. . . or perhaps it was the trademark enforcement.
Wall Street Journal article on trademark owners policing use of character costumers by local party performers: “Why Dora the Explorer Can’t Come To Your Kid’s Birthday Party“:
. . . .Though the walk-about “Dora” had the expected pageboy haircut and backpack, her expression
Facebook has sued in California a German company, StudiVZ, for copyright infringement. lIllustration and background from Kasi-Blog here. TechCrunch coverage here. I’ll post the complaint when it’s in hand.
Update: The case is Facebook, Inc. v Studivz, Ltd., Verlagsgruppe George von Holtzbrinck, Holtzbrinck Networks, Holtzbrinck Ventures, filed July 17 2008, 28:1332. The case is
Consumer Law & Policy Blog: “Can the RNC forbid the use of an elephant or “GOP” to identfy Republicans?“:
Although these references have been in popular use since the 1870’s, and owe more to Thomas Nast than to the Republicans themselves, back in the 1997 and 1995, respectively, the RNC trademarked the initials
In yesterday’s decision in Tiffany v eBay, the Court noted:
Notwithstanding the significance of the online counterfeiting problem, it is clear that Tiffany invested relatviely modest resources to combat the problem. In fiscal year 2003, Tiffany budgeted approximately $763,000 to the issue, representing less than 0.05 percent of its net sales for that year .
From the decision:
First, the Court finds the eBay’s use of Tiffany’s trademarks in its advertising on its homepage, and in sponsored links purchased through Yahoo! and Google, is a protected nominative fair use of the marks.
Second, the Court finds that eBay is not liable for contributory trademark infringement . . . the standrard
Institute for the Development of Earth Awareness sues People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals alleging unauthorized copying of ‘The Dreaded Comparison,’ book concerning treatment of anmals.
WSJ.com: “As Textbooks Go ‘Custom.’ Students Pay:
The spiral-bound book is nearly identical to the same “A Writer’s Reference” that goes for $30 in the used-book market and costs about $54 new. The only difference in the Alabama version: a 32-page section describing the school’s writing program — which is available for free
We solicit comment on the relationship between the Commission’s sponsorship
identification rules and increasing industry reliance on embedded advertising techniques. Due, in part, to recent technological changes that allow consumers to more readily bypass commercial content, content providers may be turning to more subtle and sophisticated means of incorporating commercial messages into traditional programming.
As
