Copyright and Criminal Matters

Latimer v. Roaring Toyz, Inc., No. 08-16665, concerned a copyright infringement action by a professional photographer against multiple defendants regarding the distribution and publication of photographs of a customized motorcycle.  The court of appeals affirmed summary judgment for defendants in part, holding that plaintiff granted defendant an implied license to use his work.  However, the court reversed in part on the ground that, even if plaintiff agreed that defendant could distribute his photographs to the media in a printed flyer, the distribution of the photographs in digital format on compact discs could be found to have exceeded the scope of the license.

In US v. Santiago, No. 09-10466, the court of appeals vacated defendant's firearm possession sentence, which the government appealed.  The court held that a guilty plea followed by a sentence of probation and a withholding of adjudication qualified under Florida law as a predicate conviction for the purpose of enhancing defendant's sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act.

Related Resources

• Full Text of Latimer v. Roaring Toyz, Inc., No. 08-16665
• Full Text of US v. Santiago, No. 09-10466
• Armed Career Criminal Act