Best Practices for Avoiding Copyright Claims
Avoiding copyright claims starts with a simple mindset: assume most content you find online is protected, and take steps to confirm what you can legally use. Creating your own material, verifying licenses, and keeping clear records of permissions can significantly reduce the risk of takedowns, lost revenue, or legal disputes.
Christopher Keleher Defeats Preliminary Injunction
Yesterday I received a favorable ruling from the Northern District of Illinois in an important Schedule A case. Judge Mary Rowland agreed with our position that the plaintiff had not satisfied its burden for injunctive relief. This was a decisive victory for the defendants, who are Amazon sellers, and will enable them...
Christopher Keleher Quoted Again In Law360 Article
Last week, I had the honor of being interviewed and quoted in another Law360 article. The subject matter was recent trends in the Northern District of Illinois concerning Schedule A litigation. I was described as "a Chicago attorney who is among the busiest Schedule A defense lawyers." The article examines recent...
Can You Use Copyrighted Music on YouTube Shorts? Claims, Takedowns, and Copyright Checks Explained
Using copyrighted music on YouTube Shorts can lead to claims, blocked videos, lost monetization, or even channel strikes. Whether your Short stays up depends on licensing, fair use, and YouTube’s Content ID system. If you create short-form content, you need to understand how these copyright checks and takedown processes work.
Federal Appellate Court Stats for 2025
Last week, the federal judiciary released its case statistics for the year 2025. In the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, there was a slight uptick in the numbers of appeals filed from 2024. For 2024, there were 2,456 cases filed, while in 2025, the number was 2,471....
Law360 Feature: Injunction Constraints Impede Utility Patent Counterfeit Cases
Yesterday, I had the honor of being interviewed and quoted in a Law360 article about Schedule A patent litigation. The article, "Injunction Constraints Impede Utility Patent Counterfeit Cases," examines trends in Schedule A litigation and how Schedule A plaintiffs are experiencing hurdles in the federal district courts of Texas.
The Straightjacket That Is Forfeiture
A recent decision from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals exemplifies the near impossibility of pursuing new arguments on appeal. In Thomas v. Carmichael, Case No. 23-2552, the Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for federal prison officials on the plaintiff’s Eighth Amendment failure-to-protect claim. The Seventh Circuit...
What Recent Seventh Circuit Business Tort Appeals Teach Litigants
Recent decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit show that business tort appeals frequently turn on how well trial courts apply legal standards and preserve issues for review. In cases involving tortious interference, contract overlap, and fraud-related theories, appellate panels often affirm or reverse, not on disputed facts...
The Perils of ChatGPT
Horror stories of unblinking reliance on ChatGPT have become common across the professional industries. Law is no exception. Employing ChatGPT to write or assist with a brief is especially tempting due to the time consuming nature of legal research and writing. Resist it. The latest cautionary tale comes from Kansas, where an...
Writing advice from two Federal Appellate Court Judges
Recently, two judges from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Chief Judge Pryor and Judge Newsom offered an important suggestion to federal appellate brief writers: begin the brief with an introduction.
The judges wrote a letter to the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules pushing for an amendment to Federal Appellate...