Posts Tagged ‘cases’

Men at Work Pay Up for Kookaburra Riff

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

In September of 2007, Australian quiz show Spicks and Specks asked contestants to guess the hidden children’s song in Men at Work’s popular “Down Under”, unknowingly igniting a copyright battle between Men at Work and “Kookaburra (Sits in the Old Gum Tree)” copyright holder, Larrikin Music Publishing. Larrikin Music Publishing had claimed a flute riff [...]

Dispute Arises Over Coca-Cola’s World Cup Campaign Anthem

Friday, July 9th, 2010

As World Cup 2010 comes into the final stretch in South Africa, Coca-Cola faces litigation involving the Spanish mix of its campaign anthem, “Wavin’ Flag”. “Wavin’ Flag” was originally written by Somali-born K’Naan, and is used by Coca-Cola for their 2010 FIFA World Cup marketing campaign. Coca-Cola released an English version of the song, as [...]

RIAA Celebrates Win in LimeWire Lawsuit

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood has ruled in favor of the RIAA in its lawsuit against Lime Wire LLC, the company behind P2P client LimeWire. Wood stated Lime Wire committed copyright infringement, engaged in unfair competition, and induced copyright infringement. The company’s founder Mark Gorton was also held personally responsible. The RIAA originally filed a [...]

Google sues small indie music label

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Earlier this month Google filed a complaint in California Northern District Court, asking a federal judge for declaratory judgment in the search giant’s recent copyright infringement lawsuit with Blues Destiny Records. Google’s complaint follows from an initial lawsuit brought by Florida-based Blues Destiny Records in December 2009. Microsoft and Rapidshare were also named as defendants [...]

No Doubt win latest round in lawsuit against Activision

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

The latest development in No Doubt’s lawsuit against Activision occurred Thursday April 15, when Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kenji Machida issued a tentative ruling rejecting Activision’s 1st Amendment defense claims in its use of No Doubt avatars in the “Band Hero” game. No Doubt first filed a lawsuit against Activision following the release [...]

‘Water’ They Thinking?: Contests Must Be Reasonably Safe

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

In a negligence lawsuit, the heart of the plaintiff’s claim is that the defendant acted unreasonably when it had a duty to act reasonable. To establish a basic case for negligence, there are four elements that the plaintiff must establish: duty, breach, cause, and harm. A recent California case explained the element of duty as [...]

Open and Obvious Defense – even for Building Code Violations

Monday, July 20th, 2009

Generally, a case for negligence requires a showing that the defendant has a duty to the plaintiff, which was breached by the defendant, and that breach caused the Plaintiff to have damages.  The “Open and Obvious” doctrine is a defense that the defendant did not have a duty to the plaintiff because the hazard was [...]