Weintraub’s copyright attorneys advise clients on a wide range of issues including copyright registration, assignment, licensing, and strategy. Our experienced attorneys also handle a broad scope of copyright litigation, from representing copyright owners whose works have been infringed to defending those accused of copyright infringement.
To that end, Weintraub copyright attorneys are intently involved in the complex issues surrounding computer software and the high-tech industry, including issues relating to the scope of copyright protection, enforcement, acquisition, and licensing. Weintraub has also represented and advised clients in licensing and litigation matters relating to copyright protection for a wide variety of commercial items such as toys, electronics, and educational materials.
Weintraub brings extensive experience protecting copyrighted works for the entertainment industry, including protecting literary works, television and film works, visual artwork, video games, sound recordings, and multimedia products. We represent clients from industries such as television, film, music, publishing, websites, video games, and software. The firm has assisted clients in all forms of media and copyrightable works, including digital content, audiovisual presentations, software, film, literature, images, photography, and recorded music and sounds.
We register copyrights, expedite applications, record documents, and perform title searches. We also draft and negotiate agreements involving copyrighted works, including joint-development agreements, licenses, assignments, rights clearance, and distribution agreements. We advise on copyrightability, fair use, infringement, ownership and title, notice, security interests, and foreign protection. We have extensive experience in social media and other on-line issues and guide our clients through constantly changing best practices in this field.
Our services include:
Preparing and negotiating licenses and transfers, including for software and entertainment content
Litigation of copyright infringement cases
Copyright registration and protection
Fair use, open source counseling, and other software related issues
Ownership and work-made-for-hire counseling
Derivative works, distribution, and public performance rights
In an August 22, 2023, article for The Information, Weintraub shareholder and IP attorney Scott Hervey provided guidance on what can be copyrighted under existing U.S. Copyright Office rulings when it comes to AI-generated material. Only the human-created portion of work containing AI-generated material can be copyrighted. – Scott Hervey…
Jo Dale Carothers was recently quoted in a Law360 article after a recent Precendential Opinion Panel decision for patent petitions for inter partes review (IPR) on whether copyright and ISBN are sufficient evidence for printed reference material as having been “publicly available”. Jo Dale speaks about the ruling stating, “I…
Weintraub is pleased to announce that Jo Dale Carothers has been recognized as a 2019 San Diego Super Lawyer and Eric Caligiuri as a 2019 Rising Star. Jo Dale Carothers is a shareholder and chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property group. An intellectual property litigator and registered patent attorney, Jo…
Weintraub is pleased to announce that Jo Dale Carothers has been recognized as a 2019 San Diego Super Lawyer and Eric Caligiuri as a 2019 Rising Star. Jo Dale Carothers is a shareholder and chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property group. An intellectual property litigator and registered patent attorney, Jo…
Download: WTWB Merger Press Release FINAL.pdf Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin Law Corporation and Waldron & Bragg, a professional corporation, have jointly announced the merger of their business law and litigation firms. The combined firm will be named Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin and have offices in Sacramento, Calif., San…
For a third year in a row, Weintraub Tobin is working to raise funds for cardiovascular diseases and stroke by partaking in the American Heart Association Heart Walk on Saturday, September 21 at William Land Park. Our attorneys and staff work hard during the summer months to gear up for…
OpenAI, Inc. develops artificial intelligence software involving large language models (“LLM”) known as ChatGPT. In 2023, several authors, including the comedian Sarah Silverman, filed putative class action lawsuits alleging various copyright infringement claims. On February 12, 2024, a District Court in the Northern District of California issued its Order and…
The Ninth Circuit recently addressed the issue of whether parties can contractually agree to shorten the statute of limitations period for bringing a copyright infringement claim. In an unpublished opinion in the case, Evox Productions, LLC v. Chrome Data Solutions, LP (filed Feb. 10, 2023), the Ninth Circuit held that…
In Jacobs et al v. The Journal Publishing Company et al, 1-21-cv-00690, District Judge Martha Vazquez of the District Court of New Mexico recently held Plaintiffs’ twenty-two-month delay in filing suit rebutted any presumption of irreparable harm for alleged copyright violations, and accordingly denied Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. In…
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down many patents on the grounds that they are invalid as directed to an abstract idea, relying on the Supreme Court’s Alice decision. In In re Elbaum (Fed. Cir. 12/20/2023) 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 33719, the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial…
In December 2023, the California Civil Rights Department (“CRD”) filed the first-of-its-kind lawsuit under the California Fair Chance Act (“Act”) against Ralphs Grocery Store (“Ralphs”) in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Background Re: the Act. The Act (sometimes referred to as the “Ban the Box” law) went into effect…
On February 12, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) issued guidance on the patentability of inventions developed with the assistance of artificial intelligence, saying that a human must have made a “significant contribution” to the invention. The USPTO explained that while AI-assisted inventions are not categorically unpatentable,…
California law requires private employers with 100 or more employees and/or 100 or more workers hired through labor contractors to annually report pay, demographic, and other workforce data to the Civil Rights Department (CRD). This year, the pay data reporting portal opened on February 1, 2024, and employers have until…
The holding in the Supreme Court case, Jack Daniels Properties v VIP Products, the case of the infringing Bad Spaniels dog toy, limits the applicability of the Rogers test. A recent case in the Ninth Circuit, Punchbowl Inc v. AJ Press, addressed the interplay between the decision in Jack Daniels…
In a January 31st article for The Daily Journal, Weintraub attorney Jacqueline M. Simonovich writes about California’s new civility MCLE requirement. While civility training can focus on the “link between civility and bias,” it can also focus on broader forms of incivility. Jacqueline suggests that education on bias-based incivility should…
Last October, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1076 into law and it became effective as of January 1, 2024. AB 1076 was the Legislature’s attempt to codify the California Supreme Court’s 2008 decision, Edwards v. Arthur Anderson LLP, which held that non-compete agreements in the employment context are unenforceable…
Long-time blog readers and CEN watchers will recall that for the last several years, we have been watching several cases discussing whether Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) claims may be stricken as unmanageable. First, in the Fall of 2021, an appellate court determined that trial courts have inherent authority to…