Court Rejects Knight Ridder Newspaper's Fair Use Defense in Copyright

Infringement Action

MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- On January 3, 2006 the
Federal District Court for the Northern District of California ruled
against Knight- Ridder's flagship newspaper, the San Jose Mercury
News, on its motion to dismiss a copyright infringement action brought
against it by Trial & Technology Law Group, a Silicon Valley law firm,
on behalf of Christopher Harris, a prominent Southern photographer.
Mr. Harris has worked on assignment for the New York Times, Time, and
Newsweek, and he is currently a professor at Middle Tennessee State
University.

In its motion for summary judgment the Mercury News introduced
evidence that its practice of accompanying book reviews with
copyrighted photographs taken from the book being reviewed was common
to other metropolitan newspapers throughout the country, and that the
practice was legal under the "fair use" defense.

However, District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer (brother of U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer) wrote: "the Court cannot say as
a matter of law that use of a copyrighted photograph in a book review,
in which the book clearly states that the photograph is copyrighted,
constitutes fair use." Accordingly, the court denied the Mercury News'
motion for summary judgment.

According to Robert A. Spanner, lead counsel for the plaintiff, "a
photographer's right to limit distribution and reproduction of his or
her copyrighted photographs is a fundamental tenet of copyright law,
and the notion that a newspaper can override that right and freely
reproduce and distribute -- without a license and for free --
photographs which the photographer had licensed to a book publisher
for a fee, would obviously be a matter of grave concern to the
photographers' profession. Mr. Harris stood up for the rights of his
fellow photographers because he believed it was the right thing to do,
and we are gratified that his efforts have been vindicated."

The case has been scheduled for trial setting before Judge Breyer on
January 20, 2006 at 8:30 a.m.

Trial & Technology Law Group, a Silicon Valley law firm, represents
technology companies and venture firms in copyright, patent, trade
secret, and related intellectual property disputes. The firm's
practice is further described at http://www.techtriallaw.com . For
further information concerning the subject matter of this press
release contact Susan Kalra at sqk@techtriallaw.com or 650-324-0175.
SOURCE Trial & Technology Law Group