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Oncopyright 2008 will bring together thought leaders and change agents together to explore the evolving world of copyright. It's a unique opportunity to share insights and exchange ideas on where copyright is headed, and how it will aggect the future of written works, music and other forms of intellectual property.
Speakers include Clay Shirky, Suzanne Vega and the perspicacious Paul Fakler.
Maybe this is a true story. Yahoo! News: "People of Lesbos Take Gay Group To Court Over Term 'Lesbian'"
Three islanders from Lesbos — home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love between women — have taken a gay rights group to court for using the word lesbian in its name.One of the plaintiffs said Wednesday that the name of the association, Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece, "insults the identity" of the people of Lesbos, who are also known as Lesbians.
"My sister can't say she is a Lesbian," said Dimitris Lambrou.
Write your own punchline.
Marvel sends TechCrunch a demand letter saying 'don't print the demand letter.'
UPDATE: The email is up.
Background: TechCrunch used the theater's group sales to purchase all the seats for a showing and then invited its readership to the screening. Marvel doesn't identify a legal basis for its demand but advises that TechCrunch may not 'exhibt, sell tickets to or invite the public' to the screening.
Well, TechCrunch is not selling tickets, it's not exhibiting, and, in the words of my colleague Paul Fakler, under the Copyright Act there's no exclusive right to invite the public.
I suppose that you could posit a fact pattern where somebody gives away a branded product in a promotion in such a way as to deceive the public that he/she was endorsed by the brand owner.
But (use deep movie trailer announcer voice here) IN A WORLD where people give away iPods at trade shows all the time (and people don't read that as endorsement), I will speculate in general, (not having reviewed all of TechCrunch's promotions of this event,) that to be actionable as false endorsement, the language would have to be closer to 'false on its face' as in "Join TechCrunch and Marvel at a screening . . ." than to language that theoretically implies an endorsement ("Join TechCrunch at a screening of Iron Man.").
Differing views glady accepted at marty at symbol schwimmerlegal dot com.
Still in all, can't wait to see Iron Man.
2d Update: Goodness Prevails, Minus $2000 In Legal Fees.
Counterfeit Chic: "Copying For Charity"
Customer of domain name registrar (Intercosmos Media dba DirectNic) allegedly uploads infringing material. Copyright owner sues registrar. Registrar seeks declaratory judgment of non-infringement as copyright owner didn't complay with DMCA.
Put a trademark into TweetScan, a searchable database of Twitter 'tweets,' and see what people are saying about your brand.
AdAge: "UK Cracks Down on Word-of-Mouth With Tough Restrictions":
Word-of-mouth marketing in the U.K. will face radical restrictions starting May 26, when it will become a criminal offense for brands to seed positive messages online without making the origin of the message clear.
I'm assuming that plaintiff, Cold Stone Creamery, is alleging that defendant, a former franchisee, breached its franchise agreement in such a way that continued use constitutes trademark infringement. There is a problem with the ECF filing here as only the first three pages of the complaint are on Pacer. In any event, the exhibit, the Cold Stone franchise agreement is reproduced and is of interest.
43(B)log: The Meaning Of "Commemorative Baseball Bat:
Plaintiff (d/b/a Where It All Began) alleged that defendant (d/b/a Cooperstown Bat Co.) engaged in false advertising of its commemorative baseball bats in Cooperstown, falsely claiming to “manufacture” and “make” baseball bats and to make them in Cooperstown (“where it all began”), when in fact the bats are mostly made in defendant’s factory two miles outside Cooperstown.
Chicago IP Litigation Blog: "New Regional IP Blogs"
Philly.com: Youth-leage founder to fight trademark suit:
A Florida man originally from Montgomery County who recently started a Christian youth baseball league has decided to fight a trademark lawsuit by Little League baseball, while a Jewish youth organization in Connecticut said it would change its name after being threatened with a similar suit.
Yup, Little League Baseball, Inc. has incontestable registrations covering, uh, little league services.
Taser published quotes from a study about its competitor, Stinger, that Stinger alleges are false or misleading. Excerpt from complaint: "Taser’s conduct evidences an evil hand guided by an evil mind and outstrip the bounds of decency, fairness, and fair competition."
This place seems interesting. A contemporary art collection in a eight-story 'flak tower' (a bunker). The Wall St Journal profiled it today.
