Susan M. Kornfield, J.D.skornfield@bodmanllp.com
I am one of those fortunate professors whose students are committed to her continuing education. My last two posts discussed the ridiculous assertion by the Associated Press that a painting of Barack Obama by Shepard Fairey (right image, below) infringed a photograph of Barack Obama in which the AP may […]

Susan M. Kornfield, J.D.skornfield@bodmanllp.com
My post about Mr. Obama’s face and the copyright dispute between the Associated Press and artist Shepard Fairey has generated some great discussions off line. Here is a more detailed explanation for my position.About 125 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court looked at the photograph, below, and explained why […]

Susan M. Kornfield, J.D.skornfield@bodmanllp.com
You have heard that the Associated Press is claiming that a photo in which it holds copyright (on the left) has been infringed by a work of art by Shepard Fairey (on the right). Now, you might look at the image on the left and then the image on the right […]

Susan M. Kornfield, J.D.skornfield@bodmanllp.com
Several years ago, I was listening to a radio interview with Grandmaster Flash. He was talking about what it was like — musically, conceptually — to be present at the moment of hip hop creation. It was a great interview and he had an interesting perspective on […]

Susan M. Kornfield, J.D.skornfield@bodmanllp.com
This is a story about how an Ann Arbor publisher saved the day for a national cultural institution, beating out a old-line east coast publisher by being smart, fast, creative, and business-minded.
Earlier this year, one of my clients (a national museum) was hosting an international conference and desired to publish the conference […]

Susan M. Kornfield, J.D.skornfield@bodmanllp.comMusic sampling is theft. Sampling is stealing. Sampling is lazy. Sampling is criminal. If you want to sample, get a license!Those statements are bunk. Yet, at the moment, in the eyes of federal judges, they are an accurate statement of U.S. copyright law.Look, I’ll be the first […]

Susan M. Kornfield, J.D.
skornfield@bodmanllp.com
I’m back, and I’ve missed you. This week I learned of the next in the continuing series of [insert adjective here] business decisions involving bloated claims of intellectual property rights. This one is brought to you by Dr. Seuss (or his attorneys, we don’t really know).It involves the town of Louisville, Kentucky. […]

Susan M. Kornfield, J.D.skornfield@bodmanllp.comWhat might be subject of such a title as “Morally Reprehensible”?
The planned execution of a man for whom most of the witnesses testifying against him have now recanted their testimony, and for which there is no DNA, no fingerprint evidence and no murder weapon?
How about teens beating homeless men for […]

 
Susan M. Kornfield, J.D.
skornfield@bodmanllp.com
The content below is not original to me (except the closing paragraph).  But I wish it were.  Thanks to Maitri Venkat-Ramani, author of Vatulblog.  It is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works License.

Subject: I’m a little confused 
I’m a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight. 
If you […]

 
Susan M. Kornfield, J.D.
skornfield@bodmanllp.com
Thank you SNL for reminding us of the beauty of the First Amendment.   (Scroll down to the video.  Some out-of-touch NBC reps made Youtube take down the video so you have to watch it here and perhaps decide to purchase some Splenda.) 
 
Students, I am counting on you to save this country from itself.  Get registered, get […]