Google hit on thumbnails
IPKat reports that it lost on copyright, didn’t lose on trademark, for use of thumbnails out in California. California is a tough place to litigate these cases.
Written by: 
Ron Coleman
Proof that TV doesn’t harm kids, Butch!
Slate explains how Likelihood of Confusion did it: If anything, the data revealed a small positive uptick in test scores for kids who got to watch more television when they were young. For kids living…
Written by: Ron Coleman
The media’s ancien regime
Hugh Hewitt, he of the media Jacobins, confronts the crumbling edifice of the mainstream media at its Versailles — the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism — in the The Weekly Standard: The “blue” nature…
Written by: Ron Coleman
Blawg Review: Infamy, Praise, Several Butchers’ Aprons
The new Blawg Review is up at Colin Samuels’ Infamy or Praise. Colin explains the origin of his blog’s name — Dante’s Inferno, which is also the source of the title of one of the…
Written by: Ron Coleman
Perpetual Patent Profits?
IPKat writes about that bane of patent examiners — or is it really just a study break for the nerdiest G-men? — perpetual motion machines. The philosophical feline makes an immodest, and very laissez-faire, proposal:…
Written by: Ron Coleman
Lego-ing, going, gone….
The Globe and Mail reports: Danish toy giant Lego System AS was given a sharp lesson in the workings of free-market “creative destruction” yesterday when the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed its case against upstart…
Written by: Ron Coleman
Fair Use Still Breathing
The online New York Law Journal reports that the federal court in the Southern District of New York has ruled that a painter who produced a commissioned painting utilizing certain features of a commercial photograph…
Written by: Ron Coleman
Alito on Free Speech
A 2001 Third Circuit opinion from Judge Alito supports even unpopular speech, even in schools: We . . . have found no categorical rule that divests “harassing” speech, as defined by federal anti-discrimination statutes, of…
Written by: Ron Coleman
Great Seal, not Gray Seal!
The editor at Blawg Review sends along this link, in which the White House sent a cease and desist letter to the editors of The Onion instructing them to stop using the presidential seal on…
Written by: Ron Coleman
Trademarks Bring World Peace?
The online Prague Daily Monitor reports Slovak Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan told CTK that he is not opposed to Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek’s idea of Czechs and Slovaks using “Czechoslovakia” as a trademark to…
Written by: Ron Coleman
Copyright Law
American Graffiti
Graffiti: Art or crime? And by crime, I don’t mean mere vandalism. I mean criminally bad legal-decision-making. The New York Law Journal reports: On July 18, 2005, plaintiff fashion company’s founder, who began his career…
Written by: 
Ron Coleman
Cleaning Up, or Getting Their Clocks Cleaned?
I stumbled on this article in Slate and it seemed to contradict my point in one of my favorite posts. On reflection I realized that actually the two pieces actually harmonize quite well. It did…
Written by: Ron Coleman
We Who Were There Salute You in Our Leisure Suits
IP … trademarks … branding … design … interior design … awful interior design of the 1970’s! Maybe I don’t have to sweat topicality after all. I am sorry, but if you really, really need…
Written by: Ron Coleman