Copyright Misuse and Preemption

Scope

 * Use this page to list sources related to questions about copyright owners attempting to extend their monopoly beyond the copyrighted work or beyond statutory limits and to questions about whether certain state laws or their enforcement might be constitutionally preempted by federal copyright law.

News / Editorial

 * Daisuke Wakabayashi, Japanese Publishers Threaten to Bite Apple, WSJ.com (12/13/2010)
 * Jared Newman, Pirate Bay Guilty Verdict Upheld, PCWorld (Nov 26, 2010)
 * Verne G. Kopytoff, Oracle Wins Copyright Case with SAP, and $1.3 billion damages, NYTimes (Nov 24, 2010)
 * Verne G. Kopytoff, Oracle-SAP Trial Focuses on Licensing Fees, NYTimes (Nov 8, 2010)
 * Nate Anderson, Obama Admin: It's Time to Make Radio Pay for Its Music, Ars Technica (Apr. 1, 2010).
 * Miguel Helft, Viacom Says YouTube Ignored Copyrights, NY Times (Mar. 18, 2010).
 * David Kravet, Judge Finalizes $675,000 RIAA Piracy Verdict, Won’t Gag Defendant,Wired: Threat Level (Dec. 9, 2009).
 * Wendy Davis, Power Play: Company Again Alleges Facebook Is A Monopoly, MediaPost News (Dec 1, 2009).
 * David Kravets, Obama Wants Computer Privacy Ruling Overturned, Wired: Thread Level (Nov 30, 2009).
 * Paul McNamara, EFF launches 'Takedown Hall of Shame', ComputerWorld (Oct 29, 2009).
 * Techdirt.com, That's Rich: China Accuses Google Of Censorship, Techdirt.com (Oct 27, 2009).
 * Dave Kravets, Blow-Up Over Artist’s Blow-Up of Obama Stipple Drawing, Wired: Threat Level (Oct. 14, 2009).
 * Eriq Gardner, Copyright Battle Comes Home, Law.com (Oct. 8, 2009).
 * David Kravets, Lawsuit: Copyright Filtering Technology Infringes, Wired Thread Level (Sept. 21. 2009).
 * Nate Anderson, Back to school with RIAA-funded copyright curriculum, Ars Technica (Sept. 17, 2009).
 * Chris Foresman, Psystar's amended claims cite Apple's copyright misuse, Ars Technica (Feb. 16, 2009).
 * San Francisco Chronicle, High court tie vote sustains ruling against Costco, Associated Press. San Francisco Chronicle (Dec. 13, 2010).

Legal Briefs / Opinions / Statutes

 * Apple, Inc. v. Psystar, No C 08-03251 (N.D. Cal. 2009). (Apple is not misusing its OSX copyright by tying the OS to Apple hardware)
 * Redbox Automated Retail v. Univ. City Studios, No. 08-00766 (D. Del. Aug. 17, 2009) (on motion to dismiss, copyright misuse claim dismissed because not an affirmative cause of action; antitrust claims may proceed).
 * Health Grades, Inc. v. Robert Wood Johnson Univ. Hospital, Inc., No. 06-02351, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54112, 2009 WL 1763327 (D. Col. Jun. 19, 2009) (holding healthcare provider rankings protectable as compilations of facts and holding claim for breach of contract based on commercial uses of the rankings preempted by the Copyright Act).
 * Altera v. Clear Logic 424 F.3d 1079 (9th Cir. 2005)
 * Assessment Technologies of Wi Llc v. Wiredata Inc 350 F.3d 640 (7th Cir. 2003). (Using a license for a database product to restrain distribution of the public domain data in the database is likely a misuse of copyright.)
 * Alcatel USA, Inc. v. DGI Techs., Inc., 166 F.3d 772 (5th Cir. 1999) (DSC used its copyrights to indirectly gain commercial control over its non-copyrighted microprocessor cards, which was held to constitute misuse).
 * Lasercomb America, Inc., v. Reynolds, 911 F.2d 970, 978 (4th Cir. 1990) (Courts will not protect copyrights that have been misused anticompetitively.)

Scholarship

 * Brett Frischmann and Dan Moylan, The Evolving Common Law Doctrine of Copyright Misuse: A Unified Theory and Its Application to Software, 15 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 865 (2000).
 * Mark A. Lemley, Beyond Preemption: The Law and Policy of Intellectual Property Licensing, 87 Calif. L. Rev. 111 (1999).
 * David Nimmer, Elliot Brown, & Gary N. Frischling, The Metamorphosis of Contract Into Expand, 87 Calif. L. Rev. 17 (1999).
 * Hanna, Ramsey. Misusing Antitrust: The Search for Functional Copyright Misuse Standards, Stanford Law Review, Vol. 46, No. 2, pp. 401-448 (Jan., 1994).