Astrolabe, Inc. an astrology (not astronomy) company based in Massachusetts is claiming copyright ownership to the world’s historical time zone data. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts, Astrolabe has sued Arthur David Olson and Paul Eggert, the founding contributor and current maintainer of the TZ Database which is used by computer programs and operating systems around the world to calculate historical time zone information. Astrolabe is apparently claiming it owns the factual […]

Photographer Janine Gordon (“Gordon”) filed a lawsuit against rival art photographer Ryan McGinley (“McGinley”) claiming that McGinley infringed more than 150 of her photographs.  Gordon also sued three galleries that exhibited McGinley’s works and Levi Strauss & Co., which used certain of the McGinley photographs in advertising campaigns. Gordon alleged in her complaint that McGinley’s photographs are substantially similar to hers and, in fact, represent a pattern of infringement. Side-by-side examples were dissected in detail […]

Warner Bros., owner of the copyrights to the films Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, sued a group of defendants, including AVELA, for copyright infringement of those films.  AVELA obtained copies of movie posters and lobby cards from Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz which AVELA claimed were in the public domain.  AVELA then took those purported public domain images and created re-production posters and sold them.  In addition […]