Chances are, if you owned a VIZIO TV from February 2014 to late 2016 and the default “Smart Interactivity” feature was enabled, your TV was transmitting second-by-second information back to VIZIO about what you were watching–be it from your cable…
In light of a recent FCC proposal to abrogate the exclusivity rules which prevent a cable provider from reproducing a program where a broadcaster has obtained exclusive rights, this post will discuss the history and justification of these rules. A.…
Diversity in comics is always important but currently it is a hot topic in the comic book industry and broader pop culture fandom discourse.[1] In the vein of a modern legacy of reintroducing characters of color in their own titles,[2]…
One area of the law that is sure to be a hotly contested issue in the near future is copyright infringement through the use of mobile live streaming applications.[1] The two most popular mobile live streaming applications are Meerkat,[2] and…
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants, of course, in the world of Bikini Bottom. In the popular children’s television show, which will make the move to the Chicago stage later this year, SpongeBob works for Mr.…
Appropriation is commonplace in today’s art world. But what happens when the appropriator appropriates too much? Richard Prince has made a name for himself as a well-known appropriation artist. Naturally the use of a copyrighted image without permission of the…
On November 10, 2015, Federal Magistrate Judge Gail Standish from the Central District of California dismissed a copyright infringement suit made by Jesse Braham against music powerhouse Taylor Swift. Braham claimed that the lyric in Swift’s song “Shake It Off,”…
Merely a few weeks ago we discussed a trademark infringement suit initiated by Adidas against Forever 21. Forever 21 had allegedly copied Adidas’s famous three-stripe trademark. The infamous fast fashion company is now in trouble with a brand that many…
In America’s burgeoning foodie culture, food is increasingly being embraced as art. At many high-end restaurants, food is intricately created, carved and designed, and placed with artistic precision and perfection on each plate before being delivered to diners. Color combinations,…
Author: Anthony R. Enriquez, J.D., New York University School of Law 2013. When portrait photographer Patrick Cariou saw that his original photos of Jamaican Rastafarians had been used by renowned appropriation artist Richard Prince in a collage series called “Canal…
Author: Gill Benedek, J.D Candidate, Class of 2014, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law We live in tumultuous times. Or so Professor David Nimmer, a prolific copyright law scholar, proposed during the Annual Burns Senior Lecture in Intellectual Property on January 17th 2013, at…
