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Thread: Recent Copyright decisions - National Geo et al

  1. #1
    tim atherton's Avatar
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    Recent Copyright decisions - National Geo et al

    there have been a few questions on here recently about copyright

    Two decision on copyright law were recently handed down:

    Court Upholds Judgment Against National Geographic

    "A federal court judge in Miami has upheld a $400,000 jury award for photographer Jerry Greenberg in his long-running copyright infringement claims against the National Geographic Society, Greenberg and his attorney Norman Davis reported to PDN.

    Greenberg won the jury award in 2003, but NGS sought to have it vacated or reduced on the grounds that it was excessive.

    “We filed our lawsuit against National Geographic in 1997. Eight years later I’m pleased to report that copyright law is alive and well in the US District Court in Miami,” Greenberg says. .."

    More at:

    http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/newswire/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001260330

    and

    Court Says Lookalike Photo Doesn't Infringe

    "A New York federal court judge has rejected photographer Bill Diodato's lawsuit alleging that the Kate Spade fashion accessories company illegally copied one of Diodato's images for use in an ad campaign.

    The court's decision was based on the principle that copyright protects only the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. The two photos in dispute were based on the same concept-a stylish woman's legs, as they appear from beneath a bathroom stall-but the photos expressed that concept differently, the court concluded..."

    more at:

    http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/newswire/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001262144

    take them FWIW....
    You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn

    www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog

  2. #2
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    Recent Copyright decisions - National Geo et al

    An interesting article on the NG/Greenberg issue here: www.boston.com/ae/media/articles/2005/10/04/its_a_case_of_who_owns_the_words/. Basically it says the matter isn't really settled until the Supreme Court rules on it--there are conflicting opinions from different courts on the same issue.

    On the second one, I wonder how inventors managed to get protection for ideas (via patents), but not artists?

  3. #3
    Abuser of God's Sunlight
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    Recent Copyright decisions - National Geo et al

    Is that true? I thought you could only pattent an implementation of an idea.

  4. #4

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    Recent Copyright decisions - National Geo et al

    Paul:

    An idea need not have a material implementation, but there must be a complete description of the machine or object.

  5. #5
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    Recent Copyright decisions - National Geo et al

    That's the ideal, jj. It seems that the US patent office has been granting patents for rather generic software methodologies like one-click shopping (Amazon), among others.

    www.oreilly.com/news/patent_archive.html

    www-cse.stanford.edu/classes/cs201/projects-99-00/software-patents/amazon.html

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