Posts Tagged: "Twentieth Century Fox"

Copyright Case Against Broadway Musical ‘Anastasia’ Moves Forward

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein entered an opinion and order denying summary judgment in the Southern District of New York in a case involving the stage musical production of Anastasia currently running on Broadway. Judge Hellerstein denied the motion for summary judgement filed by defendants Anastasia LLC and Terrence McNally, the bookwriter for Anastasia, finding that there were material facts in dispute regarding claims that the Broadway musical was substantially similar to a play which was first registered with the U.S. Copyright Office back in 1948.

Twentieth Century Fox Television Wins Trademark Case, ‘Empire’ Does Not Infringe

The 9th Circuit affirmed the title ‘Empire’ was speech protected under the First Amendment and did not infringe trademarks owned by Empire Distribution… The panel instead determined that the title Empire supported both the themes and the geographic setting of the work. The panel also found the the use of the “Empire” mark was not explicitly to mislead customers; the panel noted that the show Empire made no overt claims to Empire Distribution.