Intellectual Property Rights

An Adidas store in New York. Photo: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg News March 29, 2023 5:36 am…

A federal judge ruled Friday that a nonprofit online platform violated the copyrights of four leading publishers by lending digitally scanned copies of their books without permission.U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan rejected arguments by the organization Internet Archive that it was making fair use of the copyright-protected books in its possession by allowing online readers to borrow digital copies, one person at a time. The case was being closely watched as a test of copyrights and library lending in a…

WASHINGTON—A trademark case put the Supreme Court’s humor to the test Wednesday, as the justices heard a distillery’s plea to stop a novelty company from selling a dog toy shaped like a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. Phoenix-based VIP Products LLC markets squeaky toys that mimic beverage bottles, including a 10-inch-tall item with a black label reading “Bad Spaniels: The Old No. 2 on Your Tennessee Carpet” for $16.49. Among those unamused was Brown-Forman Corp.’s BF.B 1.00%…

A federal judge on Monday will weigh pleas by four major book publishers to stop an online lending library from freely offering digital copies of books, in a case that raises novel questions about digital-library rights and the reach of copyright law that protects the work of writers and publishers. Nonprofit organization Internet Archive created the digital books, building its collection by scanning physical book copies in its possession. It lends the digital versions to readers worldwide, with more than three million…

The U.S. Copyright Office supported a copyright registration for a comic book created with the help of an artificial intelligence program, but said that individual AI-generated images couldn’t be granted protection, the latest development in a closely watched case that has become a barometer for how AI art might be treated in the eyes of the law. New York-based author and software developer Kris Kashtanova initially obtained copyright…

The growing conflict between China and the U.S. extends from computer-chip factories to a suspected spy balloon over American skies. Running through it all is a struggle for technological superiority.China has striven for years to develop cutting-edge technologies, in part through heavy spending on research. Now, according to Western officials and executives, it also has mobilized its legal system to pry technology from other nations. Officials in the U.S. and European Union accuse China of using its courts…

Grzegorz Rutkowski has studied the great masters of texture and light—Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer—and his ability to mimic their techniques has made him an in-demand painter of fantastical beasts and landscapes for the videogame industry. But these days, instead of devoting all his time to painting in his sun-dappled studio near the picturesque medieval square in the town of Pieńsk, Poland, he’s spending ever more of it on Zoom calls, talking to lawyers, artists and others about the…

AbbVie Inc.’s ABBV 0.65% arthritis therapy Humira is set to face its first competition in the U.S. from a near-identical copycat, the end of the exclusive run of what was for years the country’s biggest-selling drug.After two decades of patent protection and more than $135 billion in U.S. sales, Humira will contend with the near-identical version from Amgen Inc. AMGN 0.17% starting Tuesday, Amgen said. Other Humira…

The Birkin handbag, made by French luxury brand Hermès, for decades has been a symbol of wealth, sold through exclusive shops and mysterious wait-lists at prices that reach tens of thousands of dollars or more.A self-described entrepreneur and artist in 2021 set out to offer another way to own a Birkin, with a digital nonfungible token. Mason Rothschild created a series of 100 digital images he called MetaBirkins, depicting fur-covered purses in the same shape and style as the Hermès…

Apple and Broadcom wants the Supreme Court to review a February 2022 court decision. Photo: hector retamal/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images…