VerStandig lawsuit tossed on technicalities. Will geofencing really provide webcasting broadcasters a shield that they can deploy against royalty claims? While that question was raised in a lawsuit last spring, it won’t be getting answered soon: ...
FAA announces NPRM indicating that it will reverse course on commercial use of drones. It’s a time-honored Washington tradition that, when an agency wants to avoid press coverage of a controversial action, it will release notice of that action la...
Flo and Eddie, still on a roll in New York, face a decision; meanwhile, a new plaintiff surfaces in California For those of you awaiting the next installment of “Flo and Eddie Get Sirius”, we have some news. Recall that last November, the f...
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose - If you’re a webcaster, you’ve got until February 2 to wrap up your annual SoundExchange homework. Sigh. Every year brings us another year closer to death. It sure feels tha...
The biggest scandal this time of the year tends to be the NFL’s heavy-handed efforts to protect trademarks, even those it doesn’t own. It’s no secret that we here in the CommLawBlog bunker don’t fully approve of the NFL’s ...
But Sirius XM, which succeeded before the CRB, may not be happy that its victory was upheld. When it comes to setting copyright royalty rates, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) enjoys considerable leeway. Just ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Dist...
A tale of two cities – Washington and Bucharest – and two trademark battles It’s big news when a storied sports franchise loses its identity. And that’s what’s happened with a prominent professional football team in its n...
Sirius XM loses on public performance claims for pre-1972 sound recordings … again. I’ve already written about two lawsuits – both in California – based on infringement claims arising from Sirius XM’s public performance o...
Sirius XM loses another ruling in California litigation about digital performance of pre-1972 recordings. As I reported in September, Sirius XM (and, by extension, just about any other provider of streamed digital music) suffered a setback in a Federal...