Intellectual Property Law

How The Black Eyed Peas Became Sweethearts of Sponsors

Posted on April 09, 2010
Great article in the Wall Street Journal on the branding behind the band “The Black Eyed Peas.”

Entertainment Law Update Podcast Episode 9

Posted on March 25, 2010
New Entertainment Law Update podcast 9 just uploaded.  Click here to listen. Topics include Olympic Brand Management: Tweets, Blogs, DMCA, Trademark, Copyright Pink Floyd and singles downloads:  Special Guest is Jason Pascal, Vice President & Senior Counsel at The Orchard Avatar/Hurt Locker: Litigation post Academy Awards Transformative Use:  Sculptures, pictures, postage stamps As always, thanks to entertainment/film attorney Gordon Firemark for [...

Music Paralegal Katherine Stimson Speaks at 2010 MEIEA Conference

Posted on March 25, 2010
Music paralegal Katherine Stimson is speaking March 27 at the 2010 MEIEA Conference at the University of Miami. Katherine, a music paralegal with the Bennett Law Office, is a panelist on, “Make New Friends While Keeping the Old: Climbing the Social Ladder Without Alienating Your Audience...

Love Music? Support Grammy Foundation & MusiCares

Posted on March 24, 2010
If music impacts your life, consider supporting one of two wonderful charitable organizations:  Grammy Foundation or MusiCares. I am honored to co-captain for the Texas Chapter of The Grammy’s the 2010 Giving Campaign. Do you know… … a talented student whose school’s music budget has been cut? … a music professional who doesn’t have health insurance and is facing [...

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Obama?s Call To Intellectual Property Rights Owners

Posted on March 22, 2010
If you own or license intellectual property, please consider responding promptly to the call for comments from the  office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (??IPEC??) regarding 1) the impact copyright, trademark, and patent infringement have on creators/content owners; and 2) recommendations on how the federal government can improve intellectual property rights enforcement...

?Nexus One? Likelihood of Confusion With ?Nexus? Says Trademark Examiner

Posted on March 17, 2010
Google, Inc. received an initial refusal from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its trademark application for “Nexus One” in connection with mobile phones (Serial number 77891022). The trademark examiner held  there was a likelihood of consumer confusion between the mark “Nexus One” for mobile phones and the mark “Nexus” for a variety of telecommunication [...

Michael Jackson Estate Inks Sony Record Deal

Posted on March 16, 2010
The Estate of Michael Jackson inked what is touted as the most lucrative record deal ever providing $250 million in advances.  The estate will continue to own Jackson’s master records and license them to Sony for distribution and exploitation. The agreement does not include music publishing, merchandise, or name and likeness rights...

NX35 Music Makers Mixer Interview with KERA

Posted on March 15, 2010
Denton, TX – More than 100 people attended the Music Makers Mixer shattering NX35 kickoff attendance records at Dan?s Silver Leaf.  The event was sponsored by the Recording Academy® Texas Chapter and featured Grammy® Texas Board of Governors Tamera H...

Trademark Dispute: Rib City Grill v. Rib City Alehouse

Posted on March 01, 2010
Rib City Group, Inc. d/b/a Rib City Grill of Fort Meyers, FL filed suit against RCC Restaurant Corp. d/b/a Rib City Ale House of Port Jefferson Station, NY, seeking damages for alleged trademark infringement, unfair competition, trademark dilution, cyber-piracy, misappropriation of trade secrets, and breach of contract...

Music Makers Mixer at NX35 March 11; Denton Texas

Posted on March 01, 2010
Hosted by The Recording Academy® Texas Chapter Board Members March 11, 4pm-6pm Dan’s Silverleaf 103 Industrial Street, Denton, TX 76201 No Cover / No Wristband More information and RSVP here: Kick off NX35 2010 networking with the people who make music happen in Denton and the DFW area...

Really, All The Good Band Names Are Taken?

Posted on February 17, 2010
The Wall Street Journal blog today has a fun and informative blog post about how hard it is for bands to come up with names and the trademark issues that often arise with confusingly similar band names. Two of my favorite band names that never made it outside of the Nashville music publishing office I worked [...

Stormtrooper Replicas: Final Strike By British Court of Appeal

Posted on February 09, 2010
A British Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Andrew Ainsworth, the defendant in a 2008 copyright infringement lawsuit brought by George Lucas’ production company, LucasFilm. As previously discussed in my blog post here, Lucas Film was seeking to enforce a $20 million judgment awarded in 2006 against Ainsworth for replicating without permission certain “Stormtrooper” helmets...

Monopoly The Game Meets Music Publishing

Posted on February 05, 2010
Hasbro is promoting the 75th anniversary edition of the Monopoly board game.  Not only does it have a new circular game board, it contains clips of popular songs from artists such as Beyonce and Rihanna. So, how did they do that?  Hasbro had to secure permission to use the underlying songs from the music publishers that [...

Sly Stone Sues Manager For Fraud, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Cancel Trademark

Posted on February 05, 2010
Sylvester Stewart p/k/a Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone  filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against his longtime manager, Jerry Goldstein, alleging Goldstein stole $80 million in licensing and royalty income, and filed a trademark for Sly and the Family Stone without Stone’s permission...

Roger Miller Estate Continues Battle Over Copyright Renewals

Posted on February 02, 2010
For years, the estate of Roger Miller has battled with Sony Music over the ownership of the copyright in songs written by Miller in 1964.  In 1964 Miller was under contract with Tree Publishing, which eventually became part of Sony Music.  Pursuant to his exclusive songwriter agreement, Tree owned the copyright for the initial 28 [...

