Mr. Brewer was clearly referring to images of works of art, and the
Bridgeman v. Corel decision.
Amalyah Keshet
Head of Image Resources & Copyright Management
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
> But you can't get a declaratory judgment unless there's a case or
> controversy -- a threat to sue the plaintiff. The only remedy I can think
> of is an action for fraud if the claim is false and material, and if you
> have reliance and damages.
>
> I don't know exactly what Mr. Brewer is referring to, but I suspect the
> assertions of copyright ownership that he sees as false are actually thin.
> The copyright protection is limited to the lay-out, font, etc.
>
> John Noble
>
> At 5:40 PM -0400 5/25/06, John T. Mitchell wrote:
>>In a declaratory judgment action that proves false the assertion of
>>copyright, the prevailing party should be entitled to costs and attorneys
>>fees (at the discretion of the court).
>>
>>17 USC 5050: "In any civil action under this title, the court in its
>>discretion may allow the recovery of full costs by or against any party
>>other than the United States or an officer thereof. Except as otherwise
>>provided by this title, the court may also award a reasonable attorney's
>>fee to the prevailing party as part of the costs."
>>
>>Although I am not aware of any declaratory action case in which Section
>>505 costs and fees were awarded, when Dan Fogerty won his defense of a
>>claim of copyright infringement, the Supreme Court very forcefully stated
>>that a prevailing defendant was just as entitled as a prevailing plaintiff
>>would have been, given that it is just as important to prevent copyrights
>>from being asserted beyond their limits as it is to enforce them up to
>>their limits.
>>
>>John
>>
>>John T. Mitchell
>>http://interactionlaw.com
>>
>>
>>
>>On May 25, 2006, at 3:15 PM, Brewer, Michael wrote:
>>
>>>All,
>>>
>>>This is my first post to this list, so forgive me if it is uniformed.
>>>
>>>I am curious as to whether or not those who falsely assert that they own
>>>the copyright to works are in any way liable for that false assertion.
>>>Obviously, those who infringe on the copyright of others are liable for
>>>damages, but are those who assert ownership (thus depriving the public
>>>of free access to use that material) liable for that? Has any case like
>>>this ever gone through the courts?
>>>
>>>I have noticed on a number of occasions institutions asserting copyright
>>>for things that are clearly in the public domain. They may own the
>>>physical item, but, for example, they will attach a copyright statement
>>>to reproductions of that item (I am talking here only about exact
>>>replications of 2 dimensional works, not 3 dimensional works or
>>>photographs of items that could be construed to constitute a "new
>>>work").
>>>
>>>I have no interest in pursuing any person or institution that has
>>>falsely asserted copyright. I am just curious as to how the law would
>>>deal (or has dealt) with this sort of thing.
>>>
>>>Thanks,
>>>
>>>mb
>>>
>>>Michael Brewer
>>>Slavic Studies, German Studies & Media Arts Librarian
>>>University of Arizona Library A210
>>>1510 E. University
>>>P.O. Box 210055
>>>Tucson, AZ 85721
>>>Voice: 520.307.2771
>>>Fax: 520.621.9733
>>>brewerm[_at_]u.library.arizona.edu
>>>
>>>#############################################################
>>>This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
>>> the mailing list <CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org>.
>>>To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <CNI-COPYRIGHT-off[_at_]cni.org>
>>>To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-digest[_at_]cni.org>
>>>To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-index[_at_]cni.org>
>>>To postpone your subscription, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-null[_at_]cni.org>
>>>To resume mail list message delivery from postpone mode, E-mail to
>>><CNI-COPYRIGHT-feed[_at_]cni.org>
>>>Send administrative queries to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-request[_at_]cni.org>
>>>
>>>Visit the CNI-COPYRIGHT e-mail list archive at
>>><https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-COPYRIGHT/>.
>>>
>>
>>
>>#############################################################
>>This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
>> the mailing list <CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org>.
>>To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <CNI-COPYRIGHT-off[_at_]cni.org>
>>To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-digest[_at_]cni.org>
>>To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-index[_at_]cni.org>
>>To postpone your subscription, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-null[_at_]cni.org>
>>To resume mail list message delivery from postpone mode, E-mail to
>><CNI-COPYRIGHT-feed[_at_]cni.org>
>>Send administrative queries to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-request[_at_]cni.org>
>>
>>Visit the CNI-COPYRIGHT e-mail list archive at
>><https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-COPYRIGHT/>.
>
>
> #############################################################
> This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
> the mailing list <CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org>.
> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <CNI-COPYRIGHT-off[_at_]cni.org>
> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-digest[_at_]cni.org>
> To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-index[_at_]cni.org>
> To postpone your subscription, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-null[_at_]cni.org>
> To resume mail list message delivery from postpone mode, E-mail to
> <CNI-COPYRIGHT-feed[_at_]cni.org>
> Send administrative queries to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-request[_at_]cni.org>
>
> Visit the CNI-COPYRIGHT e-mail list archive at
> <https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-COPYRIGHT/>.
>
>
Received on Mon May 29 2006 - 20:35:01 GMT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : Mon Mar 26 2007 - 00:35:56 GMT