Topics: Legal affairs

  • Snapchat sued by Swiss rights collection society SUISA for refusing to pay its composers, songwriters and publishers

    Snap Inc., the owner of social media platform Snapchat, is being sued by Switzerland-based SUISA Digital Licensing for alleged copyright infringement.
    SUISA Digital is a subsidiary of the music rights collection society SUISA that collects digital publishing royalties outside the U.S. for its 80,000 songwriters, composers, publishers and about 10 million works. It has created license agreements

  • Can IP laws protect your work from being ripped off when evolving technologies are constantly changing the rules of the game?

    Content creation is at an all-time high due to platforms such as Meta, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, and the advent of new technologies such as NFTs has brought all kinds of challenges for IP lawyers when it comes to protecting your innovations or creations.
    World Intellectual Property Day is an annual event that is celebrated on April 26. The theme of this year’s event was “IP and Youth:

  • Comedian Amy Schumer called out for stealing a joke at Oscars, but says "I'm funny enough, I don’t need to steal shit."

    Amy Schumer has been accused of plagiarizing a joke from Twitter for her Oscars opening speech.
    In her monologue, Schumer said: "Leonardo DiCaprio, what can I say about him? He has done so much to fight climate change and leave behind a cleaner, greener planet for his girlfriends. Because he's older and they are younger. Okay, you get it.”
    The joke triggered huge laughs in the audience. Howe

  • Bill introduced to strip Disney of its copyright protection for Mickey Mouse may bring into question US’ global commitments to its IPR treaties

    US Senator Josh Hawley has introduced the Copyright Clause Restoration Act, a new bill to strip corporations like Disney of special copyright protections. His bill would limit new copyright protections to 56 years and make the change retroactive for massive corporations like Disney that have been granted long copyright monopolies.
    The action comes after Florida lawmakers deprived Disney of spec

  • Ralph Lauren accused of plagiarising Malaysian designer's cape for Alicia Keys at the Met Gala

    US-based Malaysian designer Datuk Zang Toi accused Ralph Lauren of copying one of his designs for a cape, which was worn by singer Alicia Keys at the Met Gala earlier this month.
    The singer arrived in a silver gown and black cape embroidered with New York skyline.
    On the red carpet, Keys told Vogue that she and Lauren were inspired by the Big Apple, since they both hail from New York.
    Key

  • teamLab sues a museum for copying its immersive art, but can it really be protected when the artwork itself is ever-changing?

    Japanese art collective teamLab, founded in 2001 and known for creating 360-degree interactive software environments, has sued the Museum of Dream Space (MODS) for violating its copyrights.
    teamLab’s museums have become popular over the years. In fact, its museum installations and other players such as Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Mirrored Rooms” and the Color Factory are so successful that they ha

  • Australian designer Ambra Fossati accuses beauty influencer of copying a dress design

    Australian designer Ambra Fossati has accused a beauty influencer Shani Grimmond also hailing from Down Under, for allegedly copying her design.
    The dress in question is a crew-neck maxi with long sleeves and sheer stretch knit that Grimmond hinted at releasing under her Sylk Swim label on her Instagram account, which has a massive following of 1.4 million users.
    Fossati is a well-known desi

  • Ed Sheeran wins copyright battle over his 2017 hit "Shape of You"

    British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has finally won a four-year copyright battle over his 2017 hit song Shape of You after a UK judge concluded that he had not plagiarized the work of another British artist.
    Sami Chokri - aka Sami Switch - and songwriter Ross O’Donoghue had blamed Ed Sheeran and two of his co-writers for plagiarizing part of a track.
    He claimed that the “Oh I” melodic hook

  • Did Swedish fashion house H&M copy textured knitwear design from a young designer?

