How would you pronounce #law? Is it “hashtag law,” as the PTO examiner suggested would be the most common understanding, or “pound law,” as alleged by the unsuccessful registrant of #law as a service mark. And to what does it...more
What additional value does a copyright registration confer on a run-of-the-mill neighborhood social media post? Not a lot, it appears.
Earlier this year, the First Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit...more
8/9/2022
/ Communications Decency Act ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyright Registration ,
Defamation ,
Dismissals ,
Fair Use ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Online Platforms ,
Social Networks ,
Terms of Use
Author Denise Shull lost her challenge to the Showtime television show Billions, which she claims copied the character bearing her name in Shull’s book Market Mind Games: A Radical Psychology of Investing, Trading and Risk....more
Trademark law aficianados have followed the progress of Romag Fasteners v. Fossil from District Court to the Federal Circuit to the Supreme Court and back again. We previously blogged about the Supreme Court decision here. In...more
Rupp v. Courier-Journal, Inc. involves a dispute between the makers of DERBY-PIE®—a trademarked chocolate-nut pie—and a local newspaper that published two articles about other businesses creating other chocolate-nut desserts....more
In recent years, commentators have discussed patent venue ad nasuem in the run-up to and following the Supreme Court’s 2017 decision in TC Heartland. In a nutshell: after TC Heartland restricted the circumstances under which...more
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Second Circuit, and ruled that infringer’s profits can be awarded even without a showing of willful infringement. A jury had ruled that Fossil acted in “callous disregard” of...more
4/24/2020
/ § 1125(a) ,
§ 1125(c) ,
Appeals ,
Burden of Proof ,
Charge-Filing Preconditions ,
Compensatory Awards ,
Dilution ,
Lanham Act ,
Lost Profits ,
Remand ,
Remedies ,
Romag Fasteners v Fossil ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Vacated ,
Willful Infringement
The Supreme Court oral argument in the trademark case Romag v. Fossil provided an entertaining view of what some may consider a dry topic: legislative intent for damages awards in a trademark infringement case. Not to be...more
2/3/2020
/ Appeals ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Certiorari ,
Lanham Act ,
Oral Argument ,
Romag Fasteners v Fossil ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Willful Infringement
The dispute over the bitcoin named Alibabacoin is apparently over. Last year, Chinese tech giant Alibaba sued Belarus - and Dubai-based ABBC Block Chain IT Solutions LLC in New York federal court for trademark infringement...more
The USPTO issued an unusual advisory bulletin last week, warning the public of a rash of “unauthorized changes” to active trademark applications and registrations. The bulletin, which can be found here, reveals that the PTO...more
Can a stock photography agency bring a copyright infringement lawsuit on behalf of individual photographers? According to the Ninth Circuit, the answer is “maybe.” ...more
The Supreme Court recently sounded the death knell for patent litigation in the Eastern District of Texas, overruling the Federal Circuit’s interpretation of 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) and dramatically reducing forum shopping in...more
It’s no secret that plaintiffs bringing patent litigation choose the forum carefully. Though the appellate review of patent litigation is centralized in one appellate court with limited jurisdiction – the Court of Appeals for...more
On May 29, 2014, the Minnesota governor signed into law Senate File 1770, which makes a company’s or private individual’s records subject to Minnesota public records law – the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act – when...more