United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

“ Greater science literacy, which is going to lead to the erosion of religion, and then we’ll get this positive feedback mechanism going where, as religion slowly fades away we’ll get more and more science to replace it, and that will displace more and more religion, which will allow more and more science in, and we’ll eventually get to that point where religion has taken that appropriate place as, as, as side dish rather than the main course. ”

“ Although “Imagine,” as a creative work, is at the core of copyright protection, and defendants’ use of the song is at least partially commercial in nature, the weight of these factors against a finding of fair use is limited given that defendants’ use is transformative. Finally, plaintiffs have not shown that defendants’ use will usurp the market for licensing the song for non-transformative purposes. In sum, allowing defendants’ use would better serve “the copyright law’s goal of promoting the Progress of Science and useful Arts . ”

“ In eBay, the Supreme Court vacated the determination of the Federal Circuit that applied that circuit’s “‘general rule that courts will issue permanent injunctions against patent infringement absent exceptional circumstances.’” 547 U.S. at 391, 126 S.Ct. 1837 (quoting MercExchange, L.L.C. v. eBay, Inc., 401 F.3d 1323, 1339 (Fed.Cir.2005) ) . The Supreme Court held that that rule violated the Patent Act’s instruction to courts to decide motions for injunctive relief “in accordance with principles of equity.” ”

“ Uh, but what we have to do is, is get it to a place where religion is treated at the level it should be treated, that is, something fun that people get together and do on the weekend and really doesn’t affect their life as much as it has been so far. ”

“ In Bill Graham Archives, however, on a full record developed on a motion for summary judgment, the Second Circuit rejected a similar argument regarding lost licensing revenue. 448 F.3d at 614-15. That court explained that although the plaintiff had established a market for licensing its concert posters, the defendants’ use of the posters in their biographical book “f [ell] within a transformative market,” and therefore the plaintiff “d [id] not suffer market harm due to the loss of licensing fees.” ”

“ The Court concluded, however, that “ [i] f 2 Live Crew had copied a significantly less memorable part of the original, it is difficult to see how its parodic character would have come through.” Id. at 588-89, 114 S.Ct. 1164. Although the Supreme Court’s analysis was specifically directed at parody, this Court is aware of no reason not to apply it equally to copying for purposes of criticism and commentary. ”