Duame Morris: "Invalid Subpoenas Sent Via E-Mail":
Thousands of company executives received e-mails mid-April that purported to be federal court subpoenas but instead appear to be part of a "phishing" scam to capture sensitive data. The invalid subpoenas: (a) bear the seal of the U.S. district court and docket numbers from real cases; (b) command an appearance before a grand jury; (c) identify the originating e-mail address as subpoena@uscourts.com; and (d) contain a link with an instruction to "download the entire document on this matter ... and print it for your record.
The problem with this OGC logo is probably shared with many OGC logos.
TechCrunch: "The Importance of a Good Name: Ditching Simluscribe For PhoneTag":
The name SimulScribe totally sucks for our business. People have a real challenge remembering the name and they cannot spell it, which is a real problem considering that new customers need to type in our web address to sign up. When your company offers a consumer product that relies on viral marketing, a difficult name is a really bad thing. In fact, I’m constantly amazed at how well we have been able to do with such a shitty name.
Idle thought: those of you attending Berlin in May might consider signing up for free services such as Twitter as a means for hooking up and organizing get-togethers, and telling your 'community' where you're going to be at any given moment. Other social networking ideas readily accepted and posted here.
Justia makes various legal materials available. I'm able to provide trademark complaints because of the useful RSS Feed Justia makes available. Justia has received a demand letter from the state of because of its reproduction of annotated Oregon statutes.
The Guardian: "Google is named world's most powerful brand by Millward Brown research":
Google, GE, Microsoft, Coke, China Mobile.
Discussion of the Droste Effect, packaging that contains a depiction of the packaging.
Michael Carrier and Greg Lastowka: "Against Cyberproperty"
Ever since cyberproperty burst onto the legal scene a decade ago, courts and scholars have assumed that it is inevitable. This Article shows that it is not. Scholars have examined one element of the link between cyberproperty and property in asking whether cyberspace is the correct model for websites and e-mail servers. But remarkably, they have neglected the other property foundations of cyberproperty.This Article shows that none of the primary theories supporting property - Locke's labor theory, Hegel's personhood rationale, and utilitarianism - justifies cyberproperty. It demonstrates that the concept lacks property's limits. And it finds that existing statutory prohibitions against spam, electronic invasion, and copyright infringement are more narrowly targeted and less likely to quash competition and speech. The Article concludes that the time has come to abandon cyberproperty.
Those of you not put off by the blogging 'inside baseball' aspect to this post will be interested by the dispute between blogger/author/interviewer Shel Israel, author of 'Naked Conversations,' and the naked Shel Israel parody puppet. As noted by TechCrunch, the parody show seems to be doing better than the original, which does not please the original.
News.com: "YouTube's Filtering Issues Still Not Moot":
A year ago Wednesday, Google CEO Eric Schmidt delighted an audience of TV and radio broadcasters when he promised to roll out a system that would mean the end of piracy at YouTube.com"We are in the process of developing tools which are called 'Claim Your Content,'" Schmidt said at the National Association of Broadcasters 2007 conference. "If people tell us this is a licensed copy, our computers will automatically detect that an illegal copy has been uploaded and then automatically delete it."
Schmidt went on to say YouTube was "close to turning this (system) on" and once that happened, copyright violation at the site "becomes a moot issue." But following through on that promise has proven a challenge.
Internetcase.com: "Former band members' use of service mark is not so Chic:"
Rogers v. Wright, No. 04-1149, 2008 WL 857761 (S.D.N.Y. March 31, 2008)The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has issued a permanent injunction restricting the use of the service mark CHIC in connection with musical performances by two former members of the musical group of the same name.
Godzilla sues Subway for use of Godzilla in ad. Complaint here. Clearly defendants did not take sage advice from Austin Powers.
Aaron Greenspan, a college classmate of Mark Zuckerberg, has filed a petition to cancel Facebook's first registration for FACEBOOK, on three grounds: (1) prior rights; (2) genericness; and (3) fraud on the PTO.
National Geographic show tonight, Illicit:
The world is under threat from a new kind of international crime wave: illicit trade in everything from knock-off Prada bags to bogus medicines, from dangerous weapons to humans themselves. While smuggling is nothing new, globalization has made it larger and far more ominous. The global value of this "dark trade" is estimated to reach a phenomenal ten percent of the world's trade. Since the 1990s it has been growing seven times faster than legal trade—and it's having profound consequences for the world's economy and for politics everywhere.
I'd invite you all over to watch but the wife is still angry about the way you behaved the last time.
