Tag Archives: copyright laws

IHOP is suing the International House Of Prayer, the virulently anti-gay group affiliated with whackadoodle preacher Lou Engle, for stealing their famous acronym. The Kansas City, Missouri-based church group “selected and adopted the International House of Prayer name, knowing it would be abbreviated IHOP. IHOP-KC intended to misappropriate the fame and notoriety of the household name IHOP to help promote …

Gay porn giant Titan Media has won a $1.3M copyright infringement judgment (NSFW) against a streaming porn site that was posting clips from their films. A U.S. District Court has awarded Titan Media more than $1.35 million in damages from a tube-site operator whose users infringed the gay adult studio’s intellectual property rights. In addition, Judge Maxine M. Chesney issued …

Talking Heads frontman David Byrne is suing Florida Gov. Charlie “Closet Case” Crist for using the band’s hit 1985 single Road To Nowhere without permission in a campaign ad. Byrne is seeking $1 million in damages from Gov. Charlie Crist, who’s also Florida’s former Attorney General, and his senatorial campaign for use of the song earlier this year in a …

Viacom’s billion-dollar lawsuit against YouTube for copyright infringement is yielding some fascinating details. Even as Viacom was sending Google takedown notices for clips from their shows such as the Colbert Report and the Daily Show, their own marketing teams were posting clips from those very shows and many others. According to a trial claim by YouTube: For years, Viacom continuously …

Google has shut down a number of popular MP3 blogs on its Blogger service for copyright infringement. More shutdowns are promised. Over the course of the past day, the Google-owned blogging service Blogger has shut down a number of popular mp3 blogs, including Pop Tarts Suck Toasted, I Rock Cleveland, LivingEars, and It’s a Rap. If you follow the links …

YouTube has reversed itself and restored NOM’s ad featuring Carrie Prejean. The ad was taken down after Perez Hilton claimed copyright infringement for a 3-second glimpse of his video blog reaction to the Miss USA pageant. For a detailed analysis of YouTube’s ruling, visit Copyrights & Campaigns, which you should note is a site written by John McCain’s former Special …

The Miss California USA pageant doesn’t want NOM using images from the contest on their website. Via TMZ: The Miss Universe Organization just told us they’ve fired off a cease and desist letter to the National Organization for Marriage — after NOM used footage from the Miss USA 2009 pageant in an anti-gay marriage commercial. The commercial — which is …

Hey, remember when NOM went all copyright on everybody’s ass because of those Gathering Storm audition tapes? Check out what you see now when you try to play their new clip featuring Perez Hilton aka Mario Lavandeira.BWA HA HA HA. Never thought I’d say THIS, but Perez Hilton FTMFW!

One of my favorite YouTubers just forwarded me the message he got from YouTube explaining why his clip of Rachel Maddow discussing those NOM audition tapes was pulled for copyright violations. Here’s a bit of “assistant to the director” of NOM Joshua Baker’s complaint about the clip: The copyrighted work at issue is an audition tape produced by the National …

The New York Times reports that Obama Fried Chicken in Brooklyn has caved to the threats of activists. From the restaurant’s perspective, the name change grew out of pride in the new president and a keen sense of commerce. From other perspectives, it was tone-deaf at best, and racist at worst. When the restaurant, Royal Fried Chicken on Rutland Road …

Well, you knew somebody was going to take offense at NYC’s Obama Fried Chicken restaurants, right? Two New York City fried chicken restaurants in predominantly black neighborhoods are under fire for putting President Barack Obama’s name on their signs. City Councilman Charles Barron said Friday that he will organize a demonstration next week outside the Obama Fried Chicken in his …

NYC now has two Obama Fried Chicken outlets – one in Harlem, the other in Brooklyn. Some folks are calling for the president’s people take action against this unauthorized usage of his name; others are betting he’ll just ignore this so as to not seem petty.

As you may have noticed in posts below, HBO is scouring YouTube and removing all clips of the inauguration concert, claiming copyright infringement. Joe Sudbay at AmericaBlog objects: Yesterday, I posted a clip of Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen singing “This Land is Your Land” at the “We Are One” Obama inaugural concert. Perhaps you’ve heard of the concert – …

The DVD bootleggers are all over the Union Square subway station today. If you embiggen, you’ll notice that they have everything currently playing the theaters, including Milk. $5 each, no returns. I imagine that taking their picture is a good way to get stabbed, so I snapped this shot from the safety of the upper level.

Devo wants McDonald’s to whip it out and pay them for appropriating their iconic flowerpot hat costume for a Happy Meal toy. The U.S. rock band Devo is suing McDonald’s over the New Wave Nigel toy the restaurant chain is including in its Happy Meals. The New York Post said the new wave band, whose song “Whip It” was one …

Turns out the rock band Boston isn’t very happy with the Huckabee campaign’s appropriation of their biggest hit. The chief songwriter and founder of the band Boston has more than a feeling that he’s being ripped off by Mike Huckabee. In a letter to the Republican presidential hopeful, Tom Scholz complains that Huckabee is using his 1970s smash hit song …

Gossip blogger Perez Hilton has been dropped by his hosting company, due to their fear of being added to the multiple copyright infringement lawsuits he is currently fighting. The site was dark for a few days, but is back up now on a new service, although with limited functionality and without archives. Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff takes some cheap …