In a list of Music Industry Terms Every Artist Should Know, “One Sheet” is defined as a “single-page document that highlights an artist’s new music and summarizes their bio, stats, and achievements. It’s given to media,...more
8/30/2024
/ Admissibility ,
Admissible Evidence ,
Art ,
Artists ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Evidence ,
Intent ,
Music ,
Music Industry ,
Personal Expression ,
Song Lyrics ,
Writers
Sometimes, challenging clients need to be challenged.
Whether encouraging candid client conversations or reining clients in during depositions, it’s important to keep the ultimate goal in mind: success.
In this episode of...more
The World Intellectual Property Organization announced on May 24, 2024, a treaty on intellectual property, genetic resources, and associated traditional knowledge that was twenty-five years in the making. As WIPO’s press...more
6/20/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Genetic Materials ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Patent Applications ,
Patents ,
Plant Patents ,
Popular ,
Trade Secrets ,
WIPO
Title? Typo? Cryptic code? Equation? Really it is a combination of three of the four. In other words, it is not a typo (You can look elsewhere in this piece for those)....more
5/9/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Deep Fake ,
Endorsements ,
Fair Use ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Online Platforms ,
Political Campaigns ,
Political Candidates ,
Robocalling ,
Trademarks ,
Transformative Use ,
Video ,
Willful Infringement
“[T]he comma…this capricious bit of punctuation…” United States v. Ron Pair Enterprises, Inc., 489 US 235, 249 (1989) (O’Connor, J, dissenting). For want of a comma, we have this case.” O’Connor et al. v. Oakhurst Dairy et...more
As the spotlight on high-profile judgments intensifies, terms such as “libel,” “slander,” and “defamation” permeate public discourse.
Former U.S. presidents, A-list celebrities, and even college professors and local business...more
This week, in our special Spilling Secrets podcast series on the future of non-compete and trade secrets law, we take a deeper look at trade secrets and non-compete cases in the wide world of sports:
As college basketball...more
This week, in our special Spilling Secrets podcast series on the future of non-compete and trade secrets law, we uncover the essential steps employers should take to secure employees’ trade secrets from day one of their...more
“Headlines” and “titles” are related, sometimes interchangeable, items appearing atop news stories. But, in this space, headlines are usually a source of inspiration (so we can write about intellectual property issues that...more
Fiction writing has a curious claim on truth. We learn this at the youngest age, listening to fairy tales when the child in us “intuitively comprehends that, although these stories are unreal, they are not untrue …” ...more
Whether one focuses on the word’s connotation of silliness or excitement, or maybe even anger, or analogizes to the raucous and rhymingly-named team from Savannah that makes up its own baseball rules, US copyright law is...more
From chart-topping artificial rap songs to employment screening tools, artificial intelligence (AI) is not only a societal phenomenon but also a growing legal dilemma.
Trial lawyers around the globe are focused on the...more
The phrase “make your mark on history” is a commonplace one with several meanings and connotations.
It is one offered at many high school and college commencement speeches as an exhortation to graduates to have an impact...more
The question of whether a would-be trademark, “TRUMP TOO SMALL,” warrants a First Amendment exception to the Lanham Act’s prohibition on registering a living person’s name as a trademark without that person’s permission has...more
6/19/2023
/ CAFC ,
Certiorari ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Lanham Act ,
Public Figures ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
This week, we bring you our special Spilling Secrets podcast series on the future of non-compete and trade secrets law:
Trade secret and non-compete litigation can result in massive damage awards, but those cases can also be...more
“Yes, the law is about words…,” says Ben Chiriboga in writing about the essential skills that lawyers must have. And Ken White noted more recently that “the entire project of the law is about words meaning specific things.”...more
Lots of people are talking about ChatGPT.
Some, like those at Microsoft, see it as a valuable tool to be integrated into their products and platforms; indeed, one of its lawyers thought that the answer provided by ChatGPT...more
2/2/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Certiorari ,
Consumer Confusion ,
Dilution ,
Fair Use ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Lanham Act ,
Rogers Test ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks
As I recently noted in an article on trademarks in the U.S. and internationally, Metro-Goldin-Mayer and Pennsylvania State University are two entities in different, yet related, channels of trade (sports and entertainment,...more
So, there you go—Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Pennsylvania State University are two different entities each associated with a distinctive roar connected to their institution. They are marketed through different, yet related,...more
In a recent article examining international trademark, copyright and related issues, we started with a focus on the place humor holds as a possible defense. To understand the roots of the penchant for humor to act as a...more
I thought of that story, and the unique power humor has, literally and legally, to disarm many who might otherwise complain over any number of legal issues and perceived slights. For even though, as one writer noted, some...more
In my recent attempt at spring cleaning, I mentioned that “the Copyright Office’s ‘refusal to register a two-dimensional artwork claim in the work titled ‘A Recent Entrance to Paradise’ (‘Work’).” I also observed that “[e]ven...more
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning algorithms are powerful tools that can automate or inform decision-making. At the same time, those algorithms can be quite complex and appear to be a “black box”—inscrutable...more
Many cultures have the tradition of spring cleaning. These range from those in Iran observing the Persian New Year festival of Nowruz (and the practice of “khooneh tekouni,” or “shaking the house” to prepare for Nowruz), to...more
4/20/2022
/ Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Trade Secrets ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks
Recently I was going back and forth with a colleague about training programs for our developing lawyers. This colleague, a respected friend, looked at the list I proudly provided of the various advocacy, writing, presentation...more