Recent Articles

End of the Blog

William Patry
August 13, 2008 00:56

I have decided to end the blog, after doing around 800 postings over about 4 years. I regret closing the blog and I owe readers an explanation. There are two reasons.1. The Inability or Refusal to Accept the Blog for What it is: A Personal BlogI have been a full-time copyright lawyer for 26 years. ...

Phoenixes and Quondam Clients in the First Circuit

William Patry
August 08, 2008 20:48

The redoubtable Judge Selya of the First Circuit has provided us with more of his literary smorgasbord in his latest copyright opinion. This opinion begins:These appeals rise, like the mythical Phoenix, out of the ashes of a failed business relationship between an architectural firm and its quondam...

Guns and Copyright

William Patry
August 08, 2008 20:48

Within the 157 pages of opinions in yesterday’s Supreme Court District of Columbia v. Heller opinion, upholding, as expected Judge Silberman’s opinion for the DC Circuit invalidating the DC total ban in handguns, is the issue of how we interpret constitutional clauses. Because I regard the majority ...

I'm Barking for Judge Barkett

William Patry
August 08, 2008 19:53

Yesterday, the 11th Circuit handed down its eagerly awaited en banc opinion in Greenberg v. National Geographic Society. By a 7-5 vote, the court of appeals did the right thing: affirm the earlier opinion in "Greenberg II," 488 F.3d 1331 (11th Cir. 2007), which had vacated "Greenberg I," 244 F.3d...

RIAA Ups the ACTA Ante

William Patry
August 08, 2008 19:53

I have heard that USTR denies that ACTA will any require substantive changes in US law. For this reason, no need to get Congress involved or to have public hearings; no need, in other words to worry. RIAA has just submitted its suggestions to USTR for what should be in the agreement. Here is a link...

Orit Fischman Afori

William Patry
August 08, 2008 19:52

I just returned from a trip to Israel, where I had the pleasure of finally meeting in person the great Israeli IP scholar and law professor Orit Fischman Afori of the College of Management Academic Studies Law School. Professor Afori is a prolific and probing writer and thinker. I don't know how...

Patrick Ross and Fair Use

William Patry
August 08, 2008 19:52

The Yiddish/Aramaic word “chutzpah” is well known, and has been defined variously as gall, audacity, insolence, and impertinence. Patrick Ross, head of the cartoonish Copyright Alliance, seems to have chutzpah in abundance, as seen on a blog post yesterday criticizing The Center for Social Media at...

A 1909 Act work for hire puzzle

William Patry
August 08, 2008 19:51

Olen York sent me this question awhile back. I would be interested in what people think. It involves the interplay between the 1909 Act and Section 303 of the 1976 Act. Here it is, slightly revised: A mural is created in 1940 under a work for hire, but the work is not published. The author of the...

Judge Posner on Attorney's Fees to Defendants

William Patry
August 08, 2008 19:51

Yesterday, Judge Posner handed down an opinion in Eagle Services Corp. v. H20 Industrial Services that is sure to cited by many future defendants who prevail and seek their attorney's fees. In a jury case, after Plaintiff rested, the district court granted defendant's motion for judgment as a...

Eleventh Circuit: Fair Use, Laches, and Kitchen Sink

William Patry
August 08, 2008 19:50

The Eleventh Circuit has been on a copyright tear in the last two weeks. In addition to the en banc opinion in the Greenberg - National Geographic Society case, there was a highly technical opinion on the Satellite Home Viewer Act and the Section 119 compulsory license, as well as today's opinion:...