December 19th 2007
The stick is back, and so is using the federal government as hired muscle. Media lobbyists are trying to get Congress to pass the PRO IP Act of 2007 (Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property), which creates the White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative, or “WHIPER.” This new agency will police U.S. intellectual property […]
December 13th 2007
Mike Masnick offers an excellent article on TechDirt.com, which points out that the goal of Non-Compete Agreements and those of Digital Rights Management (DRM) are essentially the same: to restrict the free flow of information. Masnick accurately note that non-competes are the “DRM of human capital.” A new study now shows that the degree of […]
December 10th 2007
Spam Arrest, a provider of software and services aimed at stopping email spam, has won a U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruling, allowing it to keep its trademark despite a petition from canned-meat producers Hormel. The TTAB blog quotes the ruling: “Simply put, the scope of protection of petitioner’s mark, while extremely broad, does not […]
December 9th 2007
Described in one of his own press releases as a “creative genius and forward thinker by nature,” the Purple One’s legal creativity is legendary. Recall his 1993 falling-out with Warner Bros. during which he only appeared in public with the word “slave” written on his cheek. Then he abandoned his stage name for a symbol. The line […]
December 7th 2007
The RIAA and MPAA have never tried the carrot-and-stick approach to anti-piracy efforts — just the stick part. It’s all about the stick. The reason is a perception that an entire generation of kids and young adults does not respect copyrights, and that the combination of digital content and the widespread distribution medium of the […]
December 4th 2007
Can you imagine a more certain way to create a culture of lawlessness than to inspire a popular contempt for law? Few things are more likely to provoke contempt than to hand out rights so broad that to average people they are reduced to absurdity. That’s what University of Utah Law Professor John Tehranian illustrates […]
December 2nd 2007
Part 3 in a series: Part 1 | Part 2 An avatar walks into a bar in Second Life, and another avatar looks at his shoes and says, “Hey! Nice Air Jordans!” Although it sounds like a classic joke set-up, it’s really a case of trademark infringement. Sorry if you’re disappointed there’s no punchline, but […]
December 1st 2007
Back in October, before the Rockies met the Sox, someone in the Rockies’ business office thought they should try to trademark their fans’ cheer. We discussed this both as a misuse of trademark and as disrespectful of their own fans’ enthusiasm. Now The Onion has weighed in with parody news coverage on this burning trademark issue.
November 27th 2007
Article update: the New York law to require web sites to collect sales tax has been signed in to law, ands it is now drawing lawsuits from e-commerce sites. ——– Last week, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer introduced–and quickly withdrew–plans to require Internet retailers who use affiliate marketers in that state to collect sales tax […]
November 21st 2007
I recently sold a house in a market where all brokers with access to the Multiple Listing Service required a 6 percent commission. The agents had signed agreements to charge a standard commission in order to have access to MLS. Local laws prevented rebating any portion of that fee. It seemed anti-competitive at the time, and […]
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