A History of Comic Book Lawsuits

By Eric Gardner

THR, Esq. | Article Link

We have a couple of recommendations for THR, Esq entertainment law geeks.

Writer Fred Van Lente and artist Ryan Dunlavey at Evil Twin Comics have just released a pretty awesome comic book that details the "incredible, insane true story of the American comic book industry," told, of course, in comic book form, and going into such disputes as whether the Captain Marvel character was an infringement on the Superman character, the legendary legal battle over the control of Howard the Duck, the legal mystery surrounding the creation of Josie and the Pussycats, and Jack Kirby's battles with Marvel over stolen artwork.

In Social Media Postings, A Trove for Investigators

By Joseph Goldstein
New York Times | Article Link

First, Facebook helped get Rodney Bradford out of jail; later, it threatened to send him back.

Part of the final online dialogue between a victim and the woman accused in her death. About a day later, they met in person.

In 2009, the social networking site helped exonerate Mr. Bradford after prosecutors charged him with a robbery in Brooklyn. Mr. Bradford countered that he was at his father’s home in Manhattan at the time. He even had posted a joking complaint on Facebook about breakfast. Subpoenaed records from Facebook backed up Mr. Bradford’s alibi, and the charges against him were dropped.

Gamers Get Busted: 3 Starcraft II Players Sued For Selling Cheat Programs

By Christian Levis
Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal
IPLJ Article Permalink

Blizzard Entertainment, maker of various popular computer games, filed suit in the Central District of California recently against three users who made and sold “hacks” to their latest creation, Starcraft II. The lawsuit was filed shortly after Blizzard banned at least 5,000 gamers from the game in mid-September for using such programs. The hacks at issue are essentially fancier cheat codes that allow users to gain an advantage in the game. However, unlike authorized cheat codes created by the manufacturer, “[w]hen users of the Hacks download, install, and use the Hacks, they copy StarCraft II copyrighted content into their computer’s RAM in excess of the scope of their limited license, as set forth in the [End User License Agreement] and [Terms of Use], and create derivative works of StarCraft II.” In addition to copyright infringement theories, Blizzard argues that the cheat codes are harmful because they cause irreparable harm to the experience of legitimate gamers, limiting the future sales of “add on packs” due to dissatisfaction. The hacks may also cause a physical problem as well, inducing stability and performance issues on the servers that host actual game play.

Former Sen. Chris Dodd Named MPAA Chief

By David Cravets
Wired | Article Link

Then-Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) looks over his farewell speech in his office on Capitol Hill in Washington in November 2010.

Christopher Dodd, the former five-term Democratic senator from Connecticut, was named Tuesday to head the Motion Picture Association of America.

Dodd, who just retired after declining to run for a sixth Senate term, replaces Bob Pisano, the lobbying group’s interim chief since April. Pisano has been warming the chair of the retiring Dan Glickman, also a former senator as well as U.S. agriculture secretary.

Dodd said piracy would be a chief concern.

.torrent = .crime

By Terry Hart
Copyhype | Article Link

I sometimes see the phrase “.torrent = .crime” used online in discussions about enforcing copyright online. It is considered by copyright critics as a dig against efforts to enforce the widespread copyright infringement occurring within the bittorrent ecosystem1 — the idea being that content producers have mistakenly declared torrent technology categorically unlawful.

Most recently, it has popped up in response to the US government’s seizure of domain names as part of Operation in Our Sites. A number of the sites targeted were part of the bittorrent ecosystem, like meta-search engine Torrent Finder. And with the pending appeal of Isohunt in the Ninth Circuit, the meme will likely persist — the torrent search engine’s appellate brief devotes considerable space to rebutting the association between torrents and infringement. Proponents of the meme believe the association is unfair and are quick to point out the many legitimate uses of the bittorrent protocol as evidence.