This is a real correction from today's WSJ:
Thirteen billion golf balls, lying end to end, could go around the earth 14 times. An article in the April 7 Golf report incorrectly said nine times.
NY Times: "Rings of Dissent":
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, probably didn't have this in mind when he came up with a logo of interlocking rings in 1913, a logo incorporated into the Olympic flag in 1920. The rings stand for the five continents (North and South America share a ring, and Antarctica lacks eligible bipeds). But how tempting those rings are when it comes to protest, particularly against China, host of the 2008 Games. Alterations of the rings have highlighted grievances as the Olympic torch has made its way from city to city in the last couple of weeks: Free Tibet; stop the genocide in Darfur; independence for the Uighurs in Western China.
Dear AOL:
I'm the member of the family that usually buy the tickets online using 777film.com. Today my wife attempted to. She typed in 777films.com by mistake, and assumed she was on your site. Apparently you don't own 777films.com. She was actually confused. And a little annoyed at you.
Sincerely,
A Customer
NY Times: "China Tries to Solve Its Brand X Blues":
Mr. Guo and the other Li-Ning executives have big plans for Li-Ning sneakers. Although they are currently serving the domestic market almost exclusively, they want to begin exporting to Europe and the United States — and go toe to toe abroad with Nike and Adidas, as it is currently trying to do in China. Mr. Guo told me the company now generates only 1 percent of its $700 million in revenue abroad; by 2013 — when it hopes to be generating over $2 billion in revenue — it expects 20 percent to come from exports.But to get there, Li-Ning will have to become a brand like Nike and Adidas. As Chiang Jeongwen, a Chinese marketing professor at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, said, “When you get right down to it, Nike is a branding company”; to compete, Li-Ning would have to become one as well.
. . . and there is something in particular that you would like to see discussed, please email me at marty at symbol schwimmerlegal dot com.
WSJ: "The Turf War Over a Dance Craze":
Alexandre Barouzdin, a 31-year-old party promoter who used to work in the finance industry, says he has spent about $47,000 to trademark the Tecktonik brand. He says he recently quit his job as an assistant trader at Merrill Lynch & Co. so he could promote it around the world.
But see a US trademark search for TECKTONIK.
You can also attend by conference call and we mail you your choice of roast beef wrap or grilled vegetable medley.
Details on the domain name roundtable to be held at our NY offices here.
ArsTechnica: "Keeping Networok Solutions from Cashing In On Your Subdomains":
Earlier this week, a report at TechCrunch pointed out that a number of subdomains at GotGame.com pointed to generic Network Solutions pages with spammy text links. A number of observers across the Internet found other sites that were hosted through Network Solutions and experiencing the same issue. It appeared as if Network Solutions was taking advantage of its customers by hijacking subdomains and profiting from them without the domain owners' permission.Well, it turns out that that's not entirely true.
Juicy Couture sues Lime Blue, owner of juicycampus.com, a college gossip site which has allegedly been selling JUICY CAMPUS apparel. Coverage here.
PaperMag: "Murakami Sells Real LV Bags on the Street!"
As part of the exhibit, Murakami and LV will be placing eight "pocketbook" street vendors on the street in front of the museum selling REAL Vuitton bags that were specially designed by Murakami and LV for this particular piece.
Ugh, now it's stuck in my head.
Never gonna let you down.
Mediocre song.
Never gonna run around and desert you.
This Rickrolling thing has gone a tad far.
Never gonna make you cry.
Anyway, the Mets got rickrolled, there was a video . . .
Never gonna say goodbye
and MLB used DMCA to shut it down.
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.
Film at 11.
Initiates
Multi-lingual Search.com: "Google Trademark Bloodbath In The UK":
Google has changed its trademark policy for the UK and Ireland bringing it into line with its policy for the US and Canada. What this means in practice is that for trademark complaints relating to its Adwords programme, from now on Google will take NO further action relating to the trigger keywords. It will, however, continue to support requests relating to the use of trademarks in the creative - in other words in the sponsored links. See a typical notification below. The new policy comes into force from the 5th May - but the deadline for new trigger keyword applications was effectively the 4th April.
