photo credit: TheRealMichaelMoore
In a recent decision, Ground Zero Museum Workshop v. Wilson, a District of Maryland court held that a former website developer who allegedly gained unauthorized access to the plaintiff’s website after a dispute and altered the website did not violate the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision. In a familiar fact pattern of the jilted lover, er, I mean website developer, the developer used his password to access the back end of the plaintiff’s website after the two parties had a falling out and the developer resigned. Then, depending upon whose version of reality you choose to believe, the developer either (1) pulled out the website functionality he had created and left the website in the same condition it was in before he started work or (2) altered the website so that users would think it was no longer functioning and inserted code that would redirect users to various news articles about the plaintiff and its owners. [Read more…]
Website Developer’s Unauthorized Login to Website Not Actionable Under DMCA
The Vanishing First Sale Doctrine: Second Circuit Joins Ninth In Holding First Sale Not Applicable To Copies Manufactured Outside U.S.
photo credit: benchilada
In Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Kirstaeng, the Second Circuit has now (by a 2 to 1 majority decision) joined the Ninth in holding that the first sale doctrine, recognized in Section 109 of the Copyright Act, does not apply to copyright-protected works embodied in copies manufactured outside the United States. [Read more…]
Suing For All The Tea In China: Court Exercises Jurisdiction Over Chinese Government And Companies In $2.2 Billion Copyright Infringement Case
photo credit: irrezolut
The Central District of California is allowing a software copyright infringement suit to proceed against the People’s Republic of China and several Chinese corporations, in which the pleaded copyright damages exceed $2.2 billion. The Amended Complaint in CYBERsitter, LLC v. Peoples Republic of China, the plaintiff software developer alleges that large and important chunks of its Internet content filtering software were copies wholesale by two Chinese software developers working in conjunction with the Chinese government, and that China then essentially mandated that every new computer sold or distributed within China have a copy of the infringing “Green Dam” filtering software installed. [Read more…]
Copyright Act Preempts All State Law Claims Based On Fraudulent DMCA Notice
I guess you could call this the law of the virtual horse. In a new copyright preemption case, Amaretto Ranch Breedables, LLC v. Ozimals, Inc., the District Court for the Northern District of California held that any of the plaintiff’s state law claims premised upon the defendant’s alleged fraudulent DMCA takedown notices were preempted by the Copyright Act. [Read more…]
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