Cases

CIS cases

Aguiar v. Webb

Plaintiff William V. Aguiar III, sued documentary filmmaker Floyd Webb, alleging that Webb's promotional website and film trailer for his upcoming film infringe on copyrights and trademarks that Aguiar claims to own. Webb's film, "The Search for Count Dante," will chronicle the real-life odyssey of martial arts master John Keehan, a.k.a.

Anderson, Thomas

Anime Music Videos

DMCA advice to client. Opened 1/6/06.

Apple v. Does

Apple Computers has issued subpoenas to the ISP of a journalist who reports on Apple products, demanding the identity of a source for a story on an Apple product. One of the issues in the case is whether a journalist who publishes on a weblog can claim the "newsgatherers' privilege" recognized by the federal Constitution, or the journalist's shield that is part of California's Constitution.

Brave New Films v. Viacom

Renowned filmmaker Robert Greenwald created an excellent parody of the Colbert Report and posted it on YouTube. Viacom (the parent company of Comedy Central) detected the segments of the Colbert Report included (lawfully) in that parody, and delivered a takedown notice to YouTube, despite the fact Greenwald's parody is a paradigm case of fair use.

Cell Phone Unlocking

DMCA exemption application to Copyright office. Opened 11/05.

ChillingEffects.org

Stanford students work with other law schools to develop an on-line legal resource for Internet publishers. Students are responsible for maintaining relevant and current information for fan fiction writers, web sites that report on video game copyright infringement, artists that use found objects, images and sounds, anonymity and anyone concerned about the line between property and creativity.

Cranage, Anna

The Truth About Peter Pan. Opened 4/17/06.

Damon's Day

Fair Use / Rights of Publicity. Opened 10/05.

DirecTV

Application of interception laws to purchasers of smart card devices. Opened 3/05.

DirecTVDefense.org

The Cyberlaw Clinic is providing legal services to client the Electronic Frontier Foundation in building and maintaining a website to provide legal information to innocent purchasers of smart card technology who have received cease and desist letters from satellite TV company DirecTV.

Fuller v. Doe

Anonymous speech. Opened 12/05.

Golan v. Gonzales

The CIS filed this suit on behalf of a University of Denver, Colorado conductor and others, seeking to have the CTEA and the Uruguay Round Agreements Act declared unconstitutional. The suit challenges Congress’s ability to reclassify works that have already passed into the public domain as copyrighted, thereby giving ownership back to private entities.

Javier Prato

The Cyberlaw Clinic is representing filmmaker Javier Prato in his “fair use” incorporation of copyrighted audio materials into a short film entitled “Jesus Christ: The Musical” (available at www.javierprato.com). Universal has alleged—via a cease and desist letter in August 2006—that Mr.

Kahle v. Gonzales

In this case, two archives ask the U.S.

King, Anastasia

CSPAN footage issue.

Lennon v. Premise Media

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a controversial documentary about a contentious issue: whether proponents of intelligent design are being unfairly silenced in academia and beyond. It has been shown on more than 1000 theater screens nationwide, and its producers have drawn praise from some circles and scorching criticism from others.

Maxed Out

Film: credit card scam. Opened 2/15/06.

Night Kitchen, Inc.

Orphan Works

The US Copyright Office is asking the public to comment on whether problems raised by "orphan works" require a solution, and what that solution might look like. Orphan works are — broadly speaking — any copyrighted works where the rights holder is hard to find.

Outside the Wire

Film: Adam Singer: The War Tapes. Opened 10/05.

Patent-Busting

EFF project. Opened 4/06.

People v. McInnis

The CIS Cyberlaw Clinic is working to establish that people have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their digital communications and that technological surveillance requires probable cause by mounting a Fourth Amendment challenge to the admissibility of email messages, cell phone subscriber records, and video surveillance in a criminal case.

Poulsen v. US

The Cyberlaw Clinic is representing a reporter for Wired News in a Freedom of Information Act case against the Bureau of Customs and Border Patrol.

Rowling v. RDR Books

The HP Lexicon began as a website on which contributors collected information about people, places and things that inhabited the Harry Potter universe – as described in J.K. Rowling’s books, the movies based on those books, and other associated products.

Shloss v. Estate of Joyce

Fair use litigation. Opened 1/9/06

Spyware Litigation

Vargas v. BT

Plaintiff Ralph Vargas, a drummer in New York City, and his producer, Bland Ricky Roberts, claim that Brain Transeau’s (“BT”) drumbeat “Aparthenonia,” which appeared in the jingle of a Celebrex commercial, is a sample of a basic, two-second drum loop they recorded and released on a vinyl album that they allegedly sold to small New York City record shops for a few months in 1994.

Wal-Mart Cease and Desist Order

Walocaust. Opened 1/17/06.

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