The TTABlog: Recommended Reading
What are “The U.S. Constitutional Limits of Product Configuration Trade Dress Rights”? John Welch provides a brief introduction and a link to a leading-edge article on the topic.
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Ron Coleman
Blogger booted from press box; world does not end
KnoxNews, via Instapundit: This is one of the most ignorant moves by officials that I’ve seen in a while. It will be quite entertaining to watch the Kentucky blogosphere on this one, and to watch the officials go down in flames. Geez. This is a wild one. If you see updates or other posts, please put them in my comments. This is an issue I’d like to dog. (And this means I’ve officially moved on... Read more
Three score and phony years ago
Counterfeit Chic has posted Knockoff News number 60! Read more
Spam and you
Technology law maven Bill Galkin sends along this article about how businesses can walk the line between email marketing and the crime against civilization of spamming. Read more
How not to build a brand
Reuters: Animated footage promoting the logo for the 2012 London Olympic Gameswas removed from the organizers’ Web site on Tuesday amid concern it could trigger epileptic fits. . . . Critics of the emblem have described it as “hideous,” while organizers called it powerful and modern. The clip’s removal follows comments by Professor Graham Harding, an expert in clinical neuro-physiology who developed a test used to measure photo-sensitivity levels in animated TV material. “The logo... Read more
Fair use-y
Copywrite writes about, albeit somewhat telegraphically, and links to a work that straddles the storied parody / satire axis, finding the work creative, amusing, and probably infringing. Read more
One cease and desist letter I won’t be sending
The AP reports that Disney could have some IP issues in a jurisdiction where, regrettably, I am not licensed to practice. Or to breathe: Hamas militants have suspended a TV program that featured a Mickey Mouse lookalike urging Palestinian children to fight Israel and work for global Islamic domination, the Palestinian information minister said Wednesday. . . . The character, named “Farfour,” or “butterfly,” but unmistakably a copy of the Disney character, preached against the... Read more
IP creep by the IP creeps
The record industry moves in yet another way toward getting the law to treat your music purchase as a music license (via BoingBoing), writes Ken Fisher: New “pawn shop” laws are springing up across the United States that will make selling your used CDs at the local record shop something akin to getting arrested. No, you won’t spend any time in jail, but you’ll certainly feel like a criminal once the local record shop makes... Read more
My friend Wicca
Radar Online reports that “The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has added the pentacle, emblem of the pagan belief system, to its list of religious symbols approved for military headstones.” Thus ends the Wicca controversy. Read more
Big T presents
Trebor Lloyd introduces copyright law for non-lawyers. A little breezy, yes, but far be it from me to criticize a man for that. I like his writing presentation and his smile. He’s the founder of a record company, I think, is Trebor Lloyd — perhaps it is City Canyon Records, even. Here, look: Trebor Lloyd, founder and CEO of City Canyons Records, is a New York based attorney with over a dozen years experience in... Read more
Likelihood of extrusion
I posted this last year. Change the dates and it still works great! Just as I started hitting some kind of [blogging] pace, I’ve been hit by pre-Passover preparations, plus the need to front-load my law practice to make up for the fact that we’ll be closed Tuesday and Wednesday and essentially on mission-critical-only duty for most of the rest of the week, too. Here’s a nice thought on the topic, appropos for our blogging... Read more
Mock smocks spur suit
The New York Post reports that Diane von Furstenberg is suing over knockoffs of her designer smock dress things: The famed designer thinks cheapie-fashion store Forever 21’s $32 “Sabrina” smock dress looks suspiciously similar to her own $325 “Cerisier” design. Von Furstenberg’s studio filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit last week against Forever 21, claiming the downmarket retailer willfully copied the pattern, colors, and measurements of her popular frock – as well as another dress from a... Read more
Kinderfinished (with an UPDATED link)
As in stick-a-fork-in-it: A U.S. judge has thrown out a lawsuit challenging the fairness of how Web search leader Google Inc. calculates the popularity of Web sites in determining search results, court papers show. In a ruling issued on Friday that came to light on Tuesday, Judge Jeremy Fogel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed a lawsuit against Google by parenting information site KinderStart. The judge also imposed yet-to-be-determined... Read more
Blawg Review Centennial
Yes, Blawg Review is a hundred years old this week! At least in wasted billable hours blood, sweat, toil and tears. And, evidently, rejected first-tier college applications.* So throw ’em a bone and take a look. — *Yes, some people have to rub it in. This is the thing: Even Tigers agree, it’s, er, not for everyone. (Hardly surprising.) But branding a college is hard work! Read more