3 Count: Insane Copyright Posse

Lawsuits. How do they work?

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

1: Puma Files Patent, Copyright, Trade Dress Suit Against Forever 21 Over Rihanna Shoes

First off today, The Fashion Law reports that the shoe company Puma has joined the legions of others suing Forever 21 for copyright infringement. However, this case brings a new twist as it cites the recent Star Athletica ruling for why Forever 21 is infringing copyright.

Puma accuses Forever 21 of patent, trade dress and copyright infringement for producing several shoes that look similar to Puma’s brands. They are the latest in a long line of brands to file such lawsuits agianst Forever 21 and Puma notes this saying that Forever 21 has a business model “based on trading-off the established goodwill of reputable, name-brand companies.”

However, the lawsuit also cites the recent Star Athletica ruling. In that case, which dealt with cheerleader uniforms, the Supreme Court ruled that stripes and chevrons could be copyright protected. Puma is looking to apply similar logic to its shoes in this case.

2: ABS-CBN files $5-M lawsuit in Canada for copyright infringement

Next up today, ABS-CBN news (Note: Conflict of interest) reports that ABS-CBN, Filipino media company, has filed a $5 million ($3.75 million USD) lawsuit against a Canadian couple that they say sold set-top boxes that were programmed to allow customers to illegally receive ABS-CBN shows. 

The lawsuit targets Ed Casinillo and Roxy Gonzales, who they say signed up for over 223 free trials using different emails and distributed those usernames and passwords to their customers. The company further claims that a photo in Casinillo’s Facebook account shows them delivering the set to boxes to customers.

The lawsuit comes amid other anti-piracy efforts by ABS-CBN including raids at various shops that ABS-CBN claims was selling pirated DVDs and other content.

3: Poet sues Insane Clowne Posse: You’re No Softy, You Stole my Poem

Finally today, Tresa Baidas at the Detroit Free Press reports that an Ohio man has filed a lawsuit against the Insane Clown Posse alleging that Joseph Bruce, better known as Violent J, recited and plagiarized his poem in a YouTube video.

The allegation centers around a a video uploaded to YouTube entitled Violent J’s Poem. According to poet Stanley Gebhardt, it wasn’t his poem at all. Instead, it was a 22-line piece he had written about his father and registered with the U.S. Copyright Office in in 1993. According to Gebhardt, the poem, appeared in A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul.

The band has not been served with the lawsuit yet and a firm representing them had no comment at this time.

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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