Robert J Bernstein

September 21, 2012 | New York Law Journal

In their Copyright Law column, Robert J. Bernstein, practices law in The Law Office of Robert J. Bernstein, and Robert W. Clarida, a partner at Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt, analyze a case of first impression in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where the court held that an implied-in-fact contract claim arising from the submission of an idea for a television series was not preempted by the Copyright Act.

By Robert J. Bernstein and Robert W. Clarida

14 minute read

August 21, 1999 | Law.com

Copyright attorneys, like most others, tend to focus more on the merits of their cases than on the remedies. But sometimes the remedy is the most important issue. This article examines three recent decisions -- MCA Television Ltd. v. Public Interest Corp., Feltner v. Columbia Pictures Television Inc., and Selletti v. Carey-- in which the remedy was key.

By David Goldberg and Robert J. Bernstein

17 minute read

September 18, 2009 | New York Law Journal

Robert J. Bernstein, founder of The Law Office of Robert J. Bernstein, and Robert W. Clarida, a partner at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, discuss two recent jury verdicts in Minnesota and Massachusetts that have generated considerable heat at the intersection of copyright and the Internet. Unfortunately for the peer-to-peer file-sharing defendants, different "peers" sat on the federal district court juries that awarded the record company plaintiffs statutory damages of $1.92 million and $675,000 for willful infringement of multiple sound recording copyrights. Among the objections raised to the verdicts, both in the press and a new trial motion in the Minnesota action, is a Due Process Clause constitutional challenge to the statutory damages provision of the Copyright Act.

By Robert J. Bernstein and Robert W. Clarida

13 minute read

May 16, 2002 | New York Law Journal

I n his May 3 decision in Hoepker v. Kruger, 1 Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York applied the Copyright Act to hold that noted artist Barbara Kruger did not infringe the copyright in a 1960 German photograph by plaintiff Thomas Hoepker, despite incorporating a large portion of the Hoepker work into her 1990 silkscreen, "Untitled 1990 (It`s a small world but not if you have to clean it)." Further, the court held that the model whose image was incorporated into both works, Charlotte

By David Goldberg And Robert J. Bernstein

11 minute read

January 19, 2007 | New York Law Journal

Robert J. Bernstein, an attorney, and Robert W. Clarida, a partner at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, write that practitioners in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rarely encounter either mountain lions or hula dancers, but two recent decisions from the U.S. District Court for the districts of Montana and Hawaii present just such an opportunity.

By Robert J. Bernstein and Robert W. Clarida

13 minute read

March 16, 2007 | New York Law Journal

Robert J. Bernstein, a practitioner in The Law Office of Robert J. Bernstein, and Robert W. Clarida, a partner at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, write that in the spring of 1967, as London blossomed with flower power, a new group called Procol Harum released their first single, "A Whiter Shade of Pale." Forty years later, the organist claimed and was awarded joint authorship of the song in Britain's High Court of Justice, a result that would likely be impossible under U.S. law.

By Robert J. Bernstein and Robert W. Clarida

11 minute read

July 21, 2006 | New York Law Journal

Robert J. Bernstein, a New York City practitioner, and Robert W. Clarida, a partner at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, write: Wouldn't it be nice to customize every Hollywood movie to your taste, to eliminate whatever you consider objectionable? Sure. And wouldn't there be a nice business opportunity in selling custom-edited films? Of course. And isn't it fair use under the Copyright Act to make and sell such "transformative" versions of hit films without the permission of the filmmakers? Not so fast.

By Robert J. Bernstein and Robert W. Clarida

13 minute read

March 18, 2011 | New York Law Journal

In their Copyright Law column, Robert W. Clarida, a partner with Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, and Robert J. Bernstein of The Law Office of Robert J. Bernstein discuss the unusually aggressive copyright positions three disparate entities have taken against people (like photographers, festival attendees and patients) who dare to feature or refer to them in works of authorship.

By Robert W. Clarida and Robert J. Bernstein

12 minute read

July 15, 2011 | New York Law Journal

In their Copyright Law column, Robert W. Clarida of Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman and solo practitioner Robert J. Bernstein write that the 1976 Copyright Act aimed to eliminate state law protection "equivalent" to federal copyright, but, to put it mildly, the goal of national uniformity has not been perfectly realized, and preemption cases are notoriously inconsistent.

By Robert W. Clarida and Robert J. Bernstein

11 minute read

May 20, 2011 | New York Law Journal

In his Copyright Law column, Robert J. Bernstein from The Law Office of Robert J. Bernstein discusses how a recent ruling against an artist who incorporated many of a photographer's images in a derivative work was a resounding defeat of an attempt to portray appropriation art in general as fair use and weighs in on the chance that the Second Circuit will give artists more "breathing space," with some limitations.

By Robert J. Bernstein

15 minute read