The Ninth Circuit Comes Through
It rejects the stupid and unconstitutional argument that “commercial use” under the Lanham Act’s dilution provisions can be found where there is simply “diversion.” Originally posted... Read more
Category: Distribution systems
“Aereo” smiths (part two)
In part one of this post I laid out the following propositions: (a) We operate in a common-law system, so want and expect judges to... Read more
Divert me!
I’ve been writing about “diversion” of sales — otherwise known as “unauthorized distribution” or the sale of gray market goods — since forever. And I’ve... Read more
Best of 2011: Infinite loop
First posted (in updated form) on September 20, 2011.(Originally published on July 22, 2011; see update at bottom!) It can only mean one thing when... Read more
Chocolate Ice Cream with Chocolate Syrup
How else to describe a post (this one) that combines two of our favorite obsessions — Google and fair use? Business Week online reports that... Read more
E-parasites: The irony abounds
And the metaphors mix, as you’ll see, but what better on a Halloween night where half the lights in the neighborhood are out for real?... Read more
The second time as farce
On the occasion of the S&L Vitamins v. Australian Gold trial, I reposted what I wrote here six months earlier about the first of these... Read more
Norman Blagman Versus the Whole Digital Music Industry: Round 1 to Blagman.
I can’t write a better introductory sentence than Judge Andrew Carter of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York did... Read more
Designer Skin v. S&L continued: “S&L had a perfect right to sell this product”
Unfortunately for future defendants in the position of our client, Internet retailer S&L, U.S. District Judge James Teilborg’s decision from the bench in the District... Read more
“I don’t even own a TV”—Aereo (Part Two)
Familiarity of the reader with Part One is presumed. As I read the Second Circuit decision, I was pleased—for reasons I can’t quite, and won’t bother... Read more
An answer to the musical question
Unsurprising news: In a dramatic acceleration of the seven-year sales decline that has battered the music industry, compact-disc sales for the first three months of... Read more
EMI Dumps Copy Protection
Item: EMI will be distributing DRM-free music through Apple’s iTunes store. That is so cute. 😉 UPDATE: Well, whatever. Originally posted 2007-04-02 18:21:16. Republished by... Read more
Exclusively ours
The issue of resales or other “unauthorized distribution” is one that I have been writing about forever here. Julie Zerbo takes us into the future... Read more
Aw, shucks
We already covered the Designer Skin v. S&L Vitamins summary judgment decision, and linked to commentators Greg Beck, Bill Patry, Rebecca Tushnet, Eric Goldman and... Read more