April 12th 2010
This is a story about Eric and Jack, who both blog about the law with an eye on topics that are enlightening, ennobling, or at least entertaining. By now you’ve probably heard about Eric Turkewitz, who wrote an April 1st post in his NY Personal Injury Law Blog announcing he was the new Whitehouse blogger. […]
April 1st 2010
Last month, the mayor of Topeka, Kansas, stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google. Now Google has honored that gesture by changing its name name to Topeka for April Fools’ Day. This makes Bill Bunten the Mayor of Google and Eric Schmidt the CEO of Topeka, Inc. Of course, […]
March 25th 2010
New Haven law firm Stratton Faxon sued Google for selling competitor ads triggered by searches on their name. Specifically, they alleged that these ads interfered with the firm’s business relations with clients, were an unfair business practice under Connecticut state law, and resulted in unjust enrichment. Read the details on Lawyers and Settlements. Note the […]
March 20th 2010
This week, Greenpeace posted a gruesome anti-Nestlé commercial on YouTube complaining that Nestlé SA buys palm oil from companies that destroy the Indonesian rainforest to plant oil palms. The 60-second video depicts a bored office worker enjoying a Kit Kat, which, rather than being the popular chocolate-hazelnut ladyfinger-style confection, appears to be a chocolate-covered ape […]
March 11th 2010
According to the New York Post, actress Lindsay Lohan is suing E-Trade for $100 million for pain and suffering caused by their Super Bowl ad. The semi-funny (and non-compelling) ad shows a milkaholic baby named Lindsay (or Lindsey) with a guilty looking baby-husband. Yes, the ad is pretty terrible; so is the legal claim. However, […]
March 10th 2010
Remember my 2010 prediction that brand holders should beware of clowns? I called it the Coulrophobia Epidemic of 2010. Logorama did it with trademarks, and won an Oscar. Girl Talk did it with music, gaining top rankings from Rolling Stone, Blender and Time magazine. And now Eric Faden uses the most copyrighted video anywhere, Disney® […]
March 8th 2010
Last night, a 16-minute animated film, entirely populated by trademarks as both characters and props, won an upset Academy Award. Its producer, Nicolas Schmerkin, explains: It’s about the way we live and the way we react to these logos. The brain can register 14 logos in less than one second. Making the logos characters with […]
March 7th 2010
Some of you may know I enjoy writing about Boston history and architecture on my other blog www.iboston.org. Today is one of the few occasions where both blogs’ topics intersect. On this day back in 1876, Elisha Gray, an inventor from Ohio, filed notice that he had invented the telephone. Unknown to him, Boston’s Alexander […]
March 2nd 2010
INTA, the International Trademark Association, is a group of nearly six thousand trademark professionals in 190 countries. They protect the world’s brands. They’re being Twitter-squatted. There’s no pretty way to say it. In 2007, someone apparently seized their name as a Twitter handle and posted one five letter word, “srrrr”. This looks like a case […]
February 26th 2010
Section 230 Isn’t for Bullies Online communities such as Yelp are usually protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. This online law protects publishers; without it, social media would likely never have been. It’s such a valuable protection that I think even lawyers in South Carolina deserve it. However, Section 230 has limits. […]
The future of digital experiences will be built by strategists who grasp the full array of emerging business, social, and technical models. Specialties in user experience, branding, application design, and data science are laying the foundation for richer user experiences and business models breakthrough products and revenue based marketing.
UsefulArts is a soapbox to discuss the front line of digital experience, and the agencies and platforms that enable it. Digital business needs a cadre of leaders who can connect c-level enterprise thinking with the ways these new interaction models can help organizations to matter more to their most important stakeholders.