Maryland Intellectual Property Lawyer & Attorney : Brian Wm. Higgins : Serving Baltimore, Columbia, Frederick

     Last September, the Copyright Office issued an announcement that it had begun beta testing of its web-based registration system, which was part of a new "electronic Copyright Office" (eCO) program (see Copyright Office Announces Electronic Registration Testing). Beginning July 1, 2008, the Copyright Office will offer its online registration system to the public.  Instruction for making claims to copyrighted works may be found here.

     According to a recent Copyright Office announcement, online registration through the eCO is the preferred way to register basic claims for literary works; visual arts works; performing arts works, including motion pictures; sound recordings; and single serials. Advantages of online filing include a lower filing fee; the fastest processing time; online status tracking of your claim; secure payment by credit or debit card, electronic check, or Copyright Office deposit account; and the ability to upload certain categories of deposits directly into eCO as electronic files.

     To register a claim electronically, go to the Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov and click on the eCO logo shown above.

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     Below are summaries of recent IP-related lawsuits filed in the the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in 2008 (source: Justia).

• Emerson Electric Co. v. John Does 1-10, No. 1:2008cv00734; filed March 20, 2008; assigned to J. Blake

     Plaintiff Emerson Electric, a Missouri company, states "This is a Complaint for an injunction, damages, and other appropriate relief to prevent unknown Defendants from engaging in a widespread fraudulent internet scheme that involves the infringement and misappropriation of Plaintiff’s trademarks. In this scheme, Defendants have impersonated Emerson and its chairman David N. Farr in emails and on internet job boards to trick unsuspecting internet users into believing they have obtained jobs with Emerson. In their supposed capacity as Emerson employees, these victims have – on instruction from Defendants – unwittingly cashed fraudulent United States Postal Service money orders or certified checks on behalf of Defendants. Defendants’ scam has caused Emerson irreparable harm, damaged its reputation, damaged its [EMERSON] mark, caused confusion in the marketplace as to the origin of the job offers and Emerson’s role in the scam, and caused Emerson to incur significant expenses and utilize significant resources in an effort to halt the scammers and stop the fraud."

     Plaintiff alleges trademark infringement under the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1114), false designation of origin under the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)), unfair competition/false advertising under the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)), Maryland common law unfair competition against all defendants.

• VTran Media Technologies, LLC v. Antietam Cable Television, Inc., No. 1:2008cv00739; filed March 21, 2008; assigned to J. Garbis

• Almo Music Corporation et al v. Three Pols, LLC, No. 1:2008cv00747; filed March 25, 2008; assigned to J. Motz 

     This copyright infringement case was filed by plaintiffs Almo Music Corporation, Mighty Underdog Music, Sony/ATV Tunes LLC, Odnil Music Limited, Fifty-Six Hope Road Music Limited, Get Jet Music, Inc., Cherry Lane Music Publishing Co., Inc. and Dimensional Music of 1091 against defendants Three Pols, LLC, Joshua E. Gursky and Grant R. Gursky.  

• Broadcast Music, Inc. et al v. Carullo Steele, Inc., No. 1:2008cv00824; filed April 2, 2008; assigned to J. Bennett

     This copyright infringement case was brought by plaintiff Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), the licensee of copyrighted works owned by co-plaintiffs EMI Blackwood Music, Inc., House of Cash, Inc., Songs of Universal, Inc., EMI Virgin Songs, Inc., Elijah Blue Music, Unichappell Music, Inc., ABKCO Music, Inc., EMI Algree Music Corp., Wayne Hodge, Sony/ATV Songs, LLC, Leon E. Brooks, III and Ronnie Gene Dunn.

     Plaintiffs allege that defendants Carullo Steele, Inc., owner/operator of Freddies Bel Air (Bel Air, MD), and Stephen J. Carullo, Jr., an alleged officer of Carullo Steele, Inc., publicly performed copyrighted works owned/licensed by plaintiffs.

     Max Stadfeld of Offit Kurman, P.A. (Owings Mills, MD) filed the complaint on behalf of the plaintiffs.

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Summary:  Seeking only minimal recognition for his Baltimore Ravens logo design, Baltimore amateur artist ends up seeking certiori from the Supreme Court in his copyright infringement case, winds up with no damages award

     So how much is an NFL franchise team logo worth? Just ask Frederick Bouchat, who sued the Baltimore Ravens and the National Football League Properties (NFLP) over their use and licensing of a logo that closely resembled a drawing Bouchat faxed the Ravens back in 1995. All Bouchat asked in return was a letter of recognition and an autographed helmet, a small reward from a team and League making millions in revenues at the time.

     After a lengthy bifurcated copyright infringement trial, the District Court for the District of Maryland found that the Ravens had infringed Bouchat's copyrighted work. The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the trial court decision. His damage award, however, was zero (and he's still waiting for his recognition letter and autographed helmet). Bouchat then sued the NFL's licensees, and won again. However, he was not so lucky when it came to seeking damages.

     Under 17 U.S.C. § 504(a)(1), a copyright owner may seek actual damages plus any additional profits of the infringer. Under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(1), an award of statutory damages may be made "in a sum of not less than $750 or more than $30,000."

     In this case, Bouchat had little actual damages (he was not making any products using the logo himself), so he sought profits from the Ravens and dozens of NFLP licensees who were selling myriad items containing the "Flying B" logo. The jury found that defendants' income from products containing the Flying B were attributed completely to factors other than the artwork itself, and therefore did not award Bouchat any damages. Moreover, Bouchat was not entitled to an award of statutory damages because he had not registered his copyrighted work before the Ravens' and licensees' infringing conduct began:

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The Register of Copyrights, Marybeth Peters, must have her hands full these days.  As the Office's fifteenth Register, and only the second woman to hold the position, she is overseeing a "reengineering" of many of the Copyright Office's electronic systems, including those that serve the public.  The stated goal of the reengineering program, which started under previous Registers, is to increase the availability of services online and make Office records more promptly available via the Internet.  Those objectives will be implemented by the program's two biggest changes:

• A new copyright records search system, available this month, which will reportedly allow users to electronically access more than 20 million digital records of registrations and recorded documents from 1978 to the present; and
  

• A new online copyright registration portal, available soon, which will provide an alternative to the current paper method of registering new works.

If any of the beta users of these computer systems would like to share their initial thoughts about the new systems, please send them to this author. 

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