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Zvi S. Rosen

@zvirosen.bsky.social
743 followers 201 following 186 posts

Associate Professor, UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law and Faculty Director of Franklin Pierce Center for IP. Copyright & Trademark Law (especially but not exclusively history), plus bankruptcy/business law and property. Inter alia.

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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hey folks, I'll be in DC tomorrow for this - see some of you there! It will be livestreamed as well. www.law.gwu.edu/future-copyr...
law.gwu.edu
The Future of the Copyright Act Symposium | GW Law | The George Washington University
Over the course of two days, leading copyright scholars from around the country will meet at GW Law to present and comment on fourteen papers.
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IPPI: The IP Policy Institute @ippi-akron.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Join us on Oct. 7 for a webinar on "The Future of Copyright's Substantial Similarity Doctrine: Insights from the En Banc Rehearing in Sedlik v. Von Drachenberg" ✅ Learn more, register, & submit questions: blogs.uakron.edu/ualawip/even... #Copyright #IP #Sedlik #Photography #Tattoo #Art
Informational image. Logo: IPPI: The IP Policy Institute: University of Akron School of Law. Promoting progress in innovation & creativity through scholarship & policy. Webinar: "The Future of Copyright's Substantial Similarity Doctrine: Insights form the En Banc Rehearing in Sedlik v. Con Drachenberg." Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. 1:30-3:00 PM EDT. Teams Webinar. Headshots for 5 speakers. Bruce Boyden, Assoc. Prof. of Law, Marquette U Law School, Amicus in support of neither party. Eleanor M. Lackman, Partner, Mitchell Silbererg & Knupp LLP, Co-Chair of MSK's IP Practice Group. Bill Patry, Of Counsel, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, Counsel for plaintiff-appellant Jeff Sedlik & author of "Patry on Copyright." Dr. Jessica Silbey, Assoc. Dean for Intellectual Life, Prof. of Law, Hon. Frank R. Kenison Distinguished Scholar in Law, Boston U School of Law, Amicus supporting appellees and affirmance. Sandra Aistars, Distinguished Counselor in Residence & Prof. of Law, IPPI, Moderator.
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Interesting stuff - Benjamin Franklin in 1785 asking William Strahan to assess the value of the "Copy Right" in a newspaper with 8000-10000 subscribers. Presumably he means what we'd now call the trademark? founders.archives.gov/documents/Fr...
founders.archives.gov
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Jotwell @jotwell.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Jotwell IP: Michael W. Carroll, Distinguishing the Historical Roots of Goodwill From Trademark Law’s Origins, JOTWELL (September 10, 2026) (reviewing Barbara Lauriat, Borrowing Goodwill, 67 Boston College L. Rev. 1127 (2026)), ip.jotwell.com/distinguishi....
Michael W. Carroll
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Really interesting, and I'd self-promotingly suggest it goes well with my history of copyright law's interaction with the creations of these early systems. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... - RACTER for instance wrote a book, which the Copyright Office registered without complaint as TX0001454063.
The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed copyright application, where William Chamberlain claims authorship as "programmed computer to write entire text."  Joan Hall claims authorship for the illustrations.
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
For those of you teaching Johnson v. M'Intosh this year, here's a Claude-assisted map of the land purchases from the case. This is based on Sheila Simon's work on the case, which I recommend to everyone: law.siu.edu/_common/docu...
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Seeing Ex Parte Hennen discussed today in the Perlmutter v. Blanche briefs reminded me that I had a scan of the clerk of the Supreme Court's letter from that case in my files. Here it is - not much but interesting. The docket is here for reference: www.courtlistener.com/docket/70345...
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Kind of interesting to see what databases were on Lexis in 1982: archive.org/details/lexi...
archive.org
Lexis Libraries: 1982
A list of libraries in the Lexis service in 1982, with their add date.
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Nice list from of microfilm which has been scanned, with links, from the National Archives College Park location. If you're doing research give it a look - there's so much here: www.archives.gov/files/colleg...
archives.gov
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
I went back to the 2009 DMCA hearings. They were online here but I synchronized the transcripts to the audio and uploaded them as video files with subtitles, available here.
youtube.com
DMCA 1201 Hearings from 2009 - Day 1 - May 1, 2009
YouTube video by Zvi S. Rosen
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
It doesn't get a lot of attention, but the 1949 amendments to the copyright law, although aimed at increasing international registrations, had substantial other impacts as well. In particular, the regulations regarding useful articles were adjusted following the act: www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/...
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alex roberts @lexlanham.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
federal court finds rebel ice cream infringed & diluted the trade dress for van leeuwen ice cream, enjoining rebel's use of its current packaging & awarding van leeuwen $23.79 million in damages www.bloomberglaw.com/product/blaw...
