3 Count: Legal Cobbler

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1: Adam Sandler Movie Entity Owes Legal Fees for Copyright Claim

First off today, Peter Leung at Bloomberg BNA reports that Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld both the dismissal of a copyright lawsuit filed by Cobbler Nevada LLC as well and the legal fees that the company now owes.

Cobbler sued Thomas Gonzales alleging that Gonzales had pirated the Adam Sandler film The Cobbler. However, the evidence Cobbler based its decision on, the IP address of the alleged infringer, didn’t lead go Gonzales’ home but to a foster care center that he ran. Cobbler pressed the case regardless, even though Gonzales himself was neither the infringer nor could identify the infringer, and even attempted to sue for contributory copyright infringement.

The lower court, however, disagreed strongly with Cobbler’s’ approach and threatened to dismiss the lawsuit. As a result, Cobbler withdrew the case but not before the court ruled Cobbler should pay Gonzales’ legal costs. Cobbler appealed that verdict but now the Ninth Circuit has sided with the lower court, ruling that they owe some $17,000 in legal fees.

2: KSI vs. Logan Paun: Copyright Issues Hit YouTube as Reaction Videos Disappear from Site

Next up today, Andrew Griffin at The Independent reports that the recent boxing match between YouTubers KSI and Logan Paul is creating new copyright headaches for some YouTubers as their reaction videos and coverage of the match are being taken down.

The pair had the first of two highly anticipated boxing matches over the weekend. The match, which ended in a draw, was available for live streaming on YouTube for $10 though it was widely pirated on Twitch and other platforms. In the aftermath of the match, other YouTubers have been making reaction videos or simply covering the match, only to have their videos removed on copyright grounds.

While it’s no surprise that copyright protection companies are being used to remove infringements of the videos, many YouTubers are complaining that the takedowns (and copyright strikes) are irrespective of how much of the fight they used. According to one YouTuber, even a video with just still images was ordered removed. 

3: CBS Accused of Plagiarism Over ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

Finally today, John Latchem at Media Play News reports that an Egyptian video game developer has filed a lawsuit against CBS Corp over the TV show Star Trek: Discovery claiming that it uses plot elements introduced in a game he created. 

The lawsuit, filed by independent developer Anas Abdin, claims that Discovery used elements from his game Tardigrades, which was first published on Steam Greenlight in 2014. According to Abdin, Discovery has a plot element where the ship uses a giant tardigrade (normally a microscopic organism) to transport a ship across the galaxy. He claims that, as well as other concepts, were taken from his game.

In addition to CBS, Abdin lists Netflix, which streams the show internationally, as a defendant. CBS has not responded to the lawsuit.

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