Intellectual Property Law

Blogging to brand

Posted on March 19, 2010
My old friend David Krell, who sells the eminently attractive service of working with lawyers and law firms at not writing like lawyers, and I had a little chat about what blogging here does for “the brand” that is me.  You can read it here...

Some people think this is some kind of joke

Posted on March 19, 2010
Originally posted 2007-03-28 16:36:10. Republished by Blog Post PromoterAnd it isn’t the lawyers! Pointy-hat-tip to IP Notions. Some people think this is some kind of joke ©, .

Overrunning Overlawyered

Posted on March 19, 2010
Originally posted 2007-07-09 08:58:25. Republished by Blog Post PromoterI’m guest blogging at Overlawyered.com this week and just published my first post, about a lawsuit being brought by promoters of cockfighting to protect their inalienable right to torture animals...

Gotta get a Round Tuit

Posted on March 17, 2010
Colin Samuels’s Infamy or Praise posts its unofficial Blawg Review, Number 23 in the “Round Tuit” series.  So you go right over there are read it.  Also the official Blawg Review, up this week at Law Shucks. I was struck by Colin’s roundup regarding the musings of bloggers about where to put what in which blog, and [...

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About that SLAPP thing

Posted on March 17, 2010
A number of law bloggers have posted recently (as noted by Colin Samuels at the link referred to in my previous post) in support of a federal statute to deal with the problem of lawsuits known as “strategic lawsuits against public participation”–SLAPP suits...

This Isn’t One, Either. Heavens, No.

Posted on March 17, 2010
Originally posted 2005-02-17 00:04:00. Republished by Old Post PromoterBill Heinze’s I/P Updates blog reports about a trademark registration you can see at the erstwhile movie pirating website LokiTorrent.com. You get a message that says “There are websites that provide legal downloads...

The merger doctrine and copyright in data

Posted on March 17, 2010
Originally posted 2007-10-01 22:08:45. Republished by Old Post PromoterSteve Kramarsky, in the New York Law Journal: Copyright does not protect facts, but (with a few notable exceptions such as fashion design) it protects almost any kind of creative expression even if the amount of creativity is extremely small...

None dare oppose me

Posted on March 17, 2010
Originally posted 2007-02-15 16:14:57. Republished by Blog Post PromoterClick for a better view: Okay, well, I asked Marty Schwimmer and he says maybe he’ll oppose on the ground that it’s descriptive of my legal services. I don’t think that’s fair...

Man Bites Dog

Posted on March 17, 2010
Originally posted 2005-08-05 15:14:53. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe People’s Daily Online reports: A Chinese company, Henan Shuaike Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. lodged a lawsuit against Warner Health Products, an American pharmaceutical company, for trademark infringement...

Foley vindicated

Posted on March 17, 2010
Originally posted 2006-10-04 09:44:31. Republished by Blog Post PromoterRemember Foley Hoag vs. Foley & Lardner? Stick a fork in it. It’s Foley cooked! UPDATE:  No, not this Foley.  Not vindicated; not quite. Talk about likelihood of confusion...

To die for!

Posted on March 16, 2010
My own moments of snark notwithstanding–no, you don’t even get a link; if you missed it, then good–I am pleased to announce that the very bestest blog on fashion IP is back on track after an utterly inexcusable fashionable hiatus from posting: Susan Scafidi’s Counterfit Chic! Now I have to go back to checking, but [...

Semi-monthly off the wall tweets

Posted on March 12, 2010
Here’s what I have been chirping about lately: RT @ArsLaw: Tenenbaum: $675K stat. dams absurd; I caused $21 in losses | Ok, even I don’t buy that math. RT @CopyrightLaw: Exclusive Rights: “11th Cir. finds medical forms lack sufficient originality; rejects Feist standard” RT @CopyrightLaw: Goldman: “Rare Ruling on Damages for Sending Bogus Copyright Takedown Notice–Lenz v...

Likelihood of arrogation

Posted on March 12, 2010
Originally posted 2007-07-20 13:24:32. Republished by Old Post Promoter Out of the bottle Originally uploaded by Ron Coleman The ad man or woman who wrote this ad for Solgar focused on the market-encroaching challenger — vitamin-enriched soft drinks — while ignoring common sense: Get your vitamins from an amber glass bottle...

Click me

Posted on March 09, 2010
Click me ©, .

Mind bobbling!

Posted on March 09, 2010
I’ve been known to sound the alarm about the rush to register trademarks, and all the more so to register anticipated trademarks.  I argue that — oh, forget it, even I’m tired of saying this over and over again.   Here’s what I said, one of the times I said it: For well over nine out [...

