Articles Posted in Copyright Litigation

trademark-copyright-infringement-tro-mgame-k2-license-breach.jpgK2 network sued Mgame in state court for breach of contract and fraud because K2 claimed overpayment of royalties in its distribution of the Knight Online 3D video game. Mgame then sued K2 in Federal Court seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction for copyright infringement and violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The Court denied the TRO and preliminary injunction because Mgame’s complaint did not have a claim that conferred the Federal Court jurisdiction. Click here for details.

Mgame has now filed a new complaint alleging copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and violation of the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act. Once again, Mgame requested that the Court issue a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction against K2 pending submission of the dispute to arbitration, as provided in the parties’ contracts.

The Court has once again denied Mgame’s application for a temporary restraining order because Mgame’s own conduct does not establish its entitlement to emergency relief:

mgame-k2-lawsuit-knight-online-3d-preliminary-injunction-tro-restraining-order.jpgUPDATE: Court Denies Mgame’s Second Attempt For Temporary Restraining Order.

Mgame licensed K2 Network in 2003 to operate and distribute the “Knight Online 3D” multiplayer, role-playing game in return for payment of royalties. Mgame claims that it terminated the written license on February 23, 2012 due to K2’s failure to pay royalties. Despite the termination, K2 is allegedly continuing to operate and distribute the game without payment of royalties. Also, K2 is accused of illegally accessing Mgame’s secured servers without authorization and illegally copying user and billing databases and has refused to return Mgame’s servers. “K2, in short, has hijacked the Game to Mgame’s detriment and has continued to operate and distribute it using Mgame’s own computer hardware, software, and Game-related intellectual-property.”

Although the parties’ licensing agreement provides for Arbitration, Mgame sued K2 in Federal Court for a more expedited ruling since “it could easily take 60 days after Mgame files its Notice of Arbitration, and possibly much longer, before the arbitral tribunal is fully constituted and capable of entertaining a request for interim measures.” That delay, Mgame contends, will cause and is currently causing irreparable harm. Thus, Mgame asks the Court to issue a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction prohibiting K2’s conduct.

UPDATE 4-24-2013: District Court finds non-infringement of trade dress and copyrights on summary judgment.

trade-dress-jewelry-copyright-cable-charriol-yurman-trademark.jpgA’lor International Ltd., dba Charriol USA, is suing sixteen defendants for manufacturing and selling numerous jewelry designs incorporating a nautical cable motif that allegedly infringe Charriol’s copyrights and trade dress. Charriol claims that it has been designing unique jewelry designs for decades, which have either been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office or are pending registration. To see pictures of Charriol’s entire list of asserted designs and allegedly infringing products, click here. Through many years of sales, advertising, and media coverage, Charriol alleges that the cable motif has become its trade dress, meaning that the jewelry’s visual appearance functions as a trademark and consumers associate the appearance with the source of the jewelry. Charriol also asserts a breach of implied contract against four defendants that received samples of the jewelry and agreed to only use the designs if they compensated Charriol.

Charriol’s cable jewelry designs are reminiscent of David Yurman’s twisted cable design. Indeed, Yurman has filed numerous lawsuits for infringement of his copyrights and trade dress in the twisted cable jewelry design. In Yurman Design, Inc. v. PAJ, Inc., the defendant appealed the jury’s verdict awarding Yurman damages for PAJ’s infringement of Yurman’s copyrights and trade dress. The Second Circuit affirmed the finding of copyright infringement despite the use of cable designs by others in the jewelry industry because “the originality in Yurman’s four designs inheres in the ways Yurman has recast and arranged those constituent [preexisting] elements. We have carefully reviewed the cable jewelry produced by third parties that PAJ submitted to the jury, and cannot conclude that any of Yurman’s four combinations are nonoriginal as a matter of law.” The appellate court, however, reversed Yurman’s trade dress victory because his definition of the trade dress as “the artistic combination of cable [jewelry] with other elements” was overbroad or generic:

pictures-copyright-infringement-artist-derivative-work.jpgArtist David Flores is being sued for copyright infringement for using photographer Glen Friedman’s pictures of the Beastie Boys to make derivative artistic works, some of the photographs and accused infringing works are reproduced to the right. Friedman also alleges copyright ownership in a photograph of famous skateboarder, Jay Adams, which copyright was infringed by Flores’ derivative artistic work. Friedman contends that defendants engaged in widespread distribution of unauthorized copies of his copyrighted works. In addition to monetary damages, Friedman seeks his attorneys’ fees.

