copyright-law
47 cases — ← All topics
| Case | Title | Lower Court | Docketed | Status | Flags | Tags | Question Presented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-754 | Rodney Woodland v. Montero Lamar Hill | Ninth Circuit | 2025-12-29 | Pending | burrow-giles-precedent circuit-split copyright-law feist-decision legal-standard photography-copyright | 1. Whether, on an acknowledged Circuit split, copyrightability is a pure question of law, as the Ninth Circuit held below, or includes considerations … | |
| 25-449 | Stephen Thaler v. Shira Perlmutter, Register of Copyrights and Director of the United States Copyright Office, et al. | District of Columbia | 2025-10-14 | Pending | Amici (3)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) | ai-generated-works artificial-intelligence authorship copyright-law creative-works intellectual-property | 1. Whether works outputted by an AI system without a direct, traditional authorial contribution by a natural person can be copyrighted. |
| 25A389 | InfoDeli, LLC, a Missouri LLC, et al. v. Western Robidoux, Inc., a Missouri Corporation, et al. | Eighth Circuit | 2025-10-03 | Presumed Complete | burden-of-proof copyright-law expert-testimony pleading-standards saas-services software-copyright | Whether the Eighth Circuit's interpretation of copyright law for software and SaaS services improperly shifts the burden of proof and pleading standar… | |
| 24A1263 | Designworks Homes, Inc., et al. v. Columbia House of Brokers Realty, Inc., dba House of Brokers, Inc., dba Jackie Bulgin & Associates, et al. | Eighth Circuit | 2025-06-23 | Presumed Complete | architectural-design commercial-use copyright-law fair-use intellectual-property transformative-use | Whether the fair use doctrine under copyright law permits commercial appropriation of an architect's proprietary house plans without compensation or c… | |
| 24-1222 | Courtney Richmond v. Nolan Wiese, et al. | Eighth Circuit | 2025-05-30 | Denied | Response Waived | claim-adjudication copyright-law federal-jurisdiction judicial-discretion product-liability tort-claims | Whether federal courts may decline to adjudicate federal tort and product liability claims, and whether a federal court may dismiss copyright claims w… |
| 24-6839 | Ralph W. Baker, Jr. v. Ta-Nehisi P. Coates, et al. | Second Circuit | 2025-03-25 | Pending | Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | copyright-law expression-of-ideas intellectual-property judicial-interpretation literary-rights originality | Whether the court of appeals correctly interpreted copyright protection for an author's arrangement of words |
| 24-981 | Structured Asset Sales, LLC v. Edward Christopher Sheeran, pka Ed Sheeran, et al. | Second Circuit | 2025-03-13 | Denied | agency-interpretation chevron-deference copyright-law first-impression legal-judgment second-circuit | Did the Second Circuit Court of Appeals erroneously abdicate its responsibility to decide legal questions by applying their own judgment by deferring … | |
| 24-6425 | Cameron Cates v. Jared Shlemovitz, dba Junto Sounds, et al. | Second Circuit | 2025-01-30 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | copyright-law creative-works judicial-interpretation legal-petition procedural-fairness public-domain | How is it that, according to the Second Circuit, 'all on the common wellspring that is the creative works draw public domain,'? What good is copyright… |
| 24-734 | Strategic Technology Institute, Incorporated v. MGMTL, L.L.C. | Fifth Circuit | 2025-01-13 | Denied | Response Waived | circuit-split computer-program copyright-law fair-use menu-command potential-market | Whether the scope of protectable matter in a computer program is a question for the Court or for a jury, and whether a computer program's menu command… |
| 24-711 | Joe Morford v. Maurizio Cattelan | Eleventh Circuit | 2025-01-03 | Denied | access-proof artwork-copying circuit-split copyright-law striking-similarity substantial-likeness | Can portions of artwork establish striking similarity and prove copying without direct evidence of access? | |
| 24-688 | Property Matters USA, LLC v. Affordable Aerial Photography, Inc. | Eleventh Circuit | 2024-12-27 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (2) | attorney-fees copyright-law federal-procedure rule-41 statutory-interpretation voluntary-dismissal | Whether a defendant is barred from recovering attorney's fees under 17 U.S.C. §505 because a plaintiff's Rule 41(a)(1) voluntary dismissal is not a co… |
| 24-569 | BMC Software, Inc. v. International Business Machines Corporation | Fifth Circuit | 2024-11-21 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) | commercial-licensing contract-interpretation copyright-law fifth-circuit-ruling software-licensing trade-restraint | Whether the Fifth Circuit erred in overriding a license agreement's plain language and holding that a contractual provision regarding the use of copyr… |
