Knowledge

23/02/16

Out-foxing the Pirates? Foxtel and Village Roadshow launch legal action to block piracy sites in Australia

Foxtel and Village Roadshow are set to be the first companies to make use of the new website-blocking laws passed in June 2015 under the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act. Village Roadshow has filed a case in the Federal Court, seeking to have the movie-piracy site “SolarMovie.ph.” blocked and Foxtel’s action targes the well-known piracy...

19/02/16

Taking “Outwit Outplay Outlast” off the island

It seems that Survivor’s philosophy has a home beyond the exotic islands on which it is filmed! In 2008 Conrad Riggs sued his former business partner Mark Burnett, the creator of the reality TV show “Survivor”, claiming he was owed $70 million from the show’s profits. While that case was settled in 2012, later...

17/02/16

Don’t stop believing: 20th Century Fox loses Glee trade mark case

20th Century Fox has lost the latest round in a UK appeal court battle against Comic Enterprises, a British comedy business operating comedy venues under the trade marked name ‘The Glee Club’. Comic Enterprises first opened The Glee Club in Birmingham in 1994, and has branches in Cardiff, Nottingham and Oxford. It registered its trade...

16/02/16

“If you want me to Stay” As An Artist Pay Me My Royalties

After a 5 year legal battle, the Los Angeles Supreme Court has found funk icon Sly Stone is owed $5 million in back royalties by his former manager and entertainment lawyer. Sly Stone’s current lawyers claimed he had not received royalty payments for 20 years and that he was a victim of “shady accounting”. Sly...

16/02/16

Passing off wins over delay

The Federal Court has recently provided some guidance on how damages will be assessed in passing off cases. Winnebago- the well-known American manufacturer of RV’s – successfully sued Australian RV manufacturer Knott Investments for passing off back in 2010. By way of a short history of the matter, back in 1978 Knott Investments, without Winnebago’s...

10/02/16

Can I sing Happy Birthday without being sued?

Two years later and the world can almost sing Happy Birthday without paying a large sum to Warner Chappell Inc. It was recently held that Warner does not own a valid copyright in the Happy Birthday lyrics. Warner grudgingly agreed to pay $14m to settle, but asserted that it “respectfully disagreed with the court’s decision”....

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No fair or fair enough? Equals Three v Jukin and the doctrine of fair use in the States

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