Dec 29, 2023 Mickey Mouse (Version 1.0) Enters the Public Domain in the U.S. By Brian Murphy So, it is happening. The animated short “Steamboat Willie,” which was released in 1928 and features an early version of Mickey Mouse,...
Dec 26, 2023 Hallmark Holiday Movies and the Scènes à Faire Doctrine By Brian Murphy During the holidays, the television in my octogenarian parents' home toggles back-and-forth between Fox News (my father's choice) and the...
Dec 19, 2023 U.S. Copyright Office Rejects Another AI-Assisted Work By Michael Ling On December 11, 2023, the U.S. Copyright Office continued its chain of rejections as it denied—for the second time—Mr. Ankit...
Dec 11, 2023 A Copyright Quiz: Find the Infringement! By Brian Murphy For many years, the plaintiff was part-owner and lead designer for a company that made stationery and office supplies. The plaintiff...
Dec 06, 2023 Plaintiffs' Argument that Meta's Large Language Model is an Infringing Derivative Work Makes Judge's Head Explode 🤯 By Brian Murphy Today I report on another opinion out of the Central District of California that addresses whether generative AI tools infringe upon the...
Dec 04, 2023 Two Courts, Two Ad Campaigns, and Copyright's Idea-Expression Dichotomy By Brian Murphy Lawyers say this to clients all the time: you can’t copyright an idea; copyright protection extends only to an author's original...