The current images remind me of Shepard Fairey’s “Obama Hope” posters, where Fairey was countersued for copyright infringement by the Associated Press for using one of its photographs to make his derivative work. After Fairey admitted to destroying evidence and was untruthful regarding which photo he used, Fairey settled the case for an undisclosed sum and his agreement to refrain from using AP photo’s without a prior license. Two weeks ago, in the criminal case against Fairey, he plead guilty for disobeying a judge’s order to not destroy evidence and lying to the court. He is to be sentenced on July 16, 2012.

On the other hand, the clothing company, One 3 Two, Inc., that used Fairey’s work on T-shirts and its website continued the litigation with AP claiming that its use of Fairey’s work did not infringe and was protected under the fair use defense. In a relatively short order, U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, denied One 3 Two’s fair use defense: “I hold, however, that should the AP establish copyright infringement, One 3 Two does not have a basis to rebut the finding on the ground of fair use. I therefore grant [AP’s] motion insofar as it seeks to pare the fair-use dense away from the case, but otherwise deny it.” The AP was also seeking a finding of copyright infringement and a violation of the DMCA, which were not decided on summary judgment and must now proceed to trial.

music-copyright-karaoke-infringement-license-kts-sony.gifKTS Karaoke is suing Sony/ATV Music Publishing for declaratory relief of copyright non-infringement and/or reduction of the damages amount at issue, which Sony claims is almost $1.3 billion. The music publishing company is co-owned by The Michael Jackson Family Trust (in 1985 Michael bought ATV publishing company that included the Beatles’ catalog for $47.5 million, causing a rift with Paul McCartney) and Sony and owns a vast library of music copyrights. KTS claims to be the largest distributor of karaoke hardware and software in the country.

Sony/ATV sent correspondence to KTS claiming at least 6715 acts of copyright infringement by virtue of selling karaoke discs that contained allegedly unlicensed recordings of music copyrights, resulting in statutory damages of at least $1,282,050,000.00. KTS argues that Sony/ATV has known of the manufacture and distribution of the karaoke CDs for more than the applicable three year statute of limitations and has not taken reasonable steps to stop the manufacture of the infringing products at the source. Instead, KTS alleges, Sony/ATV has engaged “in copyright misuse by seeking to secure multiple license fees from the same allegedly infringing work by suing each link of the distribution chain, by demanding license fees for licensed goods and by attempting to obtain more than one statutory damage award for the continuing infringement (i.e., downstream distributions of the infringing work) of a SINGLE WORK.”

If the court finds that KTS has infringed the copyrighted works, KTS asks the court to then determine the proper amount of damages in dispute: KTS alleges that “Sony/ATV claims that it is entitled to multiple awards of statutory damages for the same song appearing on different products while KTS believes that Sony/ATV is limited to one award per work, no matter how many different products are at issue as to a given work.” In addition, KTS contends that Sony/ATV is not entitled to any damages for many of the discs at issue because Sony/ATV has already recovered damages for the distribution of the subject discs from others in the distribution chain. KTS will presumably rely on the Ninth Circuit’s holding that “when statutory damages are assessed against one defendant or a group of defendants held to be jointly and severally liable, each work infringed may form the basis of only one award, regardless of the number of separate infringements of that work.” Columbia Pictures Television v. Krypton Broad. of Birmingham, Inc., 106 F.3d 284, 294 (9th Cir. 1997), rev’d on other grounds, Feltner v. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc., 523 U.S. 340 (1998)).

