A new published Eleventh Circuit opinion offers an important clarification for photographers, licensing agencies, and the lawyers who represent them. In Great Bowery Inc. v. Consequence Sound LLC, the court held that a copyright owner’s retention of some rights does not automatically defeat an exclusive license as to other rights, vacated summary judgment for the…
High-profile trademark disputes often generate more noise than legal insight. The opposition brief filed in Flagg v. Taylor Swift is different. It is a serious piece of injunction briefing, and for trademark litigators it is worth reading closely because it shows how to attack a preliminary injunction motion from every direction at once. The case…
A new putative class action filed in the Northern District of California takes aim at Cento Fine Foods, Inc. and its popular “San Marzano” canned tomatoes. The complaint, brought by California consumers Mike Andrich and Natalie Gianne, alleges that Cento misled shoppers by marketing certain canned tomato products as premium, authentically certified San Marzano tomatoes…
Texas’s anti-SLAPP statute, the Texas Citizens Participation Act, was designed to protect people from lawsuits aimed at silencing legitimate speech, petitioning activity, and participation in government. (Much like its corollaries in other states, including Illinois.) It was never intended to immunize threatening or harassing conduct simply because that conduct arose in the shadow of a…
Trademark registrations are valuable business assets, but only if the mark is actually being used in commerce when the law requires it. A new precedential decision from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, mailed April 29, 2026, makes clear that announcing an intent to use a mark in the future is not the same as…
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC has continued its aggressive enforcement campaign, filing more than one hundred new copyright infringement lawsuits in federal courts across the country between April 15 and April 17, 2026. The cases, captioned Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe, name anonymous defendants identified solely by their IP addresses and allege unauthorized reproduction and…
Social media can amplify a painful moment far beyond its original audience, and when the subject is a child, the instinct to seek legal accountability is understandable. But not every humiliating online event satisfies the demanding elements of intentional infliction of emotional distress. A recent Illinois appellate decision illustrates that point with unusual care. The…
Loomer v. Maher, Case No. 5:24-cv-625-JSM-PRL (M.D. Fla. Apr. 22, 2026) On April 22, 2026, United States District Judge James S. Moody, Jr. of the Middle District of Florida granted summary judgment in favor of defendants Bill Maher and Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO), dismissing all defamation claims brought by conservative activist and commentator Laura…
It has been more than six years since Netflix unleashed Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness on a captive quarantine audience, but the legal fallout from that documentary is still working its way through the courts. On April 30, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a published opinion in…
Strike 3 Holdings, LLC continued its aggressive litigation campaign in late April and early May 2026, filing 70 new copyright infringement lawsuits against anonymous “John Doe” defendants across multiple federal district courts. The cases, identified only by the IP addresses of the alleged infringers, follow the company’s well-established enforcement model — file first, subpoena the…
On April 28, 2026, the Central District of California handed down a ruling that every fashion brand owner and IP attorney should read. In Bastiat USA, Inc. v. Shein Distribution Corp., Case No. 2:25-cv-05701-ODW (DMKx), Judge Otis D. Wright, II dismissed two of Brandy Melville’s five claims against Shein — without leave to amend —…
On April 28, 2026, FlavaWorks Entertainment, Inc. filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against the operators, administrators, and members of Gay-Torrents.org, a private BitTorrent site. The case is captioned FlavaWorks Entertainment, Inc. v. Deniau et al., Case No. 1:26-cv-04857.If you are a current or…