Intellectual Property Law

This is Not Censorship

Posted on October 29, 2010
Originally posted 2005-03-07 00:00:00. Republished by Old Post PromoterEditor and Publisher reports about the canning (“resignation” following a “suspension”) of the tasteful gent who ran that front-page story that New Yorkers saw staring out of newspaper boxes: ?52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope? in the New York Press, “New York’s Premier [...

You need more email

Posted on October 29, 2010
Originally posted 2006-05-04 21:04:09. Republished by Old Post Promoter So it’s good news that you can now sign up for an email subscription to Likelihood of Confusion, courtesy of FeedBlitz.  Just write your email in the form in the right-hand sidebar and hit the button...

What’s tweeting you lately?

Posted on October 27, 2010
I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean.  I already said I’ve run out of Twitter-related puns.  But you have to put something in for the title.  I’m open to suggestions for future installments of this feature, by which I share recent topical links that have come my way via Twitter and which I probably [...

Sue you in the funny papers!

Posted on October 22, 2010
Duets Blog presents the exciting, amply illustrated and, potentially, graphically violent story of the company that thought it could capture the powers of a one-of-a-kind, special — heck, even super hero – and attempt utilize them for its own, presumably evil, ends...

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Oh, bother!

Posted on October 22, 2010
Originally posted 2006-06-27 08:55:05. Republished by Old Post PromoterThe Supreme Court declined yesterday to get involved in the Winnie the Pooh litigation, despite the opportunity it presented for another swat at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals...

Heartbreaking

Posted on October 19, 2010
I’ve expressed my opinion here about the piggish IP grabbing by Big College Sports.  So I enjoyed this from Mark Malek: This is an update on my story in January about the trademark dispute between the University of Southern California and the University of South Carolina...

Even Hippies Have their Limits

Posted on October 19, 2010
Originally posted 2005-12-04 23:22:11. Republished by Old Post PromoterReuters “news” service reports: Facing a revolt by its famously faithful fans, The Grateful Dead backed away on Thursday from a move to block “Deadheads” from downloading the jam band’s concert recordings for free...

Avast ye social networker file-sharers!

Posted on October 19, 2010
Originally posted 2009-04-01 16:04:19. Republished by Old Post PromoterThe Sweden Pirate Bay trial is long over, and the verdict is due in a couple of weeks.  But even if you didn’t think it was safe to go back in the water yet, Marty Schwimmer links to this story, suggesting double-decked linkin’ and sinkin’ liability for [...

A post by any other name would smell as Tweet

Posted on October 19, 2010
Originally posted 2009-12-07 13:53:01. Republished by Old Post PromoterHaving said that, here are some of the fragrant little nothings from all over been told by the little birdy, and which I’ve passed along via Twitter @roncoleman in the last week or so: @MegLG: via Media Law Prof Blog: IP and Social Networks http://ow...

And a hard place…

Posted on October 14, 2010
Figure this one!  Michael Cohen — who, now that I think of it, does kind of slather his blog’s home page and name with SEO goodness (but unlike certain, say, Minnesota intellectual property attorneys, however, he is for real) — reports about a hotel named, it turns out, after the material packed into its braincase: [...

Tweets of the week

Posted on October 14, 2010
Originally posted 2009-09-21 22:24:51. Republished by Old Post Promoter Last week’s utterly unmissable topical tweets via @roncoleman: RT @ptolawyer: The TM case that won’t go away – Redskins case on way to SCOTUS: http://bit.ly/BJoq6 — See my http://bit...

Tail wagging dog?

Posted on October 14, 2010
Originally posted 2008-03-04 09:26:54. Republished by Old Post PromoterOr maybe not. Evan Brown reports about a lawsuit by a high-end computer manufacturer, Alienware, over one of those “free laptop” promotions that it claims mostly leans on its brand name: According to Alienware, after accepting the offer, users must purchase a specified amount of goods from [...

More digital law

Posted on October 14, 2010
Originally posted 2007-08-31 00:28:28. Republished by Old Post PromoterIt’s the fingers again. By now you heard about the dispute about the “thumbs up” “trademark” claim being bandied with respect to Roger Ebert, the movie reviewer...

Don’t mutilate my mark!

Posted on October 12, 2010
John Welch treats us to another edition of “You Be the Judge” — well, he calls it something slightly else, but whatever — and asks the Potter-Stewart-esque question, “Do you know trademark mutilation when you see it?” Could get ugly! Don’t mutilate my mark! ©, .

Good News: I Saved a Lot of Money on Litigation

Posted on October 12, 2010
Originally posted 2005-08-09 09:33:24. Republished by Old Post PromoterLooking for the Geico v. Google decision? Here it is. More to come…. UPDATE: I didn’t exactly mean more litigation — but I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. UPDATE: I think of Professor Eric Goldman as the person in academia whose professional interests track mine most closely...