None dare call it speech

Posted on March 09, 2010
Originally posted 2006-07-24 23:58:10. Republished by Old Post PromoterMoney, that is.  It’s just that some people just don’t want to talk about what they’re doing with it.  Thanks, Senator McCain! None dare call it speech ©, .

Dead hand of copyright limited in UK

Posted on March 09, 2010
Originally posted 2007-07-25 01:01:52. Republished by Old Post PromoterBoing Boing reports that the English have done something impossible in our own country: Turned back an effort to extend copyright for, all practical purposes, ever — 95 years: This is the first time that I know of, in the history of the world, that [...

Middle-aged bombshell blasted by trademark holder

Posted on March 09, 2010
Originally posted 2006-03-03 10:32:03. Republished by Old Post PromoterExplosive story:  Looks like some trademark trouble for an evidently fissionable material girl. Middle-aged bombshell blasted by trademark holder ©, .

I rate! And I float!

Posted on March 09, 2010
Originally posted 2007-01-12 10:36:59. Republished by Old Post Promoter Got my genuine, secondary – meaning – generating TTABlog Floating Key Chain in the mail yesterday — just for being me! I knew I’d float to the top in this profession eventually...

Mash this

Posted on March 07, 2010
But can you, really, dance to it?  Alan Wexelblat says yes, but the copyright part?  Some pretty complicated steps: I think that modern dance music, particularly the mash-up [based on DJs who use various technologies such as turntables, mixers, and effects boxes to produce sounds using two or more original recordings], is one of the most [...

Long time passing

Posted on March 04, 2010
Michael Atkins asks the musical question:  Where have all the good (rock band) names gone? P.S:  Not here. Long time passing ©, .

The best laid iPlans

Posted on March 04, 2010
Originally posted 2006-12-18 20:43:18. Republished by Old Post Promoter… of brand managers, gang aft agley. UPDATE: But wait, there’s… more? The best laid iPlans ©, .

The limits of boundaries

Posted on March 04, 2010
Originally posted 2007-01-25 00:10:33. Republished by Old Post PromoterMichael Atkins explains how ads that reinforce geographic indicators have their limitations. The limits of boundaries ©, .

Foul ball?

Posted on March 02, 2010
Louis Vuitton Malletier and its lawyers demonstrate how to make sure a few seconds of what they say is trademark dilution get a lot less diluted–they’re suing Hyundai over this commercial played at the Super Bowl.  Now, concentrate: I’m not trying to hide the ball...

Smocking it out

Posted on March 02, 2010
Originally posted 2007-05-21 18:21:57. Republished by Old Post PromoterBen Manevitz updates us on the Diane van Furstenburg “you stole my smock” litigation. Ben’s take: “As a litigator, I’m going to give everyone involved in any litigation the secret! the best piece of advice ever! Ready? Here: Shut Up!” Easy advice to give, but [...

Blawgers’ Blawg Review

Posted on March 02, 2010
Originally posted 2007-09-10 20:59:34. Republished by Old Post PromoterBlawg Review #125 is at, and about the concept of, “Real Lawyers Have Blogs.” A little pointy-headed? Maybe. Bit of the old inside baseball, perhaps? Perhaps. But if you’re considering dipping a toe into the blawgy muck, there is some good larnin’ to be [...

Clinically insane?

Posted on February 26, 2010
Walter Olson is seeking “reports from the field” on the subject of law school clinics: If blogging has been lighter than usual, one reason is that I?ve been racing forward on my new book on law schools and their influence, tentatively entitled Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America, which is in the catalogue for [...

Lug me tender

Posted on February 25, 2010
Should a law school be tendering seven figures of money to a minor league baseball team for stadium naming rights?  That is certainly a novel question. I tackled the whole concept of branding, memory and stadium names in the context of the Mets’ Citi Field deal a few years ago–but a bank is one thing...

Free Expression vs. Copyright in the Digital Age

Posted on February 25, 2010
Originally posted 2005-09-02 11:51:24. Republished by Old Post PromoterHere’s a “sneak preview” that was excerpted from a paper to be delivered at Emory University’s Conference on Free Culture & the Digital Library in October 2005...

Jurisdiction Argument Worth Zippo

Posted on February 25, 2010
Originally posted 2005-03-12 23:26:00. Republished by Old Post PromoterThis is an important decision, called Heidle v. The Prospect Reef Resort, Ltd. and reported by the fine Internet Cases website. Read Evan Brown’s treatment. The bottom line: The mere fact that someone has an Internet website in a given jurisdiction doesn’t mean that you [...

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