Author Archives: mwillee

Music copyright has proven to be a tricky topic in recent years, given how readily available music is at present paired with the ability to take on alleged infringement, both through YouTube and in the courts. (Not that any court case would ever be considered easy.) The exponential growth in copyright cases within music isContinue reading “Musician Tries To Fix Copyright By Copyrighting All The Melodies”

The idea that much of what is considered innovative or revolutionary may actually simply built upon a foundation of borrowed or stolen ideas is not a new one, but it’s one that gets trotted out a lot in this century. The usual sequence of events dictates that a company gets big off a great newContinue reading “Quibi Accused of Patent Infringement Ahead of Launch”

As a political science student, you learn that much of what law and regulation ends up being in practice comes down to interpretation and implementation and enforcement on the part of the relevant agencies. Laws don’t mean much if they’re not enforced, or if the enforcement ends up being something different entirely from the originalContinue reading “Is the Patent Office Awarding Too Many Patents?”

The general absurdity of YouTube’s copyright system is well-trod territory on this blog, but it’s always worth reiterating anytime the company bungles cases or otherwise misses the mark on IP matters; after all, YouTube is perhaps the repository of videos online, so if the copyright system is wrong on the site, it’s going to affectContinue reading “NYU Law’s Copyright Panel Gets Copyright Claim on YouTube”

It’s become so easy to expect the worst in the current crisis that it can be surprising when you see positive stories appear in the news, even if they’re at the periphery.

Who owns what we see online? It’s perhaps not a question we give too much thought about, at least beyond our own purview; so long as we don’t see something that we own or created on some website, we’re not too worried about the question, particularly given the overwhelming number of other worries we haveContinue reading “Mashable Wins Copyright Case Over Embedded Post”

How long does our work survive beyond our time among the living? It’s not a question that the average person has to much consider, although given how the internet is bound to our current existence, it’s fair to say that traces of us will live on for years to come, even if you have toContinue reading “Should Copyright Be Eternal? UNESCO Seems To Think So”

While this space remains focused on intellectual property and all matters related, I would like to take the occasion presented by the story covered today to talk briefly about the importance of Michael Jordan. The fact that he was important isn’t questioned by anyone who lived through the past thirty to thirty-five years as aContinue reading “Michael Jordan Wins Trademark Case in China”

Need is a strong motivator, and urgent need of the kind felt in many walks of life during this pandemic will hopefully spur the kind of ingenuity that is demanded at the moment. Need during times of crisis is also not generally subject to the kinds of normal restrictions of law and regulation that mightContinue reading “Medical Technicians and IP Law”

The story of copyright in the twenty-first century tends to be one of corporate overreach, though you perhaps can’t blame big business for trying; after all, it falls to regulatory and oversight bodies to rein in the worst actions and instances of IP abuse, and those institutions don’t always appear to be up to theContinue reading “Disney’s Tweet Claims Raise Copyright Questions”