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How U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lynn Goldsmith vs Andy Warhol’s case could alter the definition of fair use under copyright

31 August 2022 10:30

The announcement that the US Supreme Court will hear the Andy Warhol Foundation's appeal of a lower court decision in Lynn Goldsmith's favor regarding Warhol's 1984 paintings of rock star Prince has alarmed not only the community of American photographers and artists but also their Associations and the US copyright office because the decision could alter the definition of fair use and result in mo

Canada to amend copyright laws to include resale royalty for visual artists

30 August 2022 11:00

The Canadian government is working towards amending its copyright laws to introduce a provision for the Artist’s Resale Right (ARR) that will allow the original artist to earn a royalty when the work is resold during the copyright period.
The move is aimed at protecting and improving economic conditions for Canadian visual artists, especially indigenous and senior artists. The estimated median

Litigation update in the Jingna Zhang-Jeff Dieschburg case: Defense denies liability for infringement

23 August 2022 14:26

In June, Singaporean photographer Jingna Zhang filed a copyright infringement action against Jeff Dieschburg, an art student at the University of Strasbourg, for his award-winning painting ‘Turandot’, which Zhang claimed was in fact an unauthorized reproduction and use of her fashion photograph appearing in Harper’s Bazaar magazine in 2017. PitchMark caught up recently with Zhang’s Luxembourg-base

Activision Blizzard accused twice by creators for plagiarizing their skin designs for Call of Duty

20 August 2022 11:08

Gaming company Activision Blizzard stands accused once again of stealing the concept of an NFT design that gaming studio Midnight Society was planning to introduce in its own game Deadrop. Although Activision acknowledged its mistake in using the skin design in Call Of Duty without the artist’s permission, it did not accept the plagiarism allegations.
Last month, Midnight Society’s head and gam

Taylor Swift rejects plagiarism allegations over hit song "Shake It Off"

18 August 2022 11:28

In response to a lawsuit filed in 2017, pop star Taylor Swift claims to be the sole writer of her 2014 hit “Shake It Off” and denies plagiarizing lyrics from the 2001 song “Playas Gon’ Play” by 3LW, which was written by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler.
Hall and Butler had previously filed the lawsuit in 2017, but was dismissed by the judge. However, they appealed in 2021, with judge Mic

Netflix accuses Barlow and Bear, creators of The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, of crossing boundaries of fan fiction "well past its breaking point"

11 August 2022 13:29

Netflix has sued the creators of The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, for infringing copyrights of the hit show Bridgerton after they performed a live musical concert of their version without permission.
The streaming platform, which owns the exclusive rights to authorize derivative works based on Julia Quinn’s book series, released Bridgerton's first season in Dece

Novelist John Hughes in hot water over plagiarism accusations

9 August 2022 10:00

Sydney-based Australian writer-novelist John Hughes and his work "The Dogs" is under intense scrutiny these past few weeks due to allegations of plagiarism. The Guardian Australia investigated and found multiple similarities and identical instances from another literary work, Svetlana Alexievich’s The Unwomanly Face of War. The issue has caused Hughes' work to be removed from the longlist for the

Dreamstime launches new tool to help, educate and persuade naive copyright infringers

3 August 2022 09:15

Dreamstime, one of the world’s leaders in photo licensing, has introduced LicenseGuard, a proprietary copyright tracking tool that seeks to resolve disputes by offering cost-effective licensing as well as education.
The tool will use AI-powered scanning technology, cutting-edge image recognition algorithms, and human assessment to track, detect, and flag potentially unlicensed uses of the agenc

Writer Christine Davis accused actress Quinta Brunson and ABC of plagiarizing Emmy-nominated series

2 August 2022 09:15

Writer, performer, and artist Christine Davis has accused Quinta Brunson, the creator of the popular television show "Abbott Elementary," and the network behind it, ABC, of copyright violations.
She has alleged that the show is a copy of her own script "This School Year."
Davis wrote the script for her series about filming a television comedy at school in 2018, and registered the copyright f

Seattle Space Needle sues local coffee shop for copying its logo

25 July 2022 10:43

Seattle coffee shop Local Coffee Spot is being sued for allegedly copying the logo of the city’s Space Needle.
The lawsuit states the coffee shop’s purple and white branding is too close to Space Needle's own trademarked design.
Space Needle’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer Karen Olson said: “Like the Empire State Building and Eiffel Tower, the Space Needle is a licensed

Dua Lipa sued (again) for sharing a paparazzo photo of herself on her Instagram

21 July 2022 09:52

British pop singer Dua Lipa is being sued for copyright infringement after sharing a photo of her taken by New York-based paparazzo photographer Robert Barbera in July 2018.
The photo in question, which was shared by her on Instagram in 2019 without taking permission from the photographer, shows Lipa wearing a black sweater bearing the word “HEROES” in large capital letters while out in N

Dua Lipa’s hit song "Levitating" slapped with two copyright cases

20 April 2022 09:45

British pop star Dua Lipa is facing two copyright infringement cases relating to her smash hit song “Levitating” released during the pandemic. A US-based reggae band has accused her of copying a portion of their song, while two songwriters have accused her of ripping off their decade-old disco songs.
The first claim was made by the US-based Artikal Sound System. It sued Dua Lipa and her label

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