| 24-537 | Canadian Standards Association v. P.S. Knight Company, Limited, et al. | Fifth Circuit | 2024-11-14 | Denied | Amici (3) | copyright-law government-edicts intellectual-property legal-protection merger-doctrine statutory-interpretation | Whether government edicts and merger doctrines strip copyrightable works of protection under the Copyright Act when incorporated by reference into law |
| 24A358 | Binyomin Rutstein v. Compulife Software, Inc. | Eleventh Circuit | 2024-10-17 | Presumed Complete | copyright-law data-extraction database-access intellectual-property trade-secrets web-scraping | Whether web scraping of publicly accessible online data constitutes an improper means of acquiring trade secrets under the Federal Defend Trade Secret… | |
| 24-5711 | Jesse Regalado v. Town of Trion, Georgia, et al. | Eleventh Circuit | 2024-10-07 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | contract-rights copyright-law eminent-domain federal-rules governmental-immunity judicial-procedure | Whether federal rules 60(b) and 60(d)(3) protect petitioners from fraudulent judgments and whether the government can deny citizens contracts and use … |
| 24-321 | King for Congress v. Laney Griner, et al. | Eighth Circuit | 2024-09-20 | Denied | Response RequestedRelisted (2) | attorneys-fees copyright-law de-forest-test implied-license marek-decision rule-68 | Whether a non-prevailing judgment-defendant can recover attorneys' fees under Rule 68 and Marek in a copyright case where attorneys' fees are defined … |
| 24-5461 | Ronald Ragan, Jr. v. Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, Inc. | Eighth Circuit | 2024-09-05 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-interpretation copyright-law copyright-protection eighth-circuit feist-decision originality-standard | Whether the correct standard of copyrightability is the Constitutional and statutory standard of originality as articulated in Feist or the Eighth Cir… |
| 23A958 | Ronald Ragan, Jr. v. Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, Inc. | Eighth Circuit | 2024-04-25 | Presumed Complete | blank-form-rule circuit-split copyright-law copyrightability creative-works feist-standard | Whether the Copyright Act and Supreme Court precedent permit copyright protection for functional forms and documents with minimal creative elements, r… | |
| 23-565 | Hasbro, Inc., et al. v. Markham Concepts, Inc., et al. | First Circuit | 2023-11-27 | Denied | attorneys-fees circuit-split copyright copyright-act-section-505 copyright-law discretion judicial-discretion kirtsaeng-standard kirtsaeng-v-john-wiley prevailing-party | What is the appropriate standard for awarding attorneys' fees to a prevailing party under Section 505 of the Copyright Act? | |
| 23-474 | Hearst Newspapers, L.L.C., et al. v. Antonio Martinelli | Fifth Circuit | 2023-11-06 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (3) | 17-usc-507(b) civil-claims civil-procedure copyright-act copyright-law discovery-rule judicial-interpretation statute-of-limitations | Whether the 'discovery rule' applies to the Copyright Act's statute of limitations for civil claims |
| 23-5856 | Dmt MacTruong, aka Mac Truong v. Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, et al. | Fifth Circuit | 2023-10-23 | Pending | Response WaivedIFP | abortion civil-rights conspiracy constitutional-rights copyright copyright-law federal-jurisdiction obstruction-of-justice standing texas-heartbeat-act | Does Petitioner have standing to sue Defendants for violating Petitioner's constitutional and civil rights? |
| 22-7743 | Mac Truong v. Kevin Stitt, et al. | Tenth Circuit | 2023-06-09 | Denied | IFP | abortion abortion-rights civil-rights constitutional-violation copyright copyright-law due-process federal-jurisdiction free-speech standing | Does Petitioner have standing to sue Defendants for violating Petitioner's copyrighted intellectual property and constitutional rights? |
| 22-1078 | Warner Chappell Music, Inc., et al. v. Sherman Nealy, et al. | Eleventh Circuit | 2023-05-05 | Judgment Issued | Amici (15) | 17-usc-507-b civil-action civil-actions copyright copyright-act copyright-law judicial-review retrospective-relief statute-of-limitations | Whether the Copyright Act's statute of limitations for civil actions, 17 U.S.C. 507(b), precludes retrospective relief for acts that occurred more tha… |
| 22-6761 | Joshua David Lambert v. Washington | Washington | 2023-02-10 | Denied | IFP | civil-procedure copyright-law criminal-procedure damages due-process jurisdiction legal-notice right-to-counsel sentencing statutory-interpretation waiver-of-counsel | Can a defendant waive counsel to some charges but not all charges, and is the waiver still valid if the defendant is not apprised of the potential pun… |
| 21-1217 | Columbia House of Brokers Realty, Inc., dba House of Brokers, Inc., dba Jackie Bulgin & Associates, et al. v. Designworks Homes, Inc., et al. | Eighth Circuit | 2022-03-08 | Denied | Amici (4)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) | architectural-works copyright copyright-law infringement marketing marketing-materials pictorial-representation pictorial-representations real-estate real-estate-industry statutory-interpretation | Whether floor plans constitute 'pictures, paintings, photographs, or other pictorial representations' of an architectural work within the meaning of 1… |