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
I've made a site to search the federal case files held by the US National Archives for New England in Boston/Waltham up to 1917 or so, based on the index prepared in-house by them. Enjoy: zrosen.usnh.domains/bostoncasefi...
zrosen.usnh.domains
RG 21 — Federal Court Case Files Index · New England
Searchable index of ~58,000 federal court case files (U.S. District and Circuit Courts of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, 1790–1917), from Record Group 21 ...
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Interesting story about a disputed and then withdrawn attempt to register "nurse anesthesiologist" for a trade association and profession name: www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...
medscape.com
Anesthesiologist MDs Beat CRNAs in Trademark Fight
Anesthesiologists are fighting to reserve that name for MDs, not nurse anesthetists. MDs recently won a trademark battle, but nurses say they’ll keep using ‘nurse anesthesiologist.’
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
In a week from today I'll be on this great panel discussing intellectual property in the early United States with @hdernity.bsky.social @kalimurray.bsky.social and others not I think on bsky. I hope some of you can tune in! iona.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
iona.zoom.us
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: [Intellectual] Properties of Revolution: Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks in Early America. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email abou...
For the SHEAR 2026 annual conference, thanks to sponsorship from the University of Texas at Dallas and the UTD Open History Lab and the Virginia Military Institute with support from Iona University's ...
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Melville Nimmer's review of the complete issue of Studies on Copyright from the 1965 ABA Journal. www.jstor.org/stable/25723...
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
My book review of of "Branding Trust: Advertising and Trademarks in Nineteenth-Century America" by Prof. Jennifer M. Black has just been published in the May–June 2026 (Vol. 116, No. 3) issue of The Trademark Reporter (TMR)! www.inta.org/wp-content/u...
inta.org
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Was looking at the trial court docket from the Duke Nukem 3D / Micro Star case and was surprised it hadn't been pulled before. I loaded the docket and some key docs using RECAP and they're available here: www.courtlistener.com/docket/10857... (cc @lgr-yt.bsky.social as seems de rigueur)
courtlistener.com
Benedict v. Formgen Inc, 3:96-cv-03435 - CourtListener.com
Docket for Benedict v. Formgen Inc, 3:96-cv-03435 — Brought to you by Free Law Project, a non-profit dedicated to creating high quality open legal information.
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Interesting trademark story. Query whether the whole thing was a bit of a publicity stunt. www.theverge.com/games/959056...
theverge.com
Dbrand’s Steam Machine Companion Cube is canceled
“We should’ve asked first.”
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Here's a memo prepared by Jeff Squires for the CONTU Commission in early 1977 arguing against the copyrightability of software. From the John Hersey papers at Yale: archive.org/details/jls-...
archive.org
Memorandum On Copyrightability of Computer Software - CONTU : Jeffrey L. Squires : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Memorandum to CONTU (Commission on New Technological Uses for Copyrighted Works) regarding the copyrightability of computer software.  Prepared by Jeffrey L....
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
In 1957, Elizabeth K. Dunne of the U.S. Copyright Office prepared this study, "Rationale of Copyright Registration." I don't know if it was an unpublished revision study, an internal document, or something else. Curious if anyone knows anything more about it. archive.org/details/rati...
archive.org
Rationale Of Copyright Registration : Elizabeth K. Dunne : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Study by Elizabeth K. Dunne on the rationale for continuing copyright registration for the United States Copyright Office.
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
I've uploaded the case file from the US Copyright Office in Kieselstein-Cord v. Pearl (the belt buckle case). It includes copyright office correspondence and news clippings and the petition for rehearing: archive.org/details/kiel...
Belt buckles from Kieselstein Case
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Dr Elena Cooper @drelenacooper.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
My review of 'Law, Narrative & Masterplot'👇 is now out in Law Culture & Humanities: thought-provoking; intriguing; a future reference point for scholarship forging new interdisciplinary connections. Congrats David, Chris & authors 👏 Review here 👉 tinyurl.com/5n6dy6m7 Book here: tinyurl.com/445yt7yp
tinyurl.com
Law, Narrative and Masterplot: New Research Perspectives
The book brings together a range of socio-legal and law and humanities scholars to elaborate and explore the idea of the legal ‘masterplot’. There is a class of narrative, sometimes referred to as ‘masterplot’ or ‘metanarrative’, that stands above the plethora of other stories, plots, and myths that may be found in law. This book focuses on the masterplot concept as providing a productive yet largely under-explored way of seeing, understanding, and responding to legal controversies a
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
I've revised the pending bill redline tool that I made - it pulls from a local copy of the US Code now and has a whole bunch of improvements. It should work for any pending bill. Results may be weird for older bills if the statutory text changed: zrosen.usnh.domains/usc/
zrosen.usnh.domains
Congressional Bill Redline Tool
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Law and Humanities @law-and-humanities.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
New issue marks 100 years since first publication of Kafka's brilliant unfinished novel 'The Castle': guest editorial (Ekaterina Yahyaoui Krivenko) and all research articles, essays, arts and book reviews now available on the website: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
A lot of people are remembering Gordon Wood for being a footnote to Good Will Hunting - this is a much better way to remember him. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAdy...
