Intellectual Property Law

The thing speaks for itself

Posted on February 13, 2011
Originally posted 2008-11-17 13:27:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Blawg Recenseo est procul Res Ipsa Blog! NB (ut opes notabilis “note well“): Nos should totus have habeo Latin nomen pro nostrum blogs. Ut would restituo veneratio quod integrity ut professio , quod enhance publicus contemplor nobis...

When Fakery Turns Fatal

Posted on February 13, 2011
Originally posted 2007-06-05 18:39:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter The New York Times reports about an aspect of trademark enforcement which, among the disputes over rent-seeking and IP overreach, is often forgotten: The value of trademarks as a guarantor of quality in mission-critical, or life-and-death, situations...

Sarah Palin trademark thing

Posted on February 09, 2011
I try not to blog about the trademark stories that are all over the place.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  One is that I am a snob.  I always knew that if “everyone was going” to see some movie, I was not interested in going unless some other reason could balance out [...

Not all ISP’s are created equal

Posted on February 09, 2011
Originally posted 2009-08-31 20:23:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter @EricGoldman: Web host Akanoc hit with $32M contributory TM judgment for customers’ counterfeiting http://bit.ly/3BR6ZW Whoa. More to come … Louis Vuitton v. Akanoc jury verdict http://bit...

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The seven habits of highly annoying lawyers

Posted on February 04, 2011
Or, perhaps, the companies that hire them.  Let’s see if we can find all seven in this highly effective – certainly highly earnest! — item from Mark Malek at the Tactical IP blog. But first, while I haven’t looked into the facts here, but this item made me wonder:  Can we find the Seven Habits of [...

NSA monitoring program ruled unconstitutional

Posted on February 04, 2011
Originally posted 2006-08-17 13:24:53. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe ACLU reports: In the first federal challenge ever argued against the Bush administration’s NSA spying program, U.S. District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor rules that the program to monitor [sic] the phone calls and e-mails of millions of Americans without warrants is unconstitutional...

Bar none

Posted on February 04, 2011
Originally posted 2009-07-22 16:11:12. Republished by Blog Post PromoterMichael Atkins: [University of Washington] School of Law Professor Sean O?Connor, guest blogging at Legal Satyricon, writes about AT&T?s trademark registration of the bars indicating cell phone signal strength (depicted left)...

Deep, Man

Posted on February 04, 2011
Originally posted 2005-02-22 10:26:00. Republished by Blog Post PromoterApropos the Bates Line / Tulsa World dustup, Kevin Heller reminds us that deep linking can be a problem — if you promised in a contract that you wouldn’t link. And he reminds us, astutely, that a contract can include a website user agreement...

Save your brand equity for a rainy day

Posted on February 04, 2011
Originally posted 2007-02-13 19:55:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Bloomberg.com reports (links added): The biggest U.S. bank plans to sell its red umbrella trademark to St. Paul Travelers Cos. and operate under the “Citi” name after failing to get most consumers to think of anything except insurance when they saw the 137-year-old symbol...

Bully for who?

Posted on February 02, 2011
Or should it be whom?  Anyway, my article on trademark bullying first published in January’s Intellectual Property Magazine and excerpted in this previous post, is now available free and easy for download, right here. Here’s what the old bloggers would call the “money quote” on that excerpt, if I may...

The great white domain extension

Posted on February 02, 2011
Originally posted 2006-05-24 01:30:03. Republished by Blog Post Promoter The Register reports: From today, trademark holders from within the mobile industry have the chance to register their trademarks as .mobi domains. Call me Ishmobile. UPDATE:  Is the ...

A Theory of Trademarks in the Blog Era

Posted on February 02, 2011
Originally posted 2005-04-05 14:18:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter(Edited to reflect the march of time.) On April 5th, as you were previously warned, I presented in New York City as part of a seminar on Advanced Trademark Issues for the IP Practitioner at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (the [...

Foundations of justice

Posted on February 02, 2011
Originally posted 2007-01-17 16:37:44. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Pillars at New York Supreme Court, New York County Originally uploaded by Likelihood of Confusion. Well, of a very heavy courthouse, anyway. The New York State courts are not necessarily accorded great respect by those who have the choice of litigating there or in the federal [...

You can’t fool Mother Trademark

Posted on February 02, 2011
Originally posted 2006-09-22 11:26:37. Republished by Blog Post PromoterG. Mathew Lombard reviews an important article in the INTA Bulletin on the reemergence, or perhaps emergence in full for the first time, of viable claims for fraud on the PTO in trademark applications: Specifically, the article discusses the adoption of a new ?bright line? test for [...

Copyright for bloggers

Posted on February 02, 2011
Originally posted 2009-10-14 22:53:08. Republished by Blog Post PromoterA while back ago I prepared a plain-language article, given the title “Copyright Rules of the Road for Bloggers,” for the Copyright & New Media Law Newsletter.  I never posted it here, for some reason, but I should have, I think...