| 21-1037 | Steve Wilson Briggs v. James Cameron, et al. | Ninth Circuit | 2022-01-25 | Denied | Response Waived | 9th-circuit civil-procedure copyright-law due-process judicial-accountability judicial-interpretation judicial-system legal-authorities shell-corporations standing statutory-interpretation | Whether the 9th Circuit has betrayed the Founders' intents by disregarding established authorities and creating its own copyright law system |
| 21-869 | Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Lynn Goldsmith, et al. | Second Circuit | 2021-12-13 | Judgment Issued | Amici (41)Relisted (2) | artistic-intent copyright copyright-law fair-use judicial-interpretation meaning message second-circuit source-material transformative transformative-work | Whether a work of art is transformative when it conveys a different meaning or message from its source material |
| 21-711 | Markham Concepts, Inc., et al. v. Hasbro, Inc., et al. | First Circuit | 2021-11-15 | Denied | Amici (5)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) | 1909-act 1976-act copyright copyright-law copyright-ownership employer-employee independent-contractor statutory-interpretation work-for-hire | Whether a party that commissions a work from an independent contractor qualifies as the creator's 'employer' within the meaning of the Copyright Act o… |
| 21-5082 | Benjamin Michael Dubay v. Stephen King, et al. | Eleventh Circuit | 2021-07-13 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | aggregation-of-traits character-protection character-traits comic-book-characters constitutional-rights copyright-infringement copyright-law copyright-protection expert-testimony fact-question jury-determination | Whether comic book characters are protected independently from the copyrighted work due to their original and consistent aggregation of traits |
| 20-1616 | ComicMix, LLC, et al. v. Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. | Ninth Circuit | 2021-05-19 | Denied | Response Waived | burden-of-proof circuit-split copyright-act copyright-law de-novo-review exclusive-rights fair-use market-effect | Whether fair use is a right of authors, thus placing the burden on plaintiffs to prove that fair use does not apply on defendants who assert that they… |
| 20-915 | Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P. | Ninth Circuit | 2021-01-08 | Judgment Issued | Amici (14)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (3) | administrative-procedure circuit-court-precedent civil-procedure copyright-law copyright-office copyright-registration ninth-circuit publication-standard registration-requirements standing statutory-interpretation | Did the Ninth Circuit err in its interpretation of 17 U.S.C. § 411 regarding referral to the Copyright Office? |
| 20-696 | Peter Brownstein v. Tina Lindsay, et al. | Third Circuit | 2020-11-19 | Denied | assignment-of-copyright co-authors copyright-act copyright-assignment copyright-law derivative-work exclusive-rights joint-work license-revenue statutory-ownership | Whether the rights of co-authors in a joint work under the Copyright Act can be severed by the subsequent use made by a licensee | |
| 20-132 | The Moodsters Company v. The Walt Disney Company, et al. | Ninth Circuit | 2020-08-07 | Denied | Amici (2)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) | audio-visual-characters circuit-split copyright-law literary-characters originality question-of-fact-vs-law | Whether originality is the proper standard to determine character copyrightability |
| 19-1181 | Estate of Thomas Steinbeck, et al. v. Waverly Scott Kaffaga, as Executrix of the Estate of Elaine Anderson Steinbeck | Ninth Circuit | 2020-03-30 | Denied | Amici (3)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) | 17-usc-304 collateral-estoppel copyright-act copyright-law copyright-termination licensing-rights res-judicata statutory-interpretation vesting | Whether collateral estoppel bars an affirmative defense based on 17 U.S.C. § 304(c)(5) in a second litigation, when the first litigation involving dif… |
| 19-1162 | Addison Thompson v. United States, et al. | Second Circuit | 2020-03-23 | Denied | Response Waived | administrative-claim administrative-settlement civil-rights copyright-act copyright-law due-process exhaustion-of-claims federal-agency federal-government federal-statute sovereign-immunity statutory-interpretation vara visual-artists-rights-act | Whether the USA/USPS is immune from violating an artist's exclusive rights under the Copyright Act |
| 19-7090 | Warren Evans, Jr. v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2019-12-30 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | appeal appellate-procedure attorneys-fees copyright-law copyright-registration effective-assistance effective-assistance-of-counsel federal-rules-of-appellate-procedure flores-ortega 19-708" ineffective-assistance-of-counsel infringement notice-of-appeal publication-status registration-accuracy right-to-counsel roe-v-flores-ortega sixth-amendment Whether a court can invalidate a copyright registr | Whether application of the deadline for filing a Notice of Appeal under the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure violates the appellant's right to cou… |
