Tattoo Copyright Update Last year, I wrote a blog post titled “Can Tattoos Be Copyrighted?” The issue arose due to a lawsuit between Warner Brothers, the distributors of The Hangover Part II, and S. Victor Whitmill, the artist who created Mike Tyson’s famous facial tattoo. In the movie, Ed Helms’ character wakes up with an identical tattoo. The lawsuit was eventually settled, of course, and the terms of the settlement were not disclosed, of course. But the case brought the issue of tattoo copyrights to the public consciousness. The issue continues to develop, so I felt it was time to…
Menu
Archives: Rights of Publicity
Instagram’s New Policy
December 18, 2012
Controversy Over Instagram’s New Policy The Internet has gone bonkers in the last few days over Instagram‘s new Terms of Service. The popular photo-sharing site – and Facebook’s billion dollar baby – has been met with a flood of criticism. Instagram Tweeted in response: We’ve heard you that the updates to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Service are raising a lot of questions. We’ll have more to share very soon In the meantime, let’s look at what the changes are and what this all means for Instagram’s users.
Beastie Boys v. Monster Energy
September 12, 2012
Beastie Boys v. Monster Energy Adam Yauch, a member of the Beastie Boys, sadly passed away in May 2012. Several days after Yauch’s will became public, the Beastie Boys filed a lawsuit against Monster Energy Company for copyright and trademark infringement and violation of the New York Civil Rights law. The suit alleges that Monster used parts of the band’s songs, including “Sabotage,” “So Whatcha Want,” and “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun” in promotional videos for Monster Energy Drinks. These videos were used to promote Ruckus in the Rockies, a Monster-sponsored snowboarding event. How did Monster allegedly violate…
Black Keys Sue Pizza Hut for Song Theft
June 28, 2012
Black Keys Sue Pizza Hut for Song Theft The Black Keys, a duo from the rock mecca of Akron, Ohio, have sued Pizza Hut for copyright infringement. The suit concerns this Pizza Hut commercial (warning: lousy audio), which allegedly contains portions of their single “Gold on the Ceiling.” Based on what I’ve been able to hear of the Pizza Hut commercial, it’s not entirely clear if the ‘Hut (people call it that, right?) uses the actual recording or if they just hired a band to make a reasonable facsimile of “Gold.” Either way, it’s probably not good news for Yum!…
