The facts are unproven allegations of the Plaintiff and all commentary is based upon the allegations, the truthfulness and accuracy of which are likely in dispute.
MASTERFILE CORPORATION v. BUSINESS BUILDERS COACHING, INC.
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA (LOS ANGELES)
2:09-CV-00954
FILED: 2/09/2009
The idea that you can go out and “borrow” images that are out on the web is obviously problematic. Many of these stock photography agencies now use sophisticated programs to track all use of their images and have turned copyright infringements into quite a profitable business.
The Plaintiff is a stock photography agency with offices in Canada. The Defendant is a California corporation providing accounting and management consulting services. Plaintiff alleges that the Defendant was using five photographs it owns on its website.
The lawsuit asserts a claim for copyright infringement and requests preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, an award of damages, costs, fees, and legal expenses, and other relief. Traverse Internet Law Cross-Reference Number 1285.
AWR CORPORATION v. AEROANTENNA TECHNOLOGY
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA (LOS ANGELES)
2:09-CV-00869
FILED: 2/04/2009
The interesting point in this case is that the Plaintiff apparently installed a “monitoring mechanism” which reports back to the Plaintiff information about the use by those downloading its “test version”. This raises all kinds of interesting issues. The lesson for businesses is that if they want to distribute their products electronically and use this type of monitoring feedback process the installation and distribution may be covered by spyware laws or other privacy laws. If you are installing software be particularly careful to use it only as specified in the license agreement, which means you need to actually read the license agreement and understand the scope of authorized use. In this instance the Defendants are alleged to have installed it on more computers than permitted, exceeded the number of days they were allowed to use it, and put it to use for commercial purposes when the license expressly prohibited such use.
AWR is a California corporation engaged in the business of developing licensing computer software. The Defendant is a California corporation that develops and manufacturers GPS antennas and other similar products. The Defendant is alleged to have downloaded software and installed the software on multiple computers outside the scope of the license agreement.
The lawsuit claims copyright infringement, breach of contract, and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The prayer for relief requests the entry of a preliminary and permanent injunction from further unauthorized copying, an award of loss profits and actual damages, enhanced damages for willful infringement, cost of the suit and reasonable attorneys’ fees, an accounting of all Defendant’s profits, and destruction of all copies of the software. Additional claims for relief include an award of damages in an amount of at least $350,000.00. TraverseInternet Law Cross-Reference Number 1284.
