Dozier Internet Law, by John W. Dozier

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Copyright Lawyer, Copyright Attorneys, and Copyright Lawyers, by John W. Dozier

Want to see our take on the most important Federal lawsuits dealing with the Internet and copyright infringement filed last week? We monitor the country daily and offer our thoughts about each. Just read on down to the bottom of this page and find out what practices are leading to lawsuits!

Copyright law protects original creative works, excluding purely functional work. As seasoned copyright lawyers, we sue (and defend suits), get websites pulled down without notice (and get them back up), and get competitors blacklisted from search engine advertising and organic indexed results (and get clients back into the engines). Cybertriallawyer.com copyright attorneys draft and serve “cease and desist” and copyright lawyer demand letters (and respond to them), assist local counsel as copyright attorneys, locate the right copyright infringement expert witness, and provide assistance and guidance throughout the entire process of protecting your valuable creative work (and defending against claims of copyright infringement asserted by other copyright lawyers and copyright attorneys). Copyright infringement (both sides of it) is a huge part of our practice as copyright attorneys. Consider just a sampling of the types of copyright infringement matters we deal with every day:

• Our client was sued for allegedly copying a competing website in Federal Court on the West Coast.
• Our client’s VP of Sales left the company and took with him a copy of the website, which he promptly launched.
• Our client’s VP of Sales left the company and took with him a copy of the website, which he promptly launched.
• Our client’s product photographs were taken and used by a competitor selling competing products.
• A major auction site refused to remove sites selling pirated versions of our client’s videos.
• Copies of our client’s poker site were being sold on major auction site with full license to resell to others.
• Furniture retailer’s high quality original photos were pilfered by a competitor.
• UK client had its E-book stolen and it was being sold on a competing website.
• Client’s content taken by a US competitor hosted overseas to avoid DMCA take down notice.
• Extensive documentation of educational site was taken by a competitor.
• Our client, after buying a website for six figures, found out the seller launched a competing replica site.
• A European based company copied our client’s website and attacked the integrity of our client on this site, using same meta tags and coding to get indexed high in organic search results.
• International immigration law website stole content from our client.
• Proprietary designs exhibited on our client’s website were taken and then, with the designs, two new sites launched to compete directly against our client.
• An accomplished author’s books were being copied and sold as e-books and used as content by websites.
• A major online merchant sued our client in Philadelphia for breach of contract, although the merchant had cancelled the contract and began a course of conduct including widespread copyright, trademark and patent infringement.
• Our European client had one of its volunteer chat moderators take the database of Q and A accumulated over many years and open a competing site in the US.
• A prominent retailer retained us after noticing that a smaller competitor’s site began looking more and more like its own over time, and the competitor had gone so far as to start replicating its content.
• Our client, a professional photographer, had some images taken by an industry site and demand was made for imputed license fees and the payment of attorney fees.
• Our publisher client’s photographs were sold to a competitor by the model and a DMCA takedown notice, cease and desist and demand letter were issued.
• A customer of our web developer client refused to pay for the work performed in building a website and we asserted a copyright infringement claim against the customer when the site was launched.
• A competitor of our client “scraped” its website and copied extensive materials later posted on a competing site, resulting in the issuance of a DMCA takedown notice and cease and desist letter.
• Our artist client found copies of some of her works on Ebay being sold without permission, and a cease and desist and DMCA takedown notice were issued to both Ebay and the seller.
• Our client’s stock market services site was copied and launched by a competitor overnight in violation of copyright infringement laws.
• Executives’ photographs were taken from the corporate website and republished online on a site attempting to extort money through disparaging allegations.
• Our client’s website was copied and hosted in a foreign country and the infringer obtained our clients membership list and sent emails reporting that our client had sold his business.
• A medical industry client continually is faced with “competitors” taking website content and we were retained to stop the practice.
• A college exceeded its license to use creative works of our author/client, and claims were asserted for imputed license fees and attorney fees.
• Our client’s website was copied and a competing copycat site launched to interrupt our client’s business.
• A global petroleum industry company retained us when its competitors were copying sections of its website focusing on employee and contractor recruitment for international projects.
• A competitor travel site copied our client’s website and meta tags and was using them as a redirect to generate higher organic results.
• A prominent televangelist with a robust online presence was being ripped off by licensees cutting out his website advertising when distributing his sermons.
• Our client, a businessman, wanted Usenet posts disabled from Google distribution since he never authorized the republication.
• A famous game website terminated a strategic relationship with our client, and we asserted that her contributions were copyright protected creative works for which she deserved compensation.
• Our syndicated national disc jockey client switched web developers and the old web developer asserted copyright ownership of his website.
• Our public employee association client had a falling out with its web developer and the developer took the website it had developed and sold it as its own work.
• An authorized distributor of a house product was terminated and it took our client manufacturer’s website photos and text, used both on its new website, and began selling competing products.
• An online e-marketer for whom we had written its terms of use had its entire website, including our contract, copied and launched by a competitor.
• Our retailer’s product descriptions were stolen and used on a competitor’s website.
• A major real estate industry blog’s content and code was stolen by a competitor.
• Our client found an online job request by a competitor looking for someone to steal its code and content.
• A competitor copied hundreds of images from our client’s site and placed them on its own site.
• An online retailer had its images and product descriptions taken by a competitor.
• Our theatrical design client had its work copied by competitors and sold online to unsuspecting clients.
• A music website was faced with potential copyright infringement claims from music posted by third parties.
• An employee claimed copyright ownership of the company website and threatened to resign and use the site to compete with our client.
• Our physician client’s website content was taken and used by a competing physician on his website.
• An artist retained our firm because his client asserted ownership over work he had done and tried to prevent him from licensing the work to other parties.
• A website owner was accused of using images on his website that had originally been posted by third parties without the appropriate license.
• An attorney practicing as a specialist took content from our attorney client and infringed on our client’s copyright rights by using the materials on his website claiming authorship.
• Both the Indian music label and Indian publishing society purportedly representing the label claimed separate damages against our client for unauthorized streaming of songs on his site.
• A client received a cease and desist from a competitor claiming copyright infringement on the concept and structure of its new website.
• An online fitness company took significant content authored by our client and used it on its own website.
• Product descriptions and images were taken from our client’s automotive industry website and used by a competitor.
• Images licensed from a photographer for use on our client’s website were the subject of efforts by the models to assert copyright infringement and unauthorized commercial exploitation claims.
• A gripe site complaining about our Central American real estate client used images, including our client’s logo, owned by our client.
• A recording artist’s girlfriend, running his website, stole the site when their relationship ended.
• Our online jewelry client selling “inspired by” jewelry was the recipient of a claim by a leading designer for copyright and trademark infringement.

