3 Count: Hospital Infringement

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1: Architecture Firm Accuses Mary Free Bed of Copyright Infringement

First off today, Katie Rosendale at WOOD reports that, in Michigan, an architecture firm has filed a lawsuit against Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital and another firm alleging that their designs were used to design a new children’s rehabilitation hospital.

The lawsuit was filed by SmithGroup, who claim that, in December 2022, they were chosen by Mary Free Bed to design the new hospital. Over the course of 2023, the lawsuit alleges SmithGroup provided a variety of materials only to have the relationship terminated in September of that year.

The firm then alleges Mary Free Bed turned to a competing firm to complete the project, but continued to use materials that they provided, even though they were never paid the licensing fee. Mary Free Bed claims that SmithGroup material was not used in the design of the hospital and say the lawsuit is without merit. SmithGroup is seeking an injunction against the use of the materials as well as monetary damages.

2: NFTs Do Not Need Separate Copyright Laws: US Govt Study

Next up today, Insha Zia at DailyCoin reports that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the United State Copyright Office (USCO) have released a joint report on non-fungible tokens (NFTs), finding that no new laws are necessary to protect copyrights and trademarks in the space.

The agencies held a series of roundtables regarding NFTs, asking stakeholders how well the current laws were or were not working in the space. According to both the USPTO and USCO, the feedback they got was that, despite widespread issues of copyright and trademark infringement in the space, that new laws or protections were not necessary.

As such, the report does not recommend any changes to current laws or practices to address issues raised by NFTs and recommends maintaining the status quo at this time.

3: Oppenheimer Sees New Online Piracy Surge After Oscar Wins

Finally today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that the film Oppenheimer recently took home the Oscar for Best Picture. However, with that newfound attention comes a new wave of piracy.

According to data that Torrentfreak examined, Oppenheimer saw a 135% increase in piracy the first days of this week following the Oscar win. That was somewhat unexpected as the film had already been out in theaters and available for streaming for some time and was widely viewed in both locations.

That said, the piracy boost did not last long, with levels returning to nearly normal Wednesday and likely to be back to normal by the end of this week.

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