Before last week’s release of Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, a trademark and copyright infringement lawsuit saga dawned on clothing manufacturer B.B. Dakota over the pictured Bella Jacket. Summit Entertainment, the producer of the Twilight franchise that has raked in more than $1 billion in gross revenues, owns several USPTO trademark registrations for the “TWILIGHT” and “BELLA” trademarks, including for use on clothing and jewelry. Summit of course also owns all copyrights in the movies in addition to marketing and publicity materials and the “Bella Trading Card Image.” Summit’s licensing of the intellectual property rights has grossed an additional $63 million.

twilight-bella-jacket-trademark-copyright-infringement-lawsuit-attorney.jpg

Defendant BB is a clothing manufacturer that sold the pictured women’s cargo jacket in 2006 under the “Leigh” mark, which was discontinued in 2008. When the Leigh jacket was worn by Bella in the 2009 Twilight movie, BB was credited as the manufacturer in an Entertainment Weekly article accompanying a photograph. BB’s outside public relations contractor then contacted Summit’s manager of national publicity requesting permission to re-publish the EW image on its website, which she included in an email link to EW’s website. Summit’s representative responded with a simple “OK.” A few days later, BB requested permission to allow for a retail store to use the image, to which Summit responded with one word: “sure”.

Without seeking further permission, however, BB created “hangtags” for the jackets that included not the Entertainment Weekly picture, but an image of Bella wearing the jacket that Summit had used to promote posters, clothing, and other merchandise. Apparently, BB’s own PR rep warned BB to obtain permission to use the new image, but BB failed to heed the warning and argued that by including “As seen in the Twilight movie” language on the tag would constitute fair use. Thus, BB’s sales representative emailed the image to two hundred of her sales accounts representing that BB had permission to use the image on the hangtag and to publicize the product. The retailers in turn sent out email blasts using the Bella image with the belief that BB had properly licensed it. Summit sent cease and desist letters to BB’s retailers, after which BB instructed them to cut the hang tags from existing inventory and provided a substitute picture of a girl resembling the Bella character. To make matters worse, BB continued to refer to the jacket as the “Twilight jacket.”

Metropark, one of BB’s retailers, filed bankruptcy and ModCloth settled the matter. BB countersued Summit for trade dress infringement and unfair competition. Summit filed for summary judgment of liability on its trademark and copyright infringement, and trademark dilution claims and on BB’s counterclaims.
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copyright-software-employee-independent-contractor-tro-sun.jpgGlacern Machine Tools, LLC is suing its former employee, who was also an owner and manager of the company, for copyright infringement, conversion, and breach of fiduciary duty. Glacern alleges that defendant Eric Sun wrote and created copyrighted source code, within the scope of his employment and on a work-for-hire basis, for a first property management software program and a second, derivative work that incorporates elements of the original source code. Sun allegedly used Glacern’s equipment at the direction of Glacern to create the software programs, which are owned by Glacern under the operating agreement.

Glacern contends that Sun removed two computers from its headquarters, copied the software programs, and changed the administrative passwords. In addition, Sun allegedly contacted Glacern’s customer and demanded that monthly payments now be paid to him instead. Thus, Glacern sought a temporary restraining order from the Court preventing Sun from: “(1) destroying Plaintiff’s Software Products; (2) withholding from Plaintiff personal property which Plaintiff owns, including the Software Products; and (3) transferring “any such asset, real or intangible.” In addition, Glacer sought to compel Sun to: “(1) within five (5) days, give Plaintiff a complete list of all locations of the Software Products; and (2) allow Plaintiff unlimited remote access to an IP address, which Plaintiffs believe houses the Software Products.”

The Court noted that in order to be granted equitable relief, Plaintiff must show irreparable injury and the inadequacy of legal remedies. Also, “[t]he proper legal standard for preliminary injunctive relief requires a party to demonstrate ‘that he is likely to succeed on the merits, that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, that the balance of equities tips in his favor, and that an injunction is in the public interest.'”

halloween-costumes-copyrightable-copyright-trademark-lawsuit-power-rangers-pink.jpgSaban Entertainment originally created the “Power Rangers” live action children’s television series in 1993, where several teenagers would morph from ordinary people into powerful superhero characters wearing color-coded battle suits. The colors also served as each character’s name, e.g. the Pink or Blue Rangers. Plaintiff alleges that the “television series has been immensely popular with young audiences all around the world. To date, it has been broadcast over 19 seasons, spawned two theatrical films, and become a highly valuable merchandising franchise.”