Remember…as a copyright lawyer, we file suits (and defend suits), get websites pulled down without notice (and get them back up), and get competitors blacklisted from search engine advertising and organic indexed results (and get clients back into the engines). As copyright lawyers and copyright attorneys we serve and draft “cease and desist” and lawyer demand letters (and respond to them), assist local counsel, locate the right expert witness, and provide assistance and guidance throughout the entire process of protecting your valuable creative work (and defending against claims of infringement). Copyright infringement (both sides of it) is a huge part of what copyright lawyers do. Contact us and find out what we can do for you as your copyright lawyers and copyright attorneys.

We offer free consultations when you have a business copyright dispute and require an internet expert as a copyright lawyer, copyright attorney or copyright attorneys. Don’t you need the copyright lawyers that online businesses turn to when faced with a tough problem?

Copyright Lawyer Suit Summary

Set forth below is one of our summaries of a United States District Court federal lawsuit. If you are interested in reading about other lawsuits, in the order of most recent Federal Court filings first, you will find a link just below the case. Please understand that all facts, as well as references to the basis of the lawsuit, are our summarization of the allegations made by the party bringing the lawsuit. The facts may prove to be true or not true, and the plaintiff may or may not win the case. The bolded comments are Cybertriallawyer.com’s thoughts about the suit. Pay particular attention to the alleged conduct or practice that has resulted in the litigation. For a small business, litigation is expensive. As a copyright lawyer law firm, we are hired to file and defend suits nationwide, and we can also assist you in minimizing your risk in advance.

HERZBERG v. OFFICE FURNITURE INNOVATIONS, LLC, ET AL. SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS (HOUSTON) 4:08-CV-00508

Let me see if I can get this right. The furniture store worked with a multimedia artist to come up with an image for the furniture store. When it was finished, the artist copyright protected it, and asked for an excessive license fee in the eyes of the furniture store. Do the concepts of a written contract, work made for hire, copyright assignment, and license agreement come to mind? Get the “little details”, like cost and ownership, in writing at the outset.

Plaintiff is a multimedia creator whose primary business is the implementation of theme-driven persuasion campaigns. In October 2006, Defendant Edison approached Plaintiff about designing and preparing an advertising piece for her furniture business. Defendant informed Plaintiff that she was interested in offering a donation to breast cancer research every time a potential customer sat in a display chair. Plaintiff agreed and began working on a unique design to suit Defendant Edison’s purposes. After Defendant Edison approved Plaintiff’s initial design concept, Plaintiff created an image that consisted of a single pink executive chair, arranged to face slightly toward the right and placed in front of a dark background. The phrase “Sit for the Cure” was digitally added to the top of the image. Plaintiff copyrighted his image. Defendant Edison ultimately refused to use Plaintiff’s image because of the cost of the licensing fee. In 2007 Plaintiff discovered that Defendants had started an advertising campaign, which included a website at http://www.sitforthecure.com, which featured a picture that was strikingly similar to Plaintiff’s image.

Plaintiff has filed suit against the Defendants in federal court in Texas, alleging copyright infringement, constructive trust, implied contract, conversion, fraud, and unfair competition. Plaintiff has asked the Court to order the Defendants to provide a full accounting of all profits and to award damages. Plaintiff has also asked that the Defendants be enjoined from using any material that infringes upon his copyright. Additionally, Plaintiff requested an award of attorneys’ fees and costs. Cybertriallawyer.com Cross-Reference Number 1041.

Want to see the latest court filings with Cybertriallawyer.com’s take on the cases? Visit the Cybertriallawyer.com Federal Court Report section dedicated to copyright infringement lawsuits: Copyright Infringement Case Notes. And, if you would like to browse trademark infringement, domain name dispute, and trade secret lawsuits, and get a good idea of who is getting sued for what, you can go to the Traverse Internet Law Federal Court Report Portal.