Sun-Sentinel.com: "Video Game Fan Asks Court To Ban Sloth And Greed From 'World of Warcraft':
Antonio Hernandez plays World of Warcraft. It's the most popular online role-playing game in the world, with more than 10 million subscribers paying to create characters who go on quests, kill monsters and earn "virtual gold" in fantastical realms. The world — a direct descendant of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings — even has its own carefully calibrated economy. But an outside force threatens the game's integrity, Hernandez says. He has called on his fellow adventurers to join him as he takes a stand. The battle won't be fought with wands or swords.It will be waged in the Fort Lauderdale federal courthouse. The former assistant manager at an Orlando-area video game store is suing a company he says sells "virtual gold" from the World of Warcraft for real money. He wants IGE U.S. banned from selling gold — a practice commonly called "gold farming" or "real money trading"— because it hurts the game's economy and ruins the entertainment experience, according to the lawsuit. Virtual gold, earned within the game, can be used for such things as buying and repairing equipment or learning new skills.
Metro UK: "Lucas in Star Wars Costume Row":
The designer who made some of the outfits used in the Star Wars films is facing a legal battle with George Lucas over who owns the copyright, it was reported.The row is over the merchandising rights for the stormtrooper uniforms, the imperial fighter pilots' headgear and the helmet designed for Luke Skywalker that he wore leading the final assault on the Death Star in the first film.
Designer Andrew Ainsworth, from Twickenham, West London, made the first helmets and suits for the original film in the 1970s and said he sold the initial 50 stormtrooper helmets to Star Wars creator Lucas for £35 each.
Latest in Stoller saga. Google went after Stoller 'alter egos' but not Stoller himself so Stoller 'intervened.' Next to last paragraph re $10,000 fine of interest.
Background here.
The Laboratorium: Rescuecom Oral Argument Report.
Engadget:"Deutsche Telekom / T-Mobile demands Engadget Mobile discontinue using the color magenta":
So last week Deutsche Telekom, owners of the global T-Mobile brand, sent Engadget a late birthday present: a hand-delivered letter direct from their German legal department requesting the prompt discontinuation of the use of the color magenta on Engadget Mobile. Yep, seriously.
Discussion here.
Facebook owns registrations in the US for:
It used to own one for THEFACEBOOK but amended it to FACEBOOK. It has applications for:
POKE
32665 (Facebook's text message shortcode)
FBOOK
THE WALL
F (stylized)
FACEBOOK INSIGHTS
FANSUMER
FACEBOOK PAGES
FACEBOOK BEACON
FACEBOOK ADS
BEACON
SOCIALADS
SOCIAL ADS
News.com: "Are mix tape sites on solid legal ground?":
A seemingly home-spun operation with no obvious profit motive, Muxtape allows anyone to upload a series of songs to its servers to create, and then distribute online, a digital "mix tape" along the lines of the ones you made for your unrequited paramours back in college.
Article quotes friends of the blog Fred von L. and Eric G.
Societes Des Bains De Mer et Du Cercles Des Etrangers a Monaco v. MGM Mirage, Inc. et al
Plaintiff: Societes Des Bains De Mer et Du Cercles Des Etrangers a Monaco
Defendant: MGM Mirage, Inc. and Victoria Partners, L.P.
Case Number: 1:2008cv03157
Filed: March 28, 2008
Court: New York Southern District Court
The complaint is not available and there appears to be no press on this yet. I'll note that plaintiff manages the Monte Carlo casino in Monaco, and MGM Mirage manages the Monte Carlo resort and casino in Las Vegas. Plaintiff owns two registrations that incorporate the term MONTE CARLO.
Australian IT: "Websites win right to show Games clips":
INTERNET sites in Australia will be allowed to show short video clips of Olympic events for the first time during the Beijing Games, following a historic agreement announced yesterday between the Seven Network and the International Olympic Committee.
Discussion here.
WIPO: DNS Developments Feed Growing Cybersquatting Concerns:
Last year, a record 2,156 complaints alleging cybersquatting - or the abusive registration of trademarks on the Internet - were filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center (Center), representing an 18% increase over 2006 and a 48% increase over 2005 in the number of generic and country code Top Level Domain (gTLDs and ccTLDs) disputes.
Circle (r) Brands is a branding agency that sells names complete with a federal trademark registration already attached. WSJ reports.
Woody Allen sues American Apparel for use of his image on a billboard (shown above) (yes, when the complaint's on Pacer I'll attempt to get a copy).
Malcolm Gladwell profile on American Apparel.
If you google 'woody allen look-alike' you will find numerous discussions of Woody Allen's pivotal role in developing the right of publicity/privacy,