    A young London-based Asian-American fashion designer Chet Lo has accused the Swedish clothing brand H&M of copying his signature highly textured knitwear.
    The allegation revolves around a pink knitwear dress included in H&M’s “Innovation Cherish Waste” collection that looks like Lo’s famous spiky design, which was featured in Doja Cat and SZA’s “Kiss Me More” music video.
    As soon as

  • Rip-off or not: Singaporean model accused Russian artist of using the likeness of her face on a topless body and exhibiting it for sale

    Singaporean model Duan Mei Yue has accused Russian artist Angelina Poveteva of painting the likeness of her face on a topless body, and then exhibiting the painting at a Moscow art fair and selling it without her consent.
    Duan published a two-minute video on social media to raise her concern along with the supporting evidence. She claimed that Poveteva had sold the painting to two buyers for US

  • Rip-off or not: Malaysians identify a copycat brand of Spanish frozen dessert brand ‘llaollao’ on the first day of its launch

    A newly open dessert store in Malaysia is being blamed for copying the whole concept of a frozen store franchise that operates in the country.
    II.Ia.Io, a Malaysian small business that specialises in frozen yogurt, recently opened its first outlet to compete with llaollao, a Spanish frozen yoghurt desert chain that operates in the nation.
    As soon as the new store opened its doors to customer

  • Did Asghar Farhadi plagiarise the idea for “A Hero” movie from his student?

    Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi has been accused of stealing the concept of his successful movie A Hero from his former student Azadeh Masihzadeh. 
    Masihzadeh had filed a case against Farhadi in a Tehran court for plagiarising the concept from her documentary All Winners All Losers, which was made for a workshop led by Farhadi in 2014. The movie was also shown at a film festival i

  • Designing the future - calling innovators, creators, designers and start-up founders! Webinar featuring leading legal IP experts on World Intellectual Property Day.

    Young people in the Asia Pacific number approximately 718 million aged 15-24 years. As future innovators and entrepreneurs finding creative solutions to the world’s problems, they would do well to arm themselves with knowledge and skills regarding the intellectual property (IP) they are creating.
    World Intellectual Property Day is an annual event that is celebrated on April 26. The theme of th

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

    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

  • Indian historian Vikram Sampath embroiled in plagiarism row

    Indian historian Vikram Sampath has been accused of plagiarism in an article written by him in 2017 as well as copying a passage in his two-volume biography on the Indian political leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
    In the first instance, a trio of USA-based historians and academics Rohit Chopra, Ananya Chakravarti and Audrey Truschke, highlighted multiple sentences from Sampath’s 2017 article wh

  • Rip-off or not: Nairobi’s Imaara Mall accused of stealing the work of a creative designer

    The Imaara retail mall in Nairobi has been accused of copying the work of a Nigerian graphic designer-cum-photographer based in the United States.
    The newly opened mall's external walls were painted with a style of art that closely resembles Temi Coker's designs on his Behance account.
    Temi began creating his own unique design styles shortly after leaving Adobe in 2019. Since then, his desig

  • Advertising agency accuses Coinbase of idea theft

    The US-based cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase’s 60-second super bowl ad was a massive hit, but it was accused of copying someone else’s idea without giving credit to the company that came up with the concept.
    In February, the exchange aired a simple colorful QR code that floated on the screen for a minute which could be scanned to redeem $15 worth of free Bitcoin and a chance to win US

  • Rip-off or not: Croatia coin design winner blamed for plagiarism

    The winner of Croatia’s coin logo competition is accused of copying the design from a 17-year-old photo taken by a Scottish photographer and has since withdrawn from the competition and returned the prize money.Croatia needs a new coin design for circulation as it is adopting the Euro currency in 2023. To achieve this goal, the country’s central bank had organized a competition for the best design

  • PitchMark is now on Medium.com too

    PitchMark is pleased to announce that our content is now available on the Medium platform as well.
    We are excited about engaging Medium’s community of creators and innovators, and will continue raising awareness of the importance of registering their valuable intellectual property before sharing it with the world.
    If you’re on Medium and want to help us get to know this new universe better,

  • Deepfake of Ukraine’s Zelenskyy shows that IP laws governing such tech is urgently needed

    Recently, a video featuring a deepfake version of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared on social media, asking his troops to surrender in the ongoing war with Russia.
    The video was quickly identified as a fake, partly due to its poor quality. Zelenskyy also swiftly posted a video of himself exposing the deepfake, and Facebook, YouTube and Twitter announced they had removed the vide

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