Estate Planning for Artists: How To Plan and Protect Your Legacy
Artist Estate Planning – Plan Early and Often News articles abound about the epic legal battles over the right to control the estates of blue-chip artists, especially if they left behind fortunes to accompany the art and prestigious foundations that…
Eminem’s Fight Against ‘Reasonably Shady’ Housewives
What do Eminem (also known as Marshall Mathers III) and two “Real Housewives of Potomac” have in common? They each claim trademark rights relating to the word “shady.” For those unfamiliar with the Bravo television network and its “Real Housewives”…
Steamboat Willie Enters Public Domain
The Copyright Act ensures that its protections extend to creative works even after the death of the author. However, no copyright can last forever, and, as of Jan. 1, 2024, an iconic American cartoon has now entered the public domain:…
Image-Generative AI: Has Technology Evolved Beyond Modern-Day Fair Use?
Introduction Copyright is uniquely situated between the force of law and the pressure of an ever-evolving society. Since its inception, courts, legislators, and administrators have had to adjust and recontextualize copyright law to appropriately conform to new technologies and artforms.…
Does Copyright Protection Extend Beyond Original Works in an AI World?
We are living in a pre-“Matrix” world1 – the version before the super-powerful computer programs in the machine world take over, leaving the humans to live in a simulated reality. Artificial intelligence2 has already taken over the zeitgeist and soon your entire life. At…
Filling the Void: Tracking Industry Solutions to AI Regulatory Challenges
Truly a tale as old as tech is that of bleeding-edge technological advancement, regulators seeking to keep pace and the gray area that exists in the middle of these two points. Once again, that is where lawyers find themselves on…
Preparing for the New Wave of NFT Litigation
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have unleashed a whole new side of blockchain technology. Unlike cryptocurrencies, NFTs may have far-reaching implications for intellectual property rights. As a result, NFTs will certainly spur novel intellectual property litigation, especially for copyright litigation and litigation…
Bored Apes and Monkey Selfies: Copyright and PFP NFTs
What do the monkey selfie and the “Bored Ape Yacht Club” images pictured above have in common? Both depict grinning primates, of course. But less obviously, both may lack copyright. You may recall a dispute between Naruto the monkey and…
Second Circuit Reverses Fair Use Decision—Holds Warhol Foundation Infringed Lynn Goldsmith’s Photo as a Matter of Law
in a much-anticipated decision, the Second Circuit reversed the Southern District of New York decision, which found that Andy Warhol’s creation of 16 silkscreen prints and pencil illustrations of the musical artist Prince, which was based upon a 1981 photograph…
