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 5th 2007
The Case: The tragic story of Megan Meier, a 13-year-old St. Louis-area girl who committed suicide after being harassed on MySpace, has grabbed national headlines and inspired thousands of web readers to participate in a collective sorting of legal and ethical issues surrounding the case. Meier met a 16-year-old named “Josh Evans” on MySpace. Her […]
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 […]
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 […]
November 14th 2007
In a potentially precedent-setting trial, Tiffany & Co. has sued eBay for contributory trademark infringement, claiming the online auction company allowed the sale of counterfeit Tiffany jewelry on its site. The case is likely to turn on whether, as Tiffany charges, “eBay turns a blind eye to fraud,” or whether eBay’s responsible moves to prevent and aid in […]
November 13th 2007
Facebook’s latest roll-out saw CEO Mark Zuckerman flanked by a cadre of blue-chip advertisers, new Microsoft investment, and a big new idea. Facebook says it’s positioned to drive “product demand” and create a potential new 400-billion-dollar-a-year marketing channel through Social Ads. The plan is to use members’ online statements and actions as content, to be included […]
November 11th 2007
Harvard’s Citizen Media Law Project has introduced its newest service, a Legal Threats Database to catalog the growing number of lawsuits, cease and desist letters, and other legal challenges faced globally by those engaging in online speech. It organizes cases using standard forms to make it easy to check their status and trial details. So […]
November 8th 2007
“I wonder how far off we are from ceasing to issue traditional press releases altogether… after all, no news agency could possibly suggest they reach a greater portion of the planet than the internet.” – Jonathan Schwartz, CEO & President Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems President Jonathan Schwartz announced on his corporate blog that financial […]
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