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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Trademark and Copyright

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Tuesday, July 2, 2024

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$347.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE course will guide counsel on sublicenses and unintended sublicenses through social media and IP rights implications. The panel will discuss recent litigation that demonstrates the risks to IP rights and steps that can be taken to mitigate these risks. The panel will also discuss third-party license managers and their involvement in social media disputes.

Faculty

Michael D. Hobbs
Partner
Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP

Mr. Hobbs focuses his practice on intellectual property, dividing his time between litigation and client counseling in the fields of trademark, copyright, false advertising, and unfair competition law.  He has experience in negotiating complex trademark and copyright licenses, in litigation before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and with large-scale trademark clearance and registration projects. He is frequently invited to speak at industry conferences and on panels on current IP issues in industries such as sports, entertainment, technology and media.

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Janet B. Linn
Counsel
Tarter Krinsky & Drogin Llp

Ms. Linn is an intellectual property litigator with more than 25 years of experience trying and litigating patent, trademark, unfair competition and trade secret cases in a broad range of technologies, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, consumer products and mechanical devices. She has extensive experience in pharmaceutical (Hatch-Waxman) patent litigation, and has acted as trial counsel in patent, trade secret and antitrust actions involving pharmaceuticals with annual billion dollar sales. Ms. Linn is also experienced in trademark prosecution, inter partes proceedings, false advertising and copyright litigation. She is currently the Vice Chair of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Section of the New York State Bar Association. From 2010 to 2013, she was the Chair of the Patents Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

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Description

Both individual and corporate social media account holders often take steps to get as much attention as possible. While this use of social media may be a relatively inexpensive way to advertise, it is not without risks. Using social media platforms can have unintended consequences that put intellectual property rights at risk.

A federal district court determined a professional photographer, who owns the copyright to a photo, unknowingly granted a sublicense to a company that allowed it to embed her photo in an article after the photographer denied the company's request for a license. Sinclair v. Ziff Davis L.L.C. and Mashable Inc. (S.D.N.Y. 2020). The court concluded that the photographer's post of her photo on her Instagram account put her photo at risk and, ultimately, resulted in relinquishing her IP rights. Under Instagram's terms and conditions, the court found, users can use an API to access and share content posted by other users. But, in the case of McGucken v. Newsweek (S.D.N.Y. 2020) the court reached a different conclusion. In that case, the court found that an artist who posts her work to Instagram, while licensing her IP rights in the work to Instagram under its terms and conditions, does not also necessarily lose her IP rights to third parties claiming to be sublicensees of Instagram. The Sinclair court, relying on McGucken, then reconsidered its decision and allowed the artist to proceed with her case.

More companies, artists, photographers, and others have turned to social media to promote their products and art. Further, there has been an uptick in copyright infringement and third-party "license manager" involvement in social media disputes. Counsel must understand how to protect works and mitigate risks that arise when using social media.

Listen as our authoritative panel of IP attorneys examines sublicenses and unintended sublicenses through social media and IP rights implications. The panel will discuss recent litigation that demonstrates the risks to IP rights and steps that can be taken to mitigate these risks. The panel will also discuss third-party "license managers" and their involvement in social media disputes.

Outline

  1. Sublicenses and social media
  2. Unintended sublicenses through social media
  3. Implications for IP rights
  4. Recent litigation
  5. Steps to mitigate risk
  6. Third-party license managers in social media disputes

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • What are best practices to protect IP rights from unintended sublicenses by social media site users without losing the marketing advantages?
  • What lessons can be learned about sublicenses through social media from recent litigation?
  • What steps can counsel take to mitigate the risk to IP rights from other social media users?