LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION™

CNN.com reports that Communism’s undertaker, Mikhail Gorbachev (owner of the trademark port wine stain), wants to put a human face on intellectual property, too (via ATL) (link added): Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Monday asked Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to intercede on behalf of a Russian teacher accused of using pirated software in his classroom. In an open letter, Nobel Peace Prize winner Gorbachev said the teacher, Alexander Ponosov, from a remote village in... Read more

Sometimes you feel like a motherless domain name?  Maybe it’s because you’re using GoDaddy.com and they got a little nastygram.  Read about the problem at “NoDaddy.Com – Exposing the Many Reasons Not to Trust GoDaddy with Your Domain Names.”  Via PoliTech. Read more

A website called The Local reports: Swedish file-sharing website The Pirate Bay is planning to buy its own nation in an attempt to circumvent international copyright laws. The group has set up a campaign to raise money to buy Sealand, a former British naval platform in the North Sea that has been designated a ‘micronation’, and claims to be outside the jurisdiction of the UK or any other country. Shiver me timbers! No scallywag ever... Read more

Go figure. Unlike G. Matthew Lombard I did see fit to address this story, however little, before; and now, unlike me, Matthew’s giving it some serious attention.  His post is worth reading.  From a straightforward trademark law point of view, check this: An Apple spokeswoman has reportedly said, “There are already several companies using the iPhone name for VoIP products. We’re the first company ever to use iPhone for a cell phone. If Cisco wants... Read more

(Repeated from an earlier post) Fox Rothschild partner, and my former college-hijinx-mate Bob Clothier sends along news of this event at Philadelphia University. If you’re anywhere near Philly you should consider attending, and you may want to urge clients (it’s really geared to non-lawyers) to look into it as well. Here’s the rundown: January 10, 2007 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A one-day seminar at Philadelphia University Catch Up on Web 2.0 for Business A... Read more

News report: A company that helps advertisers connect with bloggers willing to write about their products for payment will now require disclosures amid criticism and a regulatory threat. Before this week, advertisers were barred by PayPerPost Inc. from telling bloggers they can’t disclose the sponsorship, but bloggers were able to decide on their own whether or not to do so. Under the new policy, bloggers must disclose that they are accepting payment, either in the... Read more

I’m doing a mini-roundup of some of my blogroll friends, because I can. Looking for some of the odder entries of the week. Keeping the networking fresh. Writing, in other words, filler. First, I said laugh “a little.” We’re talking about Canadians, after all. But now that our expectations are in properly in check, we can click Sander Gelsing’s mini-roundup of mirthful trademark applications of the northlands. Then take a look at the Strategic Name... Read more

Infamy or Praise, which treated us to an infernal Blawg Review a while back, lightens up a bit. Read more

Comments on the Empire State legal guild’s reaction to modernity closed yesterday. Greg Beck writes about what the ‘CLU folks sent in. Read more

We’ve been blogrolled by the Hobnobblog (three b’s there), a commercial blog for The Capitol Net, a company that does Washingtonish things.  I don’t look down my nose at any blogrolling; it’s an excellent form of networking that does not harm the environment or encourage extremism.  But this one I am having some trouble figuring out.  Which is typical of most Washingtonish things.  Thanks for adding me, you — you — Hobnobblog. Read more

I wrote a few weeks ago that perhaps the most compelling novelty of the power of the Internet is not the virtual absence of barriers to entry to the market of communications. Rather, it is the fact that this aspect of transparency is paradoxically paired with an historic power to communicate without personal accountability for what you say or how it affects others. In other words, you can publish for free, and to everyone, and... Read more