youtube.com
Let It Begin Here: The Battles of Lexington and Concord
YouTube video by The Federalist Society
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
I'm part of this great panel on Thursday June 11 at noon Eastern on IP at the founding in celebration of America's 250th - do join us! fedsoc.org/events/what-...
fedsoc.org
What Was the Founders' Design for Intellectual Property?
In this Federalist Society America 250 series, experts analyze modern legal and policy debates throu...
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Such a shame. I had the privilege of taking two classes with him at Northwestern and they were an absolute highlight of my education.
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
I went to Paraguay and came back with Mickey.
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Found in the John Hersey papers at Yale - a list of the subcommittee members within the CONTU Commission (New Technological Uses for Copyrighted Works) in the 1970s.
Letter from Arthur J. Levine, Executive Director
Dear Commissioner:
At the Commission meeting on June 10, 1976, four subcommittees were created. For your records, the membership of these subcommittees is as follows:
Subcommittee on Data Bases: George Cary, Dan Lacy, Bob Wedgeworth
Subcommittee on Photocopying: John Hersey, Melville Nimmer, Alice Wilcox
Subcommittee on Protection of Software: Judge Fuld, Arthur Miller, E. Gabriel Perle
Subcommittee on the Status of New Works Created by Computers: William Dix, Rhoda Karpatkin, Hershel Sarbin
The CONTU staff will be getting in touch with the subcommittee members concerning meetings and plans for the future.
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
The history of IP is also the history of admin law...
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
My article on the history of AI & mediated authorship in copyright is published here: mckinneylaw.iu.edu/practice/law.... It builds on the work by @pamelasamuelson.bsky.social and @annemariebridy.bsky.social to give context for the development of copyright law and AI works and proposes next steps.
mckinneylaw.iu.edu
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Playing with coding using Claude and came up with this tool to see what changes a bill makes to the US Code: mostlyiphistory.com/wp-content/u... Still has a lot of rough edges but curious for feedback. This doesn't use any API calls or have any backend.
mostlyiphistory.com
Congressional Bill Redline Tool
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Missed this when new - two competing breweries both released "public domain" Steamboat Willy themed beers. www.westword.com/food-drink/p...
westword.com
Seeing Double: Two Local Breweries Release Nearly Identical New Can Designs
When the copyright on Steamboat Willie expired, Golden City and 4 Noses both jumped at the chance to use the cartoon as inspiration.
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
I made a bit of a thing - the complete minute books of the US Supreme Court on @archive.org - archive.org/details/@zvi.... Each has the full text transcribed using computer vision (QWEN 2.5 for those interested). The full text unfortunately isn't directly searchable but it's under "full text"
archive.org
Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine
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Ansel Halliburton @anseljh.com · 23/04/2026
I spent half an hour tonight whipping up a pre-filing citation checker. I ran it on the Sullivan & Cromwell brief from this story, and it works. Time to raise the bar, folks.
Screenshot of an ugly program called "Pre-filing Brief Checker". There's a button that says "Select File" and that's about it.Output from the aforementioned program, showing a mismatch between a name as cited in a brief, and the name of the actual case with that citation. The citation is "821 F.3d 161".
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Leslie Street @lesliestreet.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Really happy to have done a very small thing to help make the Supreme Court's historical records and briefs freely available. Thank you to the @archive.org for doing the hard part. blog.archive.org/2026/04/20/u...
blog.archive.org
U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs: The Arguments That Shaped America, Now Freely Available | Internet Archive Blogs
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Super-niche, but a few years ago I made an inventory of all the inventories of federal court records prepared in the late 1930s. I personally find these really useful if you're looking for a specific piece of history which doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere. mostlyiphistory.com/2019/12/10/a...
mostlyiphistory.com
An Inventory of Inventories of Federal Court Records from the WPA
As I’ve been researching lost copyright records from the District Courts (AKA pre-1870 copyright records), I’ve found that the “Inventories of Federal Archives in the States&#8221…
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
I've been wondering why the Copyright Office didn't really register anything under the rule of doubt until 2008 under the '76 act. It turns out they did, it's just not listed on the registration. Source: Presentation by Marybeth Peters, Esq., 17 U. DAYTON L. REV. 755 (1992).
