fair-use
23 cases — ← All topics
| Case | Title | Lower Court | Docketed | Status | Flags | Tags | Question Presented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25A446 | Rodney Woodland v. Montero Lamar Hill | Ninth Circuit | 2025-10-17 | Presumed Complete | copyright-infringement fair-use ninth-circuit originality photographic-copyright sui-generis-rule | Whether the Ninth Circuit's sui generis rule for determining photographic copyright infringement improperly restricts the scope of copyright protectio… | |
| 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… | |
| 24-1040 | Elliot McGucken v. Valnet, Inc., a Canadian Corporation, dba TheTravel.com | Ninth Circuit | 2025-04-01 | Denied | Amici (2)Response Waived | copyright-infringement fair-use public-display statutory-interpretation technological-process unauthorized-use | Whether the exclusive right to publicly display a copyrighted work, 17 U.S.C. § 106(5), is infringed when a website operator publicly shows a copyrigh… |
| 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… |
| 23-958 | Joshua Moon, et al. v. Russell G. Greer | Tenth Circuit | 2024-03-04 | Denied | contributory-infringement copyright-infringement fair-use first-amendment material-contribution metro-goldwyn-mayer-studios-v-grokster takedown-notice | Whether receipt of a takedown notice alone is sufficient to impute actual knowledge of copyright infringement to its recipient | |
| 22-531 | Alan Wofsy, et al. v. Vincent Sicre de Fontbrune, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Yves Sicre de Fontbrune, et al. | Ninth Circuit | 2022-12-08 | Denied | circuit-split copyright-infringement creativity fair-use first-fair-use-factor originality-standard reproduction-rights scholarly-work third-fair-use-factor | Whether a scholarly book offered for sale is a non-commercial work under the first fair use factor | |
| 22-5568 | Douglas Gordon v. United States | First Circuit | 2022-09-13 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | copyright-infringement criminal-conviction criminal-law evidence fair-use first-circuit jury-instructions orphan-works sufficiency-of-evidence willful-conduct | Whether the sufficiency of the evidence supported the jury's finding that Mr. Gordon acted willfully |
| 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 |
| 21-660 | Freelancer International Pty Limited, et al. v. Upwork Global, Inc., et al. | Ninth Circuit | 2021-11-03 | Denied | Response Waived | counterfeit-mark fair-use fair-use-defense irreparable-harm preliminary-injunction retroactive-statute statutory-interpretation trademark trademark-law | Whether the courts may rewrite the trademark statute to include a fair use defense for use of an incontestable mark to describe users |
| 21-5223 | Donnell Bledsoe v. CBS Television Network, et al. | Ninth Circuit | 2021-07-28 | Denied | Relisted (2)IFP | civil-procedure constitutional-rights content-moderation copyright-infringement data-collection digital-privacy fair-use fourth-amendment intellectual-property privacy-policy social-media user-consent | Whether the plaintiff's copyright and other intellectual property rights were violated by the defendants' unauthorized use of the plaintiff's content … |
| 21-6 | Lawrence Marano v. The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Second Circuit | 2021-07-06 | Denied | Response Waived | attribution commercial-use copyright-fair-use copyright-infringement fair-use licensing-market statutory-factors transformative-use | Whether The Metropolitan Museum of Art's commercial use of a photograph was sufficiently transformative to warrant fair use |
| 20-8308 | Wilhelmina Montgomery v. NBC Television, et al. | Second Circuit | 2021-06-15 | Denied | Relisted (2)IFP | civil-procedure copyright-infringement due-process fair-use jury-trial pro-se-litigation procedural-due-process service-of-process summary-dismissal summary-judgment visual-evidence | As, I, the pro se Plaintiff-Appellant pointed out in my First Amended Complaint (Doc. 9) and in my Second Amended Complaint (Doc. 51) two (2) differen… |
| 20-1680 | ACI Information Group v. MidlevelU, Inc. | Eleventh Circuit | 2021-06-03 | Denied | Response Waived | copyright-infringement copyright-registration fair-use fraud implied-license internet-publication internet-publications statutory-interpretation statutory-mandate | Whether a party has an implied license to use and redistribute internet content that an author has made freely available without any effort to protect… |
| 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… |
| 20-1448 | Donna Corbello v. Franki Valli, et al. | Ninth Circuit | 2021-04-16 | Denied | copyright-estoppel copyright-infringement factual-work fair-use fiction first-publication ninth-circuit-doctrine original-expression public-claims unpublished-biography | Whether the century-old equitable doctrine of copyright estoppel may be invoked to deny protection to original expression in an unpublished biography | |
| 19-8459 | Todd Erling Becker v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2020-05-14 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | civil-procedure copyright-infringement damages fair-use intellectual-property substantial-similarity | Whether the lower court erred in its application of the 'substantial similarity' test in a copyright infringement case |
| 19-560 | Jennie Nicassio v. Viacom International, Inc., et al. | Third Circuit | 2019-10-29 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (2) | actual-copying circuit-split copyright-infringement fair-use fairness idea-expression-dichotomy originality plot-elements scenes-a-faire wrongful-appropriation | Whether the scénes-à-faire evidence exclusion for actual copying should extend to all plot elements naturally flowing from a simple formulation of the… |
| 18-1557 | William James, et al. v. Barbara Hunt, et al. | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-06-20 | Denied | Response Waived | abuse-of-discretion civil-procedure civil-rico copyright-act copyright-infringement creative-rights due-process fair-use first-amendment intellectual-property licensing plagiarism | Whether literary works are protected under copyright law similarly to music sampling |
| 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 |
| 18-9089 | Itoffee Gayle v. Home Box Office, Inc., et al. | Second Circuit | 2019-05-02 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | appellate-review civil-procedure copyright-infringement due-process fair-use federal-jurisdiction first-amendment intellectual-property motion-to-dismiss second-circuit standing | Whether the plaintiff's intellectual property was improperly featured in the defendant's (HBO) series, Vinyl |
| 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 |
| 18-6129 | Arika Matelyan v. CD Baby Distribution Co. | Ninth Circuit | 2018-09-28 | Dismissed | IFP | civil-procedure civil-rights copyright copyright-infringement due-process fair-use first-amendment intellectual-property standing | Whether the copyright holder has exclusive rights over the reproduction and distribution of their work |
| 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… |