TraverseInternet Law Disclaimer
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.
DON HENLEY AND MIKE CAMPBELL v. CHARLES S. DEVORE AND JUSTIN HART
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA (SANTA ANA)
8:09-CV-00481
FILED: 4/17/2009
Ever since President Obama’s tremendously successful online endeavors resulted in record-breaking contributions, politicians have been trying to figure out how to mimic the success of President Obama’s campaign. While there are certain carve-outs under the law that exempt politicians from the Can-Spam Act provisions, there is no such carve-out for copyright or trademark infringement. Whenever your business is entering into a new arena make sure that your team includes quality legal advisers. The “young guns” of technology understand the web, and that is about it.
The Plaintiffs are song writers and allege that two of their songs were used, without authorization or permission, by Defendant Charles S. DeVore in his campaign for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. Videos created with the lyrics and musical composition of the “Boys of Summer” and “All She Wants to Do Is Dance” were allegedly fashioned into campaign advertisements.
The Plaintiffs have sued for copyright infringement, contributory copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement, false association or endorsement, and unfair business practices under California law. Plaintiffs have requested a declaratory judgment of copyright infringement by the Defendants, the entry by the court of preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, an award of statutory damages in the sum of $150,000.00, pre-judgment interest, attorneys’ fees, costs, an award of profits and damages, and such other further relief as the court deems proper. Traverse Internet Law Cross-Reference Number 1316.
GUADALUPE T. CANTU v. BEN HUH AND PET HOLDINGS INC.
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON (SEATTLE)
2:09-CV-00516
FILED: 4/16/2009
Content is king. The better your content, and the more popular your content, the greater the risk of it being stolen to draw visitors to another site. In this instance, the video on YouTube produced by the Plaintiff was apparently hugely popular and therefore ripe for the alleged misappropriation. As animations and videos become more popular as a method of communicating online, the issue of “stolen content” is no longer just about words.
Plaintiff is a sixty-six year old retired mechanical engineer, who has lived on the Big Island of Hawaii since November, 1998. His main hobby over those ten years has been to hike the back county of Kilauea Volcano and document the volcanic activity with videos and photographs. Plaintiff alleges that in December of 2006 he viewed the Mount Kilauea episode of the Discovery Channel series “Man vs. Wild” and a survival expert by the name of Bear Grylls was supposedly dropped off by helicopter in a remote location to simulate the journey of a lost hiker as he makes his way to civilization. Plaintiff, familiar with the Kilauea Volcano, recognized that most of the episode was filmed next to various highways near tourist areas and published the video on YouTube pointing out the fake aspects of the episode. The Defendant is alleged to have taken the videos created by the Plaintiff and put them on his own YouTube channel.
The lawsuit alleges violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, requests an order restraining the Defendants from providing access to the infringing material, requests an award of up to $150,000.00 and that the Defendants be required to pay attorneys’ fees and costs. Traverse Internet Law Cross-Reference Number 1317.
