NY Times article on ‘phishing’ and other bad email things, noting that brands such as VIAGRA, EBAY and CITIBANK are severely curtailed in their ability to use email at this time, because those marks are so heavily utilized in fraudulent email.
Today's Strange IP-Related Celebrity Story
Trouble follows her. Rosie O’Donnell purchased drawings made of her by courtroom artists during her lawsuit last year (background). Now the courtroom artists allege that O’Donnell is passing off the sketches as her own artwork. Via cnn.com.
Proportional Spacing in the Early Seventies
Volokh explores the legality of forging documents for political purposes and finds few laws on point (clearly forging documents for commercial gain would break all kinds of laws – as would forging documents as part of a recognized tort, such as slander). As occurred to me during the Swift Boat Veteran debacle, we are better
I'm Quietly Judging You
Simon Cowell and others will harshly judge contestants. No, not on American Idol, on The X Factor on ITV1 in England. The creator of American Idol (and its UK basis, Pop Idol), is suing Cowell in the UK
I put in a call to the IPKat who reports that protection of a TV format
Lights, Cameras, Pastrami
JERRY’S FAMOUS DELI v. ROXY’S FAMOUS DELI. No. 03-55114 (9th Cir. Sept. 9, 2004) (Discussion of calculation of damages arising from defendant’s contempt of injunction order). Seems like an application of the safe-distance rule if defendant, Roxy’s, a Los Angeles deli, is enjoined from using “movie-style lighting.”
Go Renew Your Domain Names Right Now
There was another reported case of ‘name-dropping’ where the domain name for a prestigious firm was inadvertently not renewed and now the name points to not-work-safe acts.
Go renew your important domain names for ten year terms right this second.
Ad Links In Content
Interesting practice discussed in Whitespace: Forbes.com is linking words in its editorial copy to advertisements.
6th Circuit Breaks It Down Re Sampling
Sixth Circuit seems to take an extreme view that there is no such thing as de minimis infringement of a sound recording in the context of digital sampling. Therefore, all digital sampling is subject to compulsory licensing. This was one of 500 counts brought against 800 defendants brought by the copyright owners of George Clinton
Trademark Owner Abhors A Vacuum Repair Place
Straightforward case re lawful use of a trademark by an unauthorized sales/service provider. House of Vacuums ran a yellow page ad (reprinted in the decision here) which seems somewhat common. The name of the store, HOUSE OF VACUUMS is the dominant element, and 13 different brands of vacuums are listed. No claims are made regarding
ICANN Report on GTLDs
Ah, the summer of 2001, when trademark owners wasted time and money buying .BIZ and .INFO domain names they didn’t need and didn’t want, in the process giving interest-free loans to finance the start-up of Afilias and Neulevel. ICANN has commissioned a report “Evaluation of the new gTLDS: Policy and Legal Issues” (Executive