Tennessee IP Law Blog

Allen v. Cooper, No. 18-877, 2020 WL 1325815 (U.S. Mar. 23, 2020) Topic: Copyright Infringement - Pictures & Video "The Queen Anne's Revenge" Juha Flinkman, SubZone OY / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons Videographer and his video production company brought action against North Carolina and state officials seeking declaration that North Carolina statute that converted copyrighted images of shipwreck to public record was preempted by federal copyright law and was otherwise unconstitutional, and asserting claims for copyright infringement, for unconstitutional taking pursuant to § 1983, and state law claims for unfair and deceptive trade practices and civil conspiracy. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Terrence W. Boyle, J., 244 F.Supp.3d 525, granted in part and denied in part the defendants' motions to dismiss, allowing the declaratory judgment and infringement claims to proceed. Defendants appealed. The United ...

Solid Oak Sketches, LLC v. 2K Games, Inc. , No. 16-CV-724-LTS-SDA, 2020 WL 1467394 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 26, 2020) Topic: Fair Use, De-Minimis - Tattoos & Video Game Design Solid Oak Sketches, LLC (“Solid Oak” or “Plaintiff”), brings this action against Defendants 2K Games, Inc., and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (collectively, “Take Two” or “Defendants”), asserting a claim of copyright infringement pursuant to the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq. (the “Copyright Act”). Following this Court’s granting of Defendants’ motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s claims for statutory damages and attorneys’ fees on August 2, 2016, Plaintiff filed a Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) on October 24, 2016. (Docket Entry No. 55.) On August 16, 2016, Defendants filed counterclaims for declaratory judgment pursuant to the Copyright Act and the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201-2202 (“Def. Countercl.”). (Docket Entry No. 47.) The Court denied Plaintiff’s motion to dismiss the c...