Ron Coleman on the law affecting brands, the Internet & free speech
Mommy’s Time Out wine, a photo by Ron Coleman on Flickr. I couldn’t but snap the above shot of “Mommy’s Time Out” wine when I first saw it three years ago in the local wine store. And after all the vino I’ve downed in the last 48 hours — well, we had to wait for it, but I guess Mommy will sue over no wine before its time — but eventually, she will sue: California-based…
Bates numbering, that is. As a litigator, I’ve been living with Bates-numbering, or Bates-stamping, for over 20 years. (I’m not the only one!) I have manually stamped documents using a Bates stamp. These days we Bates-stamp (not “Bate-stamp”) electronically, mostly. I noticed this when I was Bates-stamping a small supplemental document production using Adobe Acrobat today. It looks like this (click the graphic for a better look): So, as a trademark lawyer, that made... Read more
I mentioned in an earlier post that I would revisit the issue of which presidential candidate was a “better IP” candidate. This is that visit. It took a little time and a hurricane to get here, kind of, and of course SOPA and PIPA are not the only IP issues of concern. But this is, as I promised, something to talk about. Embed This Image On Your Site (copy code below): Courtesy of: LIKELIHOOD OF... Read more
Right out of the Smoking Gun: Back in the day when young drug dealer 50 Cent had a beef, he’d settle it gangsta style. But the old days are long gone and now rapper Curtis Jackson has trademark attorneys do his dirty work for him. In the below complaint filed Friday in Pennsylvania federal court, 50 accuses a Philadelphia area car dealer of using a newspaper ad with a picture of him and the tagline... Read more
It was bound to happen sooner or later—and in fact it happened back in 2012. Someone sued to have “Google” declared generic and the registration of the trademark(s) “GOOGLE” canceled at PTO. That someone was actually two someones—two cybersquatters: David Elliott and Chris Gillespie, who in the early months of 2012 registered 763 domain names that each included the word “google.” Among these were “googledisney.com” and “googlebarackobama.net.” Predictably and promptly, Google, Inc., which holds two... Read more
An odd little display at a garden center in Clifton, New Jersey. Originally posted 2011-05-03 23:40:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Read more
Now this is going to be interesting. Kevin Heller’s superlative TechLawAdvisor blog has a story about how Marty Schwimmer (going for three links from here in one week, only one of which is an outright ripoff on my part) has loudly disconnected himself from Bloglines, an aggressive RSS feed aggregator. Marty is annoyed, and rightfully, that what the company is doing amounts to a 21st-century version of the old “framing” conundrum of the ’90’s. (See here for... Read more
G. Mathew Lombard demonstrates for trademark defendants the way to triple the cost of their initial retainers. Originally posted 2006-11-14 14:00:11. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Read more
Love conquers all — but never, never when it comes to trademarks! The relationship was renewed only three days ago and yet Gucci’s love affair with NY is already hitting a stumbling block. New York City’s Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) is challenging Gucci’s use of the ‘Gucci (loves as symbolized by a heart) New York’ slogan on its new limited edition bags. Why? The ESDC is the economic development arm for the State of... Read more
LA Larry Zerner Larry Zerner, that rare creature — a lawyer in Los Angeles whose main emphasis is copyright, trademark and entertainment law — has a very good new blog about all that stuff. It’s called “Copyrights and Wrongs” but believe me, it gets way better after the title. Most recent post: Can you copyright a nose job? My kind of guy. I like this one, too: A reader writes: Dear Larry: I don’t know what... Read more
Not my case. But of great interest, and certainly topical. I am sure there will be commentary from all over. For now, though, here is the brief for your edification. Originally posted 2019-09-18 19:56:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Read more
Blawg Review #279 is up at Mirriam Seddiq’s Not Guilty blog. It’s not safe for work. Unless you work in a law office. Home… that’s something else. Originally posted 2011-12-31 18:11:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Read more
At issue in the case is whether, in an action to enforce a trademark infringement judgment, a defendant who continues with the exact same infringements can collaterally attack a prior judgment with a defense that it raised in that prior action but deliberately chose not to prosecute. Read more
Blawg Review this week is hosted by Bob Coffield‘s Health Care Law Blog. Originally posted 2012-06-05 19:02:37. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Read more