Category Archives: Copyright

Copyright Lawsuit filed over Boat Graphics

05 Thursday Sep 2019

Posted by in Copyright, Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Northern District of Indiana

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In this copyright lawsuit from the Northern District of Indiana, a custom airbrushing company is suing a graphic design company for unauthorized use of two designs.

The Plaintiff’s designs are applied to boats, recreational  vehicles, airplanes, automobiles, and helicopters.

Defendant is alleged to have applied the infringing designs on boats and motors for sale a customer.

The Art of Design, Inc. v. Sharpline Converting, Inc.

Court Case Number: 3:19-cv-00702-JD-MGG
File Date: Friday, August 30, 2019
Plaintiff: The Art of Design, Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: John D. LaDue, Sean J. Quinn of SouthBank Legal: LaDue | Curran | Kuehn
Defendant: Sharpline Converting, Inc.
Cause: Copyright Infringement, Inducing Copyright Infringement
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Jon E. DeGuilio
Referred To: Michael G. Gotsch, Sr.

Complaint:

Copyright Infringement Lawsuit filed over Church Hymn

03 Tuesday Sep 2019

Posted by in Artists, Copyright, Entertainment Law, Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Southern District of Indiana

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In this copyright lawsuit, the Defendant’s musical composition “Christ Be Our King” is alleged to infringe Plaintiff’s musical composition “Emmanuel.”

Take a look at the musical notation and compare the two works for yourself:

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The Complaint (below) details the elements of the two compositions that the Plaintiff considers “strikingly similar”:

  1. The first eight notes of “Christ Be Our Light” are precisely the same as in “Emmanuel:” the same notes, the same key, and the same time signature.
  2. “Christ Be Our Light” omitted the ninth note that was present in “Emmanuel” but ended the phrase on exactly the same tenth note from “Emmanuel.”
  3. The second phrase of notes in “Christ Be Our Light” is again almost identical to the second phrase of “Emmanuel.”
  4. The third phrase of “Christ Be Our Light” with its climbing melody is remarkably similar to the third phrase of “Emmanuel.”

What do you think? Copyright infringement?

This is an interesting case…stay tuned for updates.

Ambrosetti v. Oregon Catholic Press et al.

Court Case Number: 3:19-cv-00682-JD-MGG
File Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Plaintiff: Vincent A. Ambrosetti, The King’s Minstrels Charitable Trust aka International Liturgy Publications
Plaintiff Counsel: Donald J. Schmid
Defendant: Oregon Catholic Press, Bernadette Farrell
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Jon E. DeGuilio
Referred To: Michael G. Gotsch, Sr.

Complaint:

 

Unauthorized Use of John Lennon Photograph leads to Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

22 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in Copyright, Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Northern District of Indiana

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The Defendant in this copyright infringement lawsuit is alleged to have used Plaintiff’s photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono without authorization.

The Plaintiff is a New York-based photographer and the Defendant is a Delaware LLC located in Elkhart, Indiana. The registered Lennon/Ono photograph was apparently included on Defendant’s website, maps.roadtrippers.com, as part of a “Rock and Roll Deaths Tour.”

Most photograph copyright lawsuits, particularly those involving just one photograph, are able to settle early. We’ll continue to monitor this lawsuit so stay tuned for updates.

Tannenbaum v. The2Connect, LLC

Court Case Number: 3:19-cv-00555-PPS-MGG
File Date: Friday, July 19, 2019
Plaintiff: Allan Tannenbaum
Plaintiff Counsel: Richard Liebowitz
Defendant: The2Connect, LLC
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Philip P. Simon
Referred To: Michael G. Gotsch, Sr.

First Amended Complaint:

 

Indianapolis company accused of selling counterfeit LED lighting fixtures

15 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by in Copyright, Indiana, Indianapolis, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Patent, Southern District of Indiana, Trademark

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An Indianapolis company has been accused of selling counterfeit LED lighting fixtures.

Electra Display, on Indy’s southeast side, has been sued for copyright infringement based upon the alleged copying of the plaintiff’s intellectual property, including copyrighted images from plaintiff’s sales brochures, and false advertising, based on Electra’s use of the images to deceive customers into believing that it sold plaintiff’s products, when Electra is alleged to actually sell an inferior, knock off product made by a Chinese manufacturer.

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The plaintiff, Massachusetts-based JLC-Tech LLC, owns several patents for its LED lighting technology, but doesn’t assert any patent infringement claims in the Complaint (below). Rather, this lawsuit simply seeks damages and injunctive relief against the use of the sales photographs and misleading advertising. 

Stay tuned for updates.

JLC-Tech LLC v. Electra Display

Court Case Number: 1:19-cv-01468-TWP-DLP
File Date: Thursday, April 11, 2019
Plaintiff: JLC-Tech LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Darren A. Craig of Frost Brown Todd LLC
Defendant: Edge Systems Group LLC d/b/a Electra Display
Cause: Copyright Infringement, Federal Unfair Competition, False Advertising
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Tanya Walton Pratt
Referred To: Doris L. Pryor

Complaint:

Photos, Bongs and Blueprints dominate the March Indiana IP Docket

01 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by in Copyright, Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Northern District of Indiana, Southern District of Indiana

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The Indiana intellectual property docket continues to be dominated by photography and counterfeit bong cases. In March 2019, RooR International continued their crusade against Indiana smoke and vape shops. Many of the smoke shop defendants have seen the advantage of “strength in numbers” and retained the same defense attorney to assist with a common defense.

Sadly, another 10 defendants, including Eli Lilly, the National Association of Realtors, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (!), were caught up in Richard Bell’s skyline photo litigation web. I’ll be curious to see whether these organization’s high-priced lawyers can figure out a different resolution than previous Bell defendants.

Design Basics, a regular copyright plaintiff, returns to protect a set of its architectural drawings.

Let’s all keep our fingers crossed for an interesting trademark case to be filed in April.  I’ll be the first to let you know.

Photography

  • Richard Bell  – 10
  • Oppenheimer
  • Iwasaki

Counterfeit Bongs

  • RooR International BV – 7

Architectural Drawings

  • Design Basics LLC

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