September 2008

Tiffany v. eBay Webinar – You’re Invited!

September 17th 2008

This is your invitation to attend a free webinar on the recent Tiffany v. eBay ruling and its impact on brands of all sizes, and those of us who support and promote them. (Since this event has already happened, please follow this link to listen and view the recorded event in its entirety, or hear […]

Stub Hub Wins “Safe Harbor” Dismissal in Scalping Case

September 16th 2008

I’ve previously blogged here about the economics of scalping, and my belief that anti-scalping laws prevent beneficial markets. So, I’m glad to see Stub Hub win a case which sets a precident for it to receive protection as an online service. In January a class action law suit was brought against Stub Hub and its owner […]

Useful Art’s Near Death Experience: This Was Only a Test.

September 13th 2008

This morning at about 12:30am a series a failures occurred in our primary database. Over the next twelve hours, site functioning was restored by the efforts of our WordPress consultant, Michael D. Pollock of Solostream, and contributing author Brandon Lovested. Their troubleshooting, and support form AN hosting restored site functioning making this an interruption an […]

Fall Speaking: Dave Wieneke on Making Brand Marketing Personal

September 12th 2008

Useful Art’s host, Dave Wieneke, will be in Indianopolis September 24th to speak at ExactTarget’s national user conference. Want to know why I’m thrilled to be with 1,000 email marketers?  These are the people who directly connect brands to people online. They provide the “push” in “push marketing”. The plan: show how to use customer […]

Hello to Blawg Review and LexMonitor, and Thanks!

September 11th 2008

Blawg Review #176 is all about legal literacy. Its host, Hanna Hasl-Kelchner, put together a fantastic array of ways in which the law and literacy are in play. Our forum was recognized for its coverage of an effort to educate kids about copyright law with court-distributed materials that were shockingly in error about the application […]

DHS Learns Not to Build Cases on Wikipedia; They’re Not Admissable.

September 10th 2008

Google may give Wikipedia lots of authority, but don’t count on that to help in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.  An immigration case appealed there hinged on the authority of a personal identification document, for which the feds used evidence from Wikipedia to determine that it did not meet its standards. Unfortunately for DHS, using […]

Chinese Police Steal Microsoft’s Logo

September 9th 2008

China’s noseless censor-mascots are back, and this time they’ve confiscated Microsoft’s Internet Explorer logo in their quest to intimidate Chinese net users. It’s being used on the very front page of the Xiamen Cyberpolice’s site. Can you imagine what their request for permission to use this iconic logo might sound like? “We’d like to take […]

Patent Failure: How The Patent System Fails Innovators

September 8th 2008

There are lots of signs that the patent system needs reform. Have you noticed that some IP lawyers are now filing their own patents, and forming shell companies which exist only to generate lawsuits? Many writers have alarming stories about why IP law reform is needed. However, here is an eminently readable macro-analysis of issues […]

Yahoo’s Yodel Becomes India’s First Soundmark

September 7th 2008

Wylie Gustafson’s famous Yahoo yodel has been named the first soundmark in India. India defines a trademark as “a mark capable of being represented graphically and which is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person to those of others.” Yahoo used musical notation in its application to represent its famous “Yahoo” yodel. […]

How a Blogger Got Into Parliament in Malaysia

September 6th 2008

Jeff Ooi gained notoriety by writing a daily Malaysian political blog. Like a lot of bloggers, he poured hours of personal time into it every day. Along the way, he exposed corruption and found a voice for demanding more competent government. Last March he posted a banner ad on his site: “Get a Blogger Into Parliment.” […]