Rimon Partner Jill Berliner was recently quoted in Vogue Business about copyright infringement on popular rock band Nirvana. Last year, Marc Jacobs released a Grunge Redux line with a T-shirt that had a familiar look. Nirvana also noticed the smiley face logo, which resembles the one famously used on its merchandise. That led Nirvana LLC, which is…

What could be more flattering than arguably the greatest pop fine artist of all time copying your work? Well fine art photographer, Lynn Goldsmith, apparently wasn’t all too flattered when she saw Andy Warhol’s ‘Prince Series’ (of the singer, once known as “The Artist Formerly Known As Prince” or that symbol…, not Richard Prince, the…

It’s really basic: ownership of the copyright in work a business pays for can often be critical for successful commercialization of that work. Unfortunately, the U.S. Copyright Act contains arcane provisions that will often produce a counterintuitive result – leaving full copyright ownership with the contractor. How could this possibly be?? Background: When copyrightable work…

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), currently the subject of hearings in the House Judiciary Committee, has generated interest far beyond the community of copyright lawyers.   To its proponents, SOPA is a critical addition to copyright law, necessary to help creative Americans protect their legitimate property rights from foreign attackers, and thus to preserve the…