The Moral of the Blog: Choreographic works are copyrightable under the 1976 Copyright Act. However, just how far that protection reaches under the jurisprudence of the various circuits may well depend on whether the circuit adopts the U.S. Copyright Compendium’s definition of choreography which is favorable to choreographers. As with any copyright infringement case, the trier of fact is tasked with determining Read More

On June 6, 2022 a copyright infringement lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California over the new blockbuster film Top Gun Maverick by the heirs of deceased Israeli author Ehud Yonay.  The lawsuit involves a relatively unknown area of copyright law – the recapture doctrine – codified in § 203 of the Copyright Act.  This law gives authors and their heirs the right to recapture Read More

Intellectual property assets (patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and trademarks) can be sold, assigned, or licensed by the IP’s owner.   For companies, IP ownership issues may arise where steps are not taken to ensure that any IP created by or developed by an employee or independent contractor will belong to the company or hiring party.   Such issues could have a devastating effect on the company Read More

On Feb. 24, 2022 in a 6 to 3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that mistakes of law – and not only mistakes of fact – could protect copyright infringement lawsuit plaintiffs from losing their copyrights on grounds of inaccurate registrations.  The decision is a win for creators who own registered copyrights.  Remember, since 2019, copyright registration is an absolute requirement for commencing a copyright Read More