Split decision

Posted on February 01, 2011
During my traditional end-of-December goof-off here I didn’t pay adequate attention to the important non-ruling in Costco v. Omega, which involves an issue I have had some involvement in.  That is the application of the First Sale Doctrine in copyright to what I think should be considered the specious category of “overseas only” copyright-protected material...

Libel per se

Posted on February 01, 2011
Originally posted 2008-01-25 11:06:19. Republished by Blog Post PromoterGlenn Reynolds, writing about the dustup at Brandeis over this letter (“marked up” here): And I think that false charges of racism aimed at a professor today are like false charges of unchastity or “loathsome disease” aimed at a woman in 1890 — libelous per se...

DMCA takedown backlash

Posted on February 01, 2011
Originally posted 2007-03-23 00:04:52. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe EFF is suing Viacom over their DMCA takedown notice for a Stephen Colbert parody clip on YouTube which EFF says is non-infringing. Viacom sent out about 37 million of those puppies, based on the well known legal-analytical principle of “what the heck!” But you’re not supposed [...

Uptick in cupcakes

Posted on January 28, 2011
Remember this bit about the CUPCAKERY trademark, vel non?   Not long ago Ryan Gile, who’s all over this, reported ongoing developments in the case here.  And this morning I retweeted an update from John Welch (@ttablog) reporting that things are getting even stickier in the case, as reported in the Las Vegas Sun: Texas [...

Drive-by infringement

Posted on January 28, 2011
Originally posted 2010-05-04 01:28:05. Republished by Blog Post PromoterSteve Baird says initial interest confusion is “the real thing” and in the process  seeks to “add life” to Professor McCarthy’s famous “evil highway road sign” analogy: Whatever the criticisms might be to the doctrine of Initial Interest Confusion, including those detailed by our friends Ron Coleman, Marty Schwimmer, and Eric Goldman, in the context of keyword [...

State of the state

Posted on January 26, 2011
The Actual Confusion blog reports something that, well,  I think is at least likely to cause confusion: This morning I was pleasantly suprised to find out that the Puerto Rico Trademark Office (PRTO) launched its online registration portal. Practitioners can now file TM registrations online, easing up their schedules, paper costs and painful trips to [...

Google me this II

Posted on January 26, 2011
Originally posted 2005-02-06 11:02:00. Republished by Blog Post PromoterWe blogged a week or so ago (before I got bogged down in this trial — still in progress [UPDATE]) about Google’s trademark challenges. Here’s an excellent, if short, item about how trademark issues could indeed be the Achilles’ Heel of the Google business model...

Berry disappointing

Posted on January 26, 2011
Originally posted 2009-06-03 22:05:52. Republished by Blog Post PromoterWalter Olson: ?Plaintiff did not explain why she could not reasonably have figured this out at any point during the four years she alleged she bought Cap?n Crunch with Crunchberries in reliance on defendant?s fraud...

Luxury goods rental

Posted on January 26, 2011
Originally posted 2008-02-28 15:29:48. Republished by Blog Post Promoter“Bag Borrow or Steal? – Borrow or Rent the Latest Authentic Designer Handbags Purses Jewelry and Accessories.” You know they — the Big IP guys — are sitting in conference rooms trying to figure out how to stop this...

He just bought it like that

Posted on January 26, 2011
Originally posted 2009-06-29 15:50:40. Republished by Blog Post PromoterImpulse buying, King of Pop style: Branca had a surprise for Jackson. The attorney said casually, ?By the way, the ATV catalogue is available.? Jackson looked puzzled. Branca added teasingly, ?It includes a few things you might be interested in...

That offensive Internet

Posted on January 22, 2011
My  one-year-off college classmate, former document review colleague, oddly cheerful ultra-left-wing nut and bona fide genius (yeah, I know!) Brian Leiter has a short post full of useful resources about one of my favorite topics, “The Offensive Internet: Speech, Privacy, and Reputation”...

Clean playgrounds

Posted on January 22, 2011
Originally posted 2007-05-21 19:50:16. Republished by Blog Post PromoterMySpace walks the thin line between being an arm of the law and being a heel: Popular Internet social network MySpace said on Monday it reached an accord with eight U.S. state attorneys general and has worked out a legal mechanism to hand over information on convicted [...

Here, read this

Posted on January 22, 2011
Originally posted 2009-01-18 00:05:30. Republished by Blog Post PromoterWhile I’m busy with this Long Island jury, which — bless their souls — seems to be in for a longer shlep than they may have expected, I can at least send readers to the December Quick Links on Eric Goldman’s Technology & Marketing Law Blog...

Inducement to contribute to infringe … to roll on

Posted on January 20, 2011
Michael Atkins: Novel causes of action for contributory cybersquatting and contributory dilution appear to viable here in the Western District. On Jan. 12, Western District Judge Ricardo Martinez refused to dismiss such claims plaintiff brought in Microsoft Corp...

Out-Googled

Posted on January 20, 2011
Originally posted 2005-05-06 09:16:00. Republished by Blog Post PromoterBy the way, don’t get me wrong. I’m trying to cover the Google IP territory, if not comprehensively at least on the high points. But within the blogging world, I see now that there are places where the Google-obsessed can get a permanent Google-high: Of course, Google [...

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