Mooning off into the sunset

Posted on October 12, 2010
Originally posted 2008-11-11 13:34:58. Republished by Old Post PromoterThe lawsuit by the Naked Cowboy against candymaker Mars has been settled. Terms are undisclosed, the filing of a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice a sorry fig leaf over this tawdry affair...

Unofficial, and in court

Posted on October 12, 2010
Originally posted 2006-04-01 23:36:46. Republished by Old Post Promoter Mike Mintz reports about a lawsuit brought in California by Brian Kopp, the publisher of an unofficial guidebook for a computer game called World of Warcraft that kept getting booted off eBay by the game’s maker, Blizzard...

Goodbye, Blogger

Posted on October 12, 2010
Originally posted 2005-06-14 23:30:00. Republished by Old Post PromoterWe stopped posting on Blogger in June, 2005. Please go directly to www.likelihoodofconfusion.com for our Word Press version. Goodbye, Blogger ©, .

Libel in the blogosphere

Posted on October 12, 2010
Originally posted 2006-05-05 11:49:54. Republished by Old Post PromoterGlenn Reynolds wonders aloud whether the Maine blogger dustup (UPDATE: suit withdrawn!) will generate some interest in his new “libel in the blogosphere” article. Well, what is LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION if not an obsequious devotee of Instapundit, who has been known to link here on a frequency [...

How bad is really bad IP blogging?

Posted on October 08, 2010
I don’t like to call out other bloggers, but I do it sometimes.  People are gentle with my mistakes — Steve Feingold being the model of graciousness this week (as he always is, of course!) — usually. But if you write a blog and you jack it all up full of SEO juice and it [...

Canada: Copyright law not meant to protect distribution networks

Posted on October 08, 2010
Originally posted 2007-08-14 23:07:15. Republished by Old Post PromoterThe Gray Blog reports that the Canadian Supreme Court has rejected an attempt — the sort made all day all over North America — to utilize copyright law as a “guaranteed distribution network protection act...

That Floyd Abrams magic, or truly scrumptuous

Posted on October 08, 2010
Originally posted 2006-11-29 21:47:40. Republished by Old Post PromoterThe arrogant New York Times loses again. The Supreme Court agrees with the Second Circuit: If there were a reporters’ privilege under the First Amendment, it still wouldn’t give you a free ticket to do absolutely anything you want to undermine your country...

Museum of genericization

Posted on October 06, 2010
The Merriam-Webster Online dictionary has a cute little feature:  The “Top Ten Words for Trademarks.”  You know, mainly the usual suspects:  Band-Aids, etc.  It’s a study in what can go wrong if you don’t “police” your trademark, yada-yada-yada...

IP Blogs Get Out of Bloglines

Posted on October 06, 2010
Originally posted 2005-01-16 11:51:00. Republished by Old Post PromoterNow this is going to be interesting. Kevin Heller’s superlative TechLawAdvisor blog has a story about how Marty Schwimmer (going for three links from here in one week, only one of which is an outright ripoff on my part) has loudly disconnected himself from Bloglines, an aggressive [...

Gadget goes gonzo

Posted on October 06, 2010
Originally posted 2010-02-08 23:24:32. Republished by Old Post PromoterThey embody our passion, our vision and our values . . . They are descriptive of our products on many levels. Firefly is a business given life through ingenuity, hard work, the contributions of our employees and the trust of the many clients we serve...

Steal your plate

Posted on October 06, 2010
Originally posted 2008-10-10 12:04:13. Republished by Old Post PromoterThe Jews take a worldwide day off from eating, and what happens when they sit down and pick up their forks and knives to dig in?  Their enemies want to take their food away and get fees, too! MBA Legal intern Andie Schwartz sends along this item [...

Don’t start with a Hasid

Posted on October 06, 2010
Originally posted 2007-11-21 12:18:52. Republished by Old Post PromoterThat’s the punchline of an old Jewish joke about a blessing that is part of the traditional thrice-daily prayers, which begins, “On the saintly (i.e., the tzadikim), and on the pious (the hasidim) …,’ asking for a special blessing in their merit...

Big Green’s Ethiopian trademark problem

Posted on October 06, 2010
Originally posted 2007-03-10 23:31:12. Republished by Old Post PromoterThe Australian reports that earlier news about a resolution of Starbucks’ trademark problems with the Ethiopian coffee thing was perhaps over-caffeinated. Big Green’s Ethiopian trademark problem ©, .

Chippendales cuffs-and-collar TM claim goes “gently” into that dark night

Posted on October 04, 2010
Reuters reports on a high-class trademark story I’ve been following since my own dancing days: The male erotic dancer company Chippendales stumbled on Friday when an appeals court ruled that it could not trademark [sic] the bow tie and shirt cuffs that the men wear...

Iconography

Posted on October 04, 2010
Originally posted 2009-02-05 00:15:35. Republished by Old Post PromoterLast week it was the O-Team preparing for lightning raids on Obama-brand-equity rustlers.  But maybe the Obama Administration needs to set its own  White House  house in order, as the AP reports that the AP is coming after President Obama for its piece of icon pie...

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