nine separate unidentified defendants, each identified with only “John Doe” and an internet protocol address, infringed Malibu Media’s copyrighted works.

Frequent copyright litigator Paul Nicoletti has filed another set of copyright infringement complaints in Indiana federal court. The complaints, filed on behalf of adult-content purveyor Malibu Media, assert infringement of the company’s intellectual property. In this latest round, Malibu Media submitted nine new and nearly identical lawsuits for adjudication in the Southern District of Indiana against nine anonymous John Doe defendants. The defendants allegedly used the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol to illegally download, copy and distribute elements of various works of Malibu Media’s copyrighted material. As with all of Malibu Media’s complaints, the copyrights-in-suit cover pornographic videos.

Malibu Media seeks a permanent injunction barring the defendants from engaging in infringing activities; an order by the court that infringing materials be removed from all computers of each defendant; a separate award of statutory damages for each work found to have been infringed and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.

Practice Tip: Defendants who fail to appear run a significant risk of having a default judgment entered against them. There is a significant disparity in the dollar amount awarded in default judgments against defendants in copyright infringement cases involving BitTorrent. In two separate cases, Judge William T. Lawrence ordered defendants who failed to appear to pay $20,000 for the copyright infringement that was deemed to have been admitted by the defendants’ failure to defend against the allegations. See here and here. However, in a similar case, Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ordered an entry of default judgment against a defendant for $151,425, the full amount requested.

Overhauser Law Offices, the publisher of this website, has represented several hundred persons and businesses regarding copyright infringement and similar matters.

May 27, 2014

Indiana Copyright Litigation: Fourteen New Lawsuits Asserting Copyright Infringement Filed by Malibu Media

By Overhauser Law Offices, LLC

Indianapolis, Indiana – An intellectual property attorney has filed fourteen new copyright suits in the Southern District of Indiana on behalf of Malibu Media, LLC of Los Angeles, California alleging that 14 separate unidentified defendants, listed as “John Doe” defendants, infringed Malibu Media’s copyrighted works.

In this latest batch of lawsuits filed by copyright lawyer Paul Nicoletti, the 14 defendants, all sued under the name “John Doe” until they can be identified pursuant to a court subpoena and named, are listed as “persistent online infringer[s]” of Malibu Media’s copyrighted works. The nearly identical copyright infringement lawsuits contend that the defendants used the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol to illegally download, copy and distribute elements of various works of Malibu Media’s copyrighted material.

The defendants accused of infringing the fewest copyrighted works are accused of infringing 16 of Malibu Media’s copyrights. Malibu Media contends that two defendants, however, have infringed more than 40 of its copyrighted works.

Malibu Media seeks a permanent injunction barring the defendants from engaging in infringing activities; an order by the court to remove infringing materials from all computers of each defendant; an award of statutory damages for each infringed work and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.

Practice Tip #1:

Copyright trolling, also known as “porn trolling” when the plaintiff owns copyrights to pornographic material, has changed in the years since the practice began. Most early lawsuits were filed against tens, hundreds or even in excess of a thousand anonymous defendants. When judges such as District Judge Otis Wright made it clear that this misjoinder would not be permitted, porn trolls began filing multiple lawsuits claiming copyright infringement against single defendants.

Porn trolls also responded to this change in the judicial landscape by adding a new exhibit, “Exhibit C,” with each filing. Exhibit B to each complaint was a legally relevant listing of the Malibu Media copyrights that were allegedly infringed. However, Exhibit C listed other pornographic material – material not owned by Malibu Media – allegedly downloaded by the internet protocol address of the accused.

While the titles of Malibu Media’s copyrighted works are often fairly innocuous – “Almost Famous,” “Blonde Ambition” and “LA Plans” are among their works – the titles listed in Exhibit C were decidedly not. In response these and other Malibu Media copyright litigation tactics, one federal judge, District Judge William Conley, said, “[t]hese Internet copyright infringement cases … give off an air of extortion.” He sanctioned Malibu Media’s counsel under Rule 11 and ordered a fine of $2,200.

Practice Tip #2: Mass misjoinder in copyright cases has also been flagged as impermissible in other, non-pornography, cases that assert copyright infringement against multiple defendants. In one recent Indiana copyright lawsuit, Magistrate Judge Denise K. LaRue, writing for the Southern District of Indiana, severed all but one defendant from the copyright infringement complaint of Richard Bell, an Indiana copyright attorney. The court also ordered Bell to pay separate filing fees for each new cause of action.