?60 Years Later? Lawsuit May Continue

Posted on February 01, 2010
I made a series of posts at the Ask Before You Act blog here, here and here on the lawsuit filed by author of “Catcher In The Rye,” J.D. Salinger seeking damages for copyright infringement and an injunction against the writer, publisher and distributor of a sequel to “Catcher In The Rye” …...

Trademark Basics Part 4: After Trademark Registration

Posted on February 01, 2010
In Part 4 of Trademark Basis we explore what happens after you secure a trademark registration.  Feel free to review Part 1 “Selecting a Trademark,” Part 2 From Selection to Application,” and Part 3,  “Intent to Use.” Q:   When should I use the ? symbol or the ® symbol? A:         After federal registration the mark should be [...

Trademark Basics Part 3: Intent to Use

Posted on February 01, 2010
In part three of Trademark Basics we explore “intent to use” trademark applications, interstate commerce, and common law rights in trademarks.  You may be interested in Part 1 on “Selecting A Trademark”  and Part 2 “From Selection to Application...

Yo Quiero Domain Name ? Yum! Brands (Taco Bell) v. Nelson Wellness & Therapy Center

Posted on February 01, 2010
You may have seen Taco Bell’s New Year weight loss campaign, “Drive Thru Diet.”  I have to admit, I have sampled the menu. Taco Bell acquired www.drivethrudiet.com prior to the campaign launch in 2010, but did not secure www.drivethroughdiet...

IPAD Trademark Applications Pending for Apple and Fujitsu?

Posted on January 27, 2010
With the launch of the iPad today, is a trademark dispute brewing between Apple, Inc. and Fujitsu? The mark IPAD (U.S. Trademark Serial No. 77913563) was filed with the USPTO January 16, 2010 via the entity IP Application Development LLC, claiming a priority date of July 16, 2009 from an application filed in Trinidad and Tobago [...

Michael Jordan Sues Chicago Grocers False Endorsement

Posted on January 25, 2010
In two separate complaints filed December 21, 2009 in Illinois’ Cook County Circuit Court, Michael Jordan, via his licensing company, alleges two Chicago area grocers violated his right of publicity, engaged in false endorsement, false designation of origin, deceptive business practices, and unfair competition...

How Much Did NBC Pay for ?Lovely Rita? On Conan?

Posted on January 25, 2010
The news abounds that Conan O’Brien ran up the bill at NBC on his last week with extravagant skits and song choices.  On his closing night the house band played about 22 seconds of  “Lovely Rita,” a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and owned by Sony/ATV Music Publishing...

Trademark Basics: From Selection to Application

Posted on January 19, 2010
by Tamera H. Bennett This post is Part 2 of Trademark Basics. Take a look at Part 1 here on selecting a trademark. Q:  How does the trademark application process work? A: Develop a list of possible names and discuss this list with your trademark lawyer...

Trademark Basics: Selecting A Trademark

Posted on January 18, 2010
by:  Tamera H. Bennett Today is the first edition in a multi-part post on the basics of the trademark selection and application process. Q:  What is a trademark or service mark? A:  A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of [...

Counterfeit Items For Charity

Posted on January 14, 2010
by Tamera H. Bennett I just posted over at the Ask Before You Act blog some insight on how/when/why counterfeit items can be donated to charities such as homeless shelters. In light of the tragedy in Haiti this week, this may become an even hotter topic as the need for clothing and shoes becomes so apparent for [...

Top 5 Entertainment, Trademark, Copyright Posts of 2009

Posted on January 04, 2010
I feel a little like David Letterman. The Top 5 Viewed posts from this blog for 2009 are…. Number 5:  Music Publishing A Good Investment Number 4:  Michael Jackson’s Estate: What Happens Next Number 3:  Blawg Review #212 Number 2: Michael Jackson Estate: Value of Right of Publicity and the Number 1 post, courtesy of all the students at Full [...

Blawg Review Year in Review

Posted on December 30, 2009
by Tamera H. Bennett Posted December 30, 2009 Once again, the Blawg Review has generated a fantastic selection of dynamic, informative and often funny law related blog posts for 2009. You can read the summary here and be sure to scroll to the bottom for directions on voting for the Blawg Review post of the year...

Is The Post Office In The Music Business?

Posted on December 17, 2009
by Tamera H. Bennett The U.S. Postal Service teamed up with Concord Music Group and released a 13 track CD of holiday tunes that are distributed exclusively at Post Offices and via the USPS website. The album charted at Number 3 on the Billboard album chart on its first week in the stores...

ESNTION v. JONESTM Copyright Claims Dismissed Without Prejudice

Posted on December 14, 2009
by Tamera H. Bennett In January 2008 I blogged about a pending copyright infringement lawsuit over certain master recordings owned by Esntion and allegedly infringed by Jonestm. Judge Lindsay, in the Northern District of Texas (Dallas), issued an order on November 13, 2009 dismissing the claims for copyright infringement and trademark infringement WITHOUT PREJUDICE for lack of [...

Music Attorney Tamera Bennett Quoted In Variety

Posted on November 30, 2009
posted November 28, 2009 I enjoyed participating in the Music Piracy panel sponsored by InternationalESQ and Variety Magazine in Beverly Hills. Reporter Ted Johnson put together a great article summarizing the presentation with quotes from Peter Asher, John Parres, Owen Sloane, Andy Schuon, Tamera Bennett, Kim Guggenheim and Glenn Litwak...

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