3 Count: I am Not Iron Man

No ruling on if he's lost his mind...

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday.

1: Judge Knocks Out ‘Iron Man’ Copyright Lawsuit

First off today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that a judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Disney and its subsidiary Marvel over the armor worn by its iconic Iron Man character.

The lawsuit was filed by Ben and Ray Lai, the two brothers behind Horizon Comics. They alleged that more modern iterations of the Iron Man armor, in particular those seen in the recent films, were ripped off from their comic book Radix.

However, the judge did not weigh in on the merits of the lawsuit. Instead, the judge ruled that Massachusetts was not the proper venue for the lawsuit and that he could not justify exercising personal jurisdiction over the defendants there.

2: Pirates Rest Easy (for Now): ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ Court Case is Over

Next up today, Ariel Bogle at Mashable reports that Dallas Buyers Club LLC, the company that owns the rights to the movie of the same name, is abandoning its efforts in Australia to pursue Internet pirates.

The case began in 2014 when the company asked a court to compel six service providers to turn over contact information of 4,726 people that they had detected as illegally downloading and sharing the film. Initially the courts ruled in their favor, granting them the right to the information, but the court quickly began to place limitations on the rightsholder in a bid to avoid “speculative invoicing”, where the company would send settlement demand letters in hopes of getting easy but relatively small settlements from suspected infringers.

However, the final straw appeared to be when the judge demanded that Dallas Buyers Club LLC post a bond of A$600,000 ($425,000) before they could access the information. The company tried to have the amount lowered but, after they failed, they decided to withdraw the case, likely to focus on their similar efforts in other countries.

3: ​Cassandra Clare Sued for Copyright Infringement

Finally today, Charlotte Eyre at The Bookseller reports that sci-fi author Sherrilyn Kenyon has filed a lawsuit against fellow author Cassandra Claire over alleged infringement of her Dark Hunter series.

According to the lawsuit, Claire has published a series entitled Shadowhunter that uses elements from Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series. The lawsuit alleges that the two series feature the same premise, namely a band of warriors that protect humankind from otherwise unseen paranormal threats.

The lawsuit also questions the expanded use of the word “Shadowhunter”, with claims that Claire had first agreed to limit it to a description of the book’s protagonists but expanded it to be featured in the title. The “Shadowhunter” title was also used in a TV adaptation of the series that has begun airing on Freeform. The lawsuit is seeking compensatory damages and lost profits.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

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