When the Copyright Office registers a claim under the rule of
doubt, a letter goes out. That letter says we have registered under the
rule of doubt, and the correspondence box is checked so that any practicing attorney who sees a certificate that has the correspondence box
checked, I would argue, should go and see what the-Copyright Office
said about it. "Registered under the rule of doubt" is not stamped on
the certificate. The reason is that if the court looks and finds that it is
copyrightable, you have got a certificate that has a cloud on it for the
rest of its life; so we do not mark the certificates. So keep in mind that
we do operate under a rule of doubt.
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Dr. Haris A. Durrani @hdernity.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Excited to speak about the implications of my historical work for AI in the patent system -- today at the Boston IP Law Association Symposium, with @zvirosen.bsky.social & Taylor Davis. & many thanks to Stephen Chow for the invite. bipla.org/events/Event...
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
I've been reading more about the CONTU computer software commission lately, and an interesting somewhat related report came out of the Dept of Commerce in 1977 by Roy G. Saltman, later of voting tech fame - worth reading as well. archive.org/details/copy...
archive.org
Copyright in computer-readable works : policy impacts of technological change : Saltman, Roy G. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Includes bibliographical references
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
From Benjamin Kaplan, An Unhurried View of Copyright (1966).
You must imagine, at the eventual heart of things to come, linked or integrated systems or networks of computers capable of storing faithful simulacra of the entire treasure of the accumulated knowledge and artistic production of past ages, and of taking into the store new intelligence of all sorts as produced. The systems will have a prodigious capacity for manipulating the store in useful ways, for selecting portions of it upon call and transmitting them to any distance, where they will be converted as desired to forms directly or indirectly cognizable, whether as printed pages, phonorecords, tapes, transient displays of sights or sounds, or hieroglyphs for further machine uses. Lasers, microwave channels, satellites improving on Comsat's Early Bird, and, no doubt, many devices now unnamable, will operate as ganglions to extend the reach of the systems to the ultimate users as well as to provide a copious array of additional services.
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
People tend to skip over the Copyright Decisions reporter which the Copyright Office put out, but this is your reminder that is has otherwise unpublished decisions, like this early Learned Hand opinion (1919) on copyright in selection/arrangement of facts: babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=md...
babel.hathitrust.org
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Discussing amendment to US Copyright Office rules to allow registration of utilitarian objects in 1948. The beginning of Mazer v. Stein etc. Source: Walter J. Derenberg, Copyright Law, 1948 ANN. SURV. AM. L. 774, 777 (1948). CC @christinefarley.bsky.social
Two rather important changes were made by the Copyright Office
during 1948 in its rules and regulations. Until this year, it had been
the established practice of the Office not to accept for copyright
registration any work of utility even though it may also have characteristics
of a work of art. This rule has now been drastically
changed by the new Rule 201(4) (b) (7) which defines a work of art
as follows:
Works of art and models or designs for works of art. The term 'work
of art' includes works of artistic craftsmanship, in so far as their form
but not their mechanical or utilitarian aspects are concerned, such as
artistic jewelry, enamels, glassware, and tapestries; as well as all works
belonging to the so-called fine arts, such as paintings, drawings and
sculpture."
In the light of this new rule, the Office will now accept as works of
art even objects which also serve a utilitarian purpose or may be
made for industrial use at the same time. This new rule is, of course,
not intended to be legislative in nature but only a clarification on the
part of the Copyright Office of Section 5(g) of the Act of 1909.
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
I've just hit 250 uploads to @archive.org on copyright history (mostly) - check out the list if interested: archive.org/details/@zvi...
archive.org
Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Sony v. Cox is out. Basically Thomas applying same methodology as Star Athletica but in secondary liability context to substantially cut back on judge-made doctrine: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
supremecourt.gov
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
I don't know if people noticed, but the Copyright Office's response to Allen's summary judgment motion in Colorado includes a substantial discussion of AI authorship disclaimer and registration practices at 13-16: www.courtlistener.com/docket/69198...
courtlistener.com
#57 in Allen v. Perlmutter (D. Colo., 1:24-cv-02665) – CourtListener.com
RESPONSE to 41 MOTION for Summary Judgment and Memorandum in support thereof and Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Defendants Shira Perlmutter, United States Copyright Office, The. (Munnelly,...
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
CIA memo from 1948 on copyright in photographs and whether the agency should be taking a license or fair use applies. Source: web.archive.org/web/20250227...
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
The video of this event is available here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDfO...
youtube.com
No One Can Own the Law? The Third Circuit's Review of Whether Publishing ASTM Standards is Fair Use
YouTube video by The Federalist Society
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Zvi S. Rosen @zvirosen.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Figured out a bit of a white whale for me - converting a pre-digital document to formatted DOCX with footnotes properly linked. Uploaded the Heinonline PDF, and Claude was able to OCR and properly format it pretty readily to HTML, but the resulting HTML footnotes wouldn't convert into Word or Docs
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