| 19-708 | Gold Value International Textile, Inc. v. Sanctuary Clothing, LLC, et al. | Ninth Circuit | 2019-12-04 | Denied | Amici (1)Response Waived | 17-usc-411 attorneys-fees copyright-infringement copyright-law copyright-ownership copyright-procedure copyright-registration copyright-validity good-faith publication publication-status statutory-interpretation | Can a court invalidate a copyright registration and terminate a pending case based on a good-faith inclusion of inaccurate information on a copyright … |
| 19-365 | John Barth v. United States | First Circuit | 2019-09-19 | Denied | Response Waived | 4th-amendment civil-rights compensation constitutional-rights copyright copyright-law due-process equal-protection federal-jurisdiction seizure sovereign-immunity takings takings-clause | Violation of Constitutional Rights |
| 19-259 | Maron Pictures Ltd. v. Sam Eigen, et al. | California | 2019-08-28 | Denied | berne-convention contributory-copyright-infringement copyright-act copyright-infringement copyright-law copyright-ownership federal-jurisdiction federal-preemption motion-picture motion-picture-rights preemption state-court state-court-jurisdiction statutory-interpretation | How can any state court make conclusions in relation to motion picture rights without referring to the Copyright Act to make a determination? | |
| 19-5206 | Christine Sawicky v. AMC Networks Inc. | Ninth Circuit | 2019-07-19 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (3)IFP | 14th-amendment appellate-courts appellate-procedure circuit-split constitutional-rights copyright-law due-process pro-se pro-se-litigant | How can a plaintiff win a copyright lawsuit when circuit splits exist throughout the 13 appellate courts? Additionally, how can a circuit split exist … |
| 18-1430 | ReDigi Inc., et al. v. Capitol Records, LLC, et al. | Second Circuit | 2019-05-14 | Denied | Amici (2)Response Waived | copyright copyright-law copyright-reproduction digital-distribution electronic-transfer exhaustion exhaustion-doctrine fair-use first-sale-doctrine reproduction-right statutory-interpretation | Whether lawful purchasers of iTunes music files are entitled to freely alienate those digital phonorecords under the first sale doctrine |
| 18-1150 | Georgia, et al. v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-03-05 | Judgment Issued | Amici (34)Relisted (2) | annotations copyright copyright-law government-edicts judicial-opinions legal-annotations official-code-of-georgia-annotated public-policy state-statutes statutes statutory-interpretation | Whether the government edicts doctrine extends to—and thus renders uncopyrightable—works that lack the force of law, such as the annotations in the Of… |
| 18-956 | Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. | Federal Circuit | 2019-01-25 | Judgment Issued | CVSGAmici (77)Relisted (4) | 17-usc-102 17-usc-107 computer-code computer-program copyright-law copyright-protection fair-use federal-circuit intellectual-property software-development software-interface | Whether copyright protection extends to a software interface |
| 18-728 | Jacobus Rentmeester v. Nike, Inc. | Ninth Circuit | 2018-12-07 | Denied | Amici (3)Relisted (2) | 9th-circuit circuit-split copyright copyright-law copyright-protection creative-expression intellectual-property judicial-interpretation original-creative-judgments original-judgments photographic-originality photography selection-and-arrangement | Is copyright protection for a photograph limited solely to the photographer's 'selection and arrangement' of unprotected elements, as the Ninth Circui… |
| 18-615 | Bruce Munro, et al. v. Lucy Activewear Inc., et al. | Eighth Circuit | 2018-11-13 | Denied | circuit-split civil-procedure copyright copyright-law intellectual-property lanham-act physical-products preemption product-design standing trade-dress | Does copyright preclude Lanham Act product design-trade-dress claims for physical products, and if so, under what circumstance(s)? | |
| 18-321 | TVEyes, Inc. v. Fox News Network, LLC | Second Circuit | 2018-09-12 | Denied | Amici (1) | 17-usc-107 campbell-v-acuff-rose commercial-success copyright-law fair-use market-harm second-circuit statutory-factors transformative-use | Can the transformative use of a copyrighted work cause a cognizable market harm under 17 U.S.C. 107(4) if it is used in connection with a commercially… |
| 18-63 | Steve K. Wilson Briggs v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., et al. | Ninth Circuit | 2018-07-11 | Denied | Response Waived | civil-procedure civil-rights copyright copyright-claims copyright-law court-procedure due-process free-speech intellectual-property internet-guidelines legal-precedent patent precedent standing | Whether by failing to clarify and update internet-access-guidelines, U.S. courts imperil the rights of U.S. intellectual-property-owners |