The court granted default judgment against infringement defendants who did not respond to the plaintiff’s lawsuit, but awarded only the minimum in statutory damages and found counsel’s requested fees unreasonable. Background According to its complaint, Plaintiff LHF Productions holds the ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon U.S. District Court - Western District

The court granted default judgment against infringement defendants who did not respond to the plaintiff’s lawsuit, but awarded only the minimum in statutory damages and found counsel’s requested fees unreasonable. Background According to its complaint, Plaintiff LHF Productions holds the ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon U.S. District Court - Western District

A photographer sufficiently stated a claim against Congressman Tom Garrett and his 2016 campaign for the unauthorized use of a photo depicting people crossing the U.S. border with Mexico, a U.S. district court held. Background Plaintiff and photographer Todd Bigelow ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge Norman K. Moon U.S. District Court - Western District

The actions of 28 Chinese entities selling counterfeit goods on the internet did not arise out of the same transaction or occurrence, and they must be severed into individual suits. Background The Defendants, 28 unrelated individuals and entities located in the People’s ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Intellectual Property Judge T.S. Ellis III U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A photographer sufficiently stated a claim against Congressman Tom Garrett and his 2016 campaign for the unauthorized use of a photo depicting people crossing the U.S. border with Mexico, a U.S. district court held. Background Plaintiff and photographer Todd Bigelow ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Copyright Elections Intellectual Property Judge Norman K. Moon U.S. District Court - Western District

A company that obtained a trademark for the phrase “we buy houses” cannot enforce it, because the phrase was used extensively by industry participants to describe a class of services rather than any particular service provider. Background Plaintiff Express Homebuyers ...

Tagged with: Business Law Intellectual Property Judge T.S. Ellis III U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Virginia federal judge has ruled that a film festival’s use of a photograph taken from the internet without permission was fair use, much to the chagrin of the photographer who took the image and others in the photography world. ...

Tagged with: Copyright Intellectual Property Judge Claude M. Hilton U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The “Important Opinions” that appear each week on the front page of Virginia Lawyers Weekly are those chosen by our editors as the most likely to impact law practice or a given subject area of law. Below is a listing, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Banking Bankruptcy Civil Procedure Civil Rights Commercial Constitutional Consumer Protection Contract Corporate Criminal Domestic Relations Employment Evidence Federal Jurisdiction First Amendment Government Immigration Intellectual Property Personal Injury Real Property Search & Seizure Supreme Court of Virginia Traffic U.S. District Court - Eastern District U.S. District Court - Western District Virginia Circuit Courts Virginia Court of Appeals Wills & Trusts

The federal Copyright Remedy Clarification Act’s broad abrogation of states’ sovereign immunity for copyright infringement was not a valid exercise of Congressional authority, either under Article I’s Copyright Clause or § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Background In 1717, the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Intellectual Property Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A foreign company could not establish common-law trademark rights in the United States for the domain “klumba.com” because no American citizens used the company’s service. Hosting Google AdSense on the company’s Ukrainian site also didn’t put its mark in U.S. ...

Tagged with: Business Law Consumer Protection Intellectual Property Judge T.S. Ellis III U.S. District Court - Eastern District