To protect its intellectual property, Plaintiff has copyrighted the artwork and design of the Power Rangers uniforms (“Uniform Copyrights”) and also owns the copyrights in the television series where they are depicted. In addition, Plaintiff has copyrighted the characters in a style guide that is provides to authorized licensees. Further, Plaintiff is the owner of numerous USPTO trademark registrations incorporating the “Power Rangers” word mark and several USPTO registered trademarks for the Power Rangers character images.

Plaintiff accuses Underdog Endeavors, Inc. of advertising and selling Halloween costumes (one image shown here) on its www.mypartyshirt.com site that infringe Plaintiff’s “intellectual property rights relating to the popular ‘Power Rangers’ television series, brand, and related products.” In addition to the copyright and trademark infringement claims, Plaintiff brings causes of action for trademark dilution and unfair competition under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act.

Copyright-video-game-trademark-temporary-restraining-order-fallout-bethesda-masthead.jpgBethesda Softworks and Interplay Entertainment have waged a long-running, real world copyright and trademark battle over the virtual-world Fallout video game. The Bethesda v. Interplay Maryland lawsuit apparently arose over an ambiguity in the scope of a license back to Interplay in developing future Fallout video games. In 2007, Bethesda and Interplay entered into an asset purchase agreement that assigned all rights in the Fallout trademarks and copyrights to Bethesda. And, in a simultaneously executed trademark license agreement, Bethesda granted a license back to Interplay that provides:

Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement, Bethesda grants to Interplay an exclusive, non-transferable license an right to use the Licensed Marks on and in connection with Interplay’s FALLOUT-branded [Massively Multiplayer Online Game] MMOG (the “FALLOUT MMOG” or “Licensed Product”) and for no other purpose. The conditional license herein does not grant Interplay any right to sublicense any of the licensed rights without Bethesda’s prior written approval.

In its initial filings, Bethesda claimed that Interplay failed to meet other contractual requirements, including securing required financing and complying with commercial launch deadlines. Later, Bethesda claimed that the trademark license applied only to the Fallout mark and not to any of the elements or characters in the game. Interplay countered that Bethesda’s interpretation cannot be harmonized with the rest of the agreement that provides for Interplay’s right to use “non-FALLOUT MMOG, inter alia, any or all locations, graphic representations, creatures, monsters, names, likenesses, [etc.]” should the agreement terminate prior to commercial launch. The Maryland court appears to have initially agreed with Interplay’s interpretation by denying, without much analysis, Bethesda’s motion for preliminary injunction.

computer-fraud-abuse-trade-secrets-copyright-lukasian.jpgLukasian House supplies major retail chains with hand-made storage and organization products made of wood and fibers. Lukasian alleges that for over ten years it has built a database of “mom and pop” factories in rural China that reliably provide well-designed, high-quality hand-woven products. Major retail chains choose to work with Lukasian because it has a dependable source of products for timely delivery. Lukasian, naturally, keeps the identity of its suppliers a closely guarded secret by limiting disclosure to certain employees, maintaining it on a secure computer network, and instructing employees of the confidential nature of the information. Lukasian has also filed several copyright registration applications for photographs of samples of storage baskets and a hamper that it never published.

Aprille Vergara and Chen “Jane” Chen were former employees that allegedly had access to Lukasian’s trade secrets in performing their duties. In May of 2010, Vergara and Chen and other defendants allegedly accessed Lukasian’s server to download trade secrets to use in establishing a competing business. Shortly thereafter, Vergara and Chen resigned and allegedly falsely stated that the former intended to go back to school and the latter was to work with in her husband’s real estate business. Relying on the provided reasons, Plaintiff allowed Defendants to continue working and they’re accused of acquiring “knowledge of Lukasian’s suppliers, its customers, its best-selling items, the prices at which it buys and sells those items, and its profit margins on those items.” Defendants are accused of selling competing products to Lukasian’s customers and undercutting its prices.

Lukasian brings causes of action for copyright infringement (17 U.S.C. § 501(a)), computer fraud and abuse act violation (18 U.S.C. § 1030(g)), California comprehensive computer data access and fraud act (Cal. Penal Code § 502(c)), trade secret misappropriation (Cal. Civ. Code § 3426), unfair competition (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200), intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and conversion.