Copyright infringement has become an unavoidable reality in today's digital age with rapid information circulation. Especially in the online world, every time we share and download, we may inadvertently touch the minefield of copyright.
In this uncharted field, how many hidden "mines" are waiting for us? In order to avoid the danger of infringement, we have to carefully explore the way in a minefield and be vigilant against those obvious or hidden infringement traps. Next, this article will explore three minefields.
Case information
案件号：24-cv-02993、24-cv-03014
Case filing time: April 15, 2024
原告：Jeremiah David Morelli
Law Firm: Keith
Morelli is a full-time teacher and drawing is a hobby. In addition to selling prints of his paintings, he also licenses the production of DIY diamond painting sets for hobbyists to sell his work. The paintings are also widely used in the business sector, including company websites, apps, product labels, book and magazine covers, and more. His artwork presents the dual realities of innocence and darkness of situations, often featuring mythical creatures.
Works of rights protection
Case information
案件号：24-cv-03011
Case filing time: April 15, 2024
原告：Giordano Studios L.L.C.
Law Firm: Keith
Giordano is a painter and illustrator known for his paintings of animals, fairy tales and seasons. His art is full of fairytale fantasies, a style inspired by well-known authors of children's literature. For more than 40 years, Giordano has licensed many of his own and his family's designs, and continues to create new pieces that make Giordano's artistic style accessible to consumers around the world.
Works of rights protection
Case information
案件号：24-cv-03000
Case filing time: April 15, 2024
原告:Kristy Beth Patterson
Plaintiff's official website: https://www.etsy.com/
代理律所:Bishop Diehl & Lee, Ltd.
Patterson is not only a painter in the studio, but also a high school art teacher. Over the years, she has created several series of artworks, the latest of which is drawing on the pages of old dictionaries. She draws from old dictionary pages that are 30 to 150 years old, and the paper is fragile and uses several different materials.
She also found a way to duplicate dictionary pages on parchment as old as dictionary paper, so that she could draw on paper larger than a normal book page. In 2005 and 2007, she was named Oklahoma's Centennial Artist, and was designated Oklahoma's Artist-in-Residence from 1990 to 1995.
Works of rights protection
While the U.S. Copyright Office is responsible for recording basic information about copyrighted works, such as the title of the work, the name of the registrant, the registration number, and the date of registration, the actual image or design of the work cannot be viewed by the public. The limitation of this information increases the probability of copyright infringement because it is difficult to identify the corresponding work based on basic information. Under such a system, sellers pay special attention to works with unique artistic styles and design elements, which are likely to be registered for copyright.
In cases where it is uncertain whether a work has been copyrighted, it is most prudent to avoid using it directly. If necessary, consider secondary creation, which respects the rights of the original author and reduces the risk of infringement by complying with the law in innovative ways.