When copyrights aren’t a federal case
Ron ColemanCan copyright disputes ever be litigated in state court? It’s generally understood that the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over copyright claims, in contrast to trademark claims. Before you answer,…
Trademark clarity where it’s manufacturer versus distributor
Everyone here understands that in the U.S., trademark rights are determined by use, a term of art that, practically speaking, means hardly anything, but if it means anything at all…
Locution, Locution, Locution: IP Licensors – Service Suppliers or Product Providers?
Jane ColemanConsider the following scenario: Company A is a well-known film producer that licenses its intellectual property rights in famous cartoon characters to Company B, a jewelry manufacturer. Company B in…
Another highly derivative blog post
We learn from our mistakes. Far better, however, is to learn from the other guy’s mistakes. Here by “our” and “other guy” I am referring to people engaged in the…
Best of 2014: Bakeries, bankruptcy, BUTTERNET and … bleh!
Originally posted on July 14, 2014. If the tone of my the title of this post sounds dismissive, it’s not quite that. It is, rather, just an admission that there…
Bakeries, bankruptcy, BUTTERNET and … bleh!
If the tone of my the title of this post sounds dismissive, it’s not quite that. It is, rather, just an admission that there are some things in trademark law…
What’s your poison? Copyright infringement.
Matthew David BrozikYou’ve heard the tale in one form or another: A bar plays a recorded song over its sound system (without permission), then gets sued for violating the public performance right…
Betty Boop all good
This development in the Betty Boop IP squabble is something else I should have written about last year, but, really, there was this whole year of things in 2011 ……
Color my world
For years I’ve been writing about the envelope-pushing in trademark by the business of collegiate sports. In a like vein, but very scholarly-like, here’s a very cool piece from the…
Database denouement
Anyone working in intellectual property law is familiar with the questions surrounding agreements to create, maintain and use customized databases. Yes, the client owns the data; yes, the database specialist…
“Dear Licensor” — Part II
Last spring I excerpted from and linked to an article by my friends Richard Bergovoy (of the Licensing Law Blog) and Oliver Herzfeld (of Beanstalk) concerning the dizzying concept of…
“Dear Licensor”
Talk about “Dear John” letters! In the June issue of Royaltie$ magazine, Oliver Herzfeld (of Beanstalk) and Richard Bergovoy (of the Licensing Law Blog) sure know how to grab your…
Revoke this, I implied. Or something.
Only a real IP lawyer like Pamela Chestek can write about revoking an implied nonexclusive copyright license. And mean it.
Split decision
During my traditional end-of-December goof-off here I didn’t pay adequate attention to the important non-ruling in Costco v. Omega, which involves an issue I have had some involvement in. That…