Lawyer Ron Coleman on brands, the Internet & free speech
Counterfeiting & Piracy
Did you ever wonder just how effective holograms are as an anti-counterfeiting device? When they first came out in the 1980’s, we were all impressed. It was like “Star Wars” on our credit cards. But…
I’m just back from 10 days R&R in Egypt, and while I plow through all that piled up while gone, ponder this one: Outside the main entrance to the pyramid complex in Giza, there is…
Andrew Cory tipped me off to this article in the Law of the Game blog involving a judicial “seizure” of gaming-world “assets.” Talking to Andrew and tackling the article, I have the impression something very…
Robert Cox: Here’s how Google should change its ad-censoring policy. Looks reasonable to me. Learned commentary is invited. UPDATE: The story, really, is bigger than all this. Originally posted 2007-10-18 15:01:21. Republished by Blog Post…
IP Overreaching
The first two-thirds of this video is a story about a fundamental misunderstanding about what intellectual property is, in the sense of intellectual property that can legally “protected” (i.e., monopolized). Were these guys under a…
Law Practice and Profession
John (Keeping Tabs on the TTAB®) Welch reports on the unsurprising conclusion that sarcasm doesn’t work better at the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board than at any other appellate panel. Not that it isn’t tempting….
Public Entities
A long time ago I asked this question about the aggressive IP — or quasi-IP — enforcement policy of New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority: [T]he libertarians remind us constantly, and accurately, that when something is…
Diversion
Here’s a roundup of what other people are saying about the decision in Network Automation, Inc. v. Advanced System Concepts, Inc. involving keyword advertising using other folks’ trademarks (a form of the dreaded “diversion“!) and…
Law Practice and Profession
John Welch has once again updated his Fraud-O-Meter! Behind this clever Infographic-type thingy is a report of a meaningful legal development concerning the concept of fraud on the PTO. As John explains: Three years have…
Free Expression
Chutzpa! Originally posted 2014-04-24 11:15:03. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Trademarks and trademark law
Remember the silliness over the attempt by a certain attorney to secure trademark rights for CYBERLAWYER? The notable part about how that went down was that the foolishness was abated by virtue of a cacophony…
UPDATE: I have further thoughts about what is almost certainly the real motivating factor behind Jones Day’s actions in connection with their obviously frivolous lawsuit against BlockShopper, and I have moved them to my other…
Roundups
Counterfeit Chic’s 69th edition of the karnival of kounterfeits was posted last week! Originally posted 2009-10-05 14:36:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Trademarks and trademark law
Aaron Franklin, co-founder of LazyMeter — an intriguing project that’s still in Beta but is not what it sounds like — writes as follows on Seattle 2.0: At first glance, a trademark can be a complicated…