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April 03, 2006

Protecting The Lego Brick

Shape Blog: LEGO 101: protection, disputes, litigation.

March 20, 2006

How Do You Protect The LIVESTRONG Bracelet?

Discussion on Shape Blog here.

March 06, 2006

Announcing SHAPE BLOG

vangoghchair.jpg

We are proud to announce the start of SHAPE BLOG, a joint venture of the IP law blogs ReThink (IP), the TTABlog, and the Trademark Blog.

The Shape Blog has two subjects.

The first subject is an 'inter-disciplinary' analysis of the protection of design and three-dimensional objects. Practitioners experienced in trademark, trade dress, copyright and patent law will provide news and commentary on the legal treatment of design and any object that incorporates design.

The second subject will be 'personal fabrication.' The creation of Shape Blog was inspired by the book 'Fab' by Professor Neal Gershenfeld To over-simplify:-just as the dropping prices and widespread dissemination of computing power led to the personal computing revolution, dropping prices and dissemination of CAD/CAM techniques will lead to a personal fabrication revolution, where the average home will have the ability to 'fabricate' exact replicas of three-dimensional objects (replacement parts, artworks, furniture) according to software instructions, perhaps downloaded from the Internet.

We will therefore be tracking not only advances in IP protection but advances in the technologies that may lead to a personal fabrication industry (such as desktop prototyping).

In short, we will be discussing the opportunities and dangers that arise for design when you can email an Eames Chair.

October 27, 2005

EC's CFI Turns Up Nose At Smell Trademark

Odor trademark stinks? Application for trademark consisting in part of 'the smell of strawberry' rejected by Court of First Instance of the EC, on grounds that the smell can't be graphically represented (Eden v. OHIM). OHIM smells a rat? Smell trademark application makes no scents?