Amicus Brief filed in Vans v. MSCHF
This is an important trademarks / free speech case. I got in on an edge of it!
Written by: 
Ron Coleman
Secondary liability conference Stanford thing
What if they called a conference on secondary liability on the Internet and no one told … well, me? It happens. I mean, that people could forget to tell me. Imagine! Whether the symposium itself really happened, well, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence. Al I’m saying is I just can’t swear to it myself. Nor could I fly to it myself because no one invited me, me, me! But evidently in March of... Read more
Let it flow
The Invent Blog® reports on the latest fashion (and maybe a good idea) for IP lawyers: Flowcharts on IP for Clients to help them understand the options and contingencies before them. Good for clients; good for lawyers… if they’re done right. Originally posted 2012-01-20 09:32:50. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Read more
Madden ’nuff
Here’s a guy who just may be in for some serious money! So, what magic words can resurrect a potentially multi-million-dollar copyright lawsuit from a statute of limitations bar? “They lied!” Daniel Davidson explains regarding a suit against gaming giant Electronic Arts over the IP powering its famous Madden NFL franchise: The iconic game that has caused millions of men to disregard the women in their life and convince them that they could replace the likes... Read more
Urban Smear
We’ve blogged on graffiti before. Wordsmith to the stars Jane Genova reports on a little commercial free speech applied a bit too freely — as in, on other people’s walls: Seems Sony contracted with local graffiti artists to plaster urban space in seven cities with caricatures of children playing with video toys. The ads don’t carry any product names or the Sony brand name. The strategy was to simulate street art to deliver a commercial... Read more
Meet the Bloggers at INTA 2019!
MEET THE BLOGGERS at #INTA2019 in Boston will be on Monday, May 20th, 8:00 - 10:00 PM, at "Kings Bowl." INTA attendess of all but one shape are urged to attend Read more
My Periscope with Adam Townsend
?LIVE: Discussing social media, the suppression of dissent and legal asymmetrical warfare with lawyer @RonColeman Please join us now and please ask questions ? https://t.co/wmGADwGT31 — Adam Townsend (@adamscrabble) September 3, 2020 Originally posted 2020-09-02 22:21:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Read more
“Stealth marketing” and IP
Eric Goldman writes about the regulation of “Stealth” Marketing, which I talked about in its application to blogs both here, in my dismissal of the blogola non-scandal a couple of years back, and here, where I decried the FTC’s involvement in monitoring Pay Per Post (“PPP”) blog placements. Originally posted 2013-03-05 17:36:12. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Read more
Patent reform
I joke about patents here, but it’s from love, believe me. If you have anything to do with intellectual property law, however, you are likely to get buttonholed by someone who wants your opinion about “the new patent law.” So if you have to read just one opinion about it — and I can’t imagine reading more than one for free — naturally it should be Dennis Crouch’s. Originally posted 2010-02-23 23:59:25. Republished by Blog... Read more
Occupying trademark
So eventually all the “big trademark stories” catch up to you, even if you try to avoid them as you would try to avoid … certain assemblies of people in certain locations. Paul Elias of the Associated Press asked me what I thought about the OCCUPY WALL STREET trademark application, and that turned into this story in the Washington Post: [Wylie] Stecklow, the attorney for the protesters, says he believed his clients will prevail because... Read more
The return of the scandalous mark denial?
Perhaps the “immoral and scandalous” rule is nothing to sniff at, after all. The Times asks: Will the COCAINE tradememark take a powder? I don’t know, but you have to just love the Cocaine pusher himself, Jamey Kirby, who strikes one as a thoughtful, public-spirited type: Opinions differed on whether the probable loss of the federal trademark would affect Redux’s business. Jamey Kirby, the owner of Redux and inventor of the drink, has until April... Read more
Best of 2011: The entrepreneurship of trademark bullying
Originally posted January 12, 2011. I figured I must have written somewhere about that PTO trademark bullying thing — or if I didn’t, I am sure I linked to someone who did — well, I thought I did. But finally, I really did. And I was reminded of it when I read a press release including this interesting comment from one Scott Smith. It also links to this article about Entrepreneur magazine’s own trademark adventures... Read more
Trademark colors bleed
BrandWeek reports that universities are having success suing companies that make fan paraphernalia that don’t actually use team trademarks but do use slogans, colors and other devices that conjure up the trademarks: The schools successfully argued that, while they technically own trademarks only for their names and their commonly used initials, they’ve nonetheless each spent millions of dollars over the past years marketing items with their colors. This is not as sickening a development as... Read more
"Identity" is "Not Authored, Not Fixed"; God Mulls Appeal
Dennis Crouch reports on a Seventh Circuit opinion ruling that the Copyright Act does not preempt a claim under Illinois’ right of publicity. It arose in connection with a lawsuit by a model whose likeness was used by Ultra Sheen, and subsequently by L’Oreal, which acquired the former, beyond the contractual term. Here’s the heart of the opinion — I have bolded the words that define what is required for a claim to exist under... Read more