Here’s one more brief that the UCLA First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic submitted last week. This one is on behalf of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, in Fortres Grand Corp. v. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (7th Cir.) (the link is to the decision that is being appealed), and my students Nathan Davis, Sara Liss, and Paulette […]
Archive | Trademark
Can You Tebow(TM)?
The AP reports: The New York Jets backup quarterback is trademarking “Tebowing,” the move in which he goes down on one knee and holds a clenched fist against his forehead while praying during games. . . . The devout Christian says his representatives filed on his behalf not for financial gain, but “to just control […]
The Knockoff Economy: How Imitation Sparks Innovation
By Prof. Christopher Sprigman (Virginia), guest-blogging on October 15, 2012 10:58 am in Copyright, Patent Law, Trademark
First, many thanks to Eugene and the rest of the VC team for inviting us to guest-blog this week. The Knockoff Economy is about copying, and specifically about how copying, copyright, and creativity mix in a set of somewhat unusual industries—from fashion to food to football. Though our main focus is copyright, we also talk […]
Court Refuses Ron Paul Campaign’s Attempt to Subpoena Identity of Video Author
The opinion (Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee, Inc. v. Does (N.D. Cal. Mar. 8, 2012)) also in the process rules — correctly, I think — that signing one’s video “Vote Ron Paul” doesn’t violate federal trademark law, because it’s not a “commercial use”: Plaintiff argues that it has met the Lanham Act’s commercial use […]
Penn Law School Rejects Louis Vuitton Nastygram
By Eugene Volokh on March 3, 2012 2:44 pm in Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities, Trademark
A Penn student organization put on a fashion law symposium, and created the following poster: The top part of the poster echoes the Louis Vuitton design, but with copyright and trademark symbols worked into it. You can see Louis Vuitton’s cease-and-desist letter, and the Penn Office of General Counsel we-won’t-case-or-desist response. The Penn response strikes […]
Elf on the Shelf v. Elf off the Shelf
A new copyright and trademark parody case, CCA and B, LLC v. F + W Media, Inc. (N.D. Ga. Sept. 22, 2011), which finds that defendants’ Elf off the Shelf parody is likely not an infringement of the copyright or trademark in plaintiffs’ Elf on the Shelf. The judge, by the way — Amy Totenberg […]
Electronic Arts Has Right to Refer to John Dillinger in Its Video Games
See these two interesting opinions from last week, Dillinger, LLC v. Electronic Arts, Inc. (S.D. Ind. June 15) and Dillinger, LLC v. Electronic Arts, Inc. (S.D. Ind. June 16), which involved the Dillinger heirs’ lawsuit over EA’s using the name “Dillinger” for some of the weapons in its Godfather games: The court rejected the right […]
New York Stock Exchange Claims Publishers May Not Reproduce Photos of the Exchange Floor (At Least in Articles Not Directly Related to the Exchange)
That’s what their letter to TPM says: [Your] November 23, 2010 article, “‘Eager Beaver’ FBI Agent’s Attempt To Flip Witness Exposed Feds’ Big Insider Trading Case,’ prominently displays a picture of the NYSE Trading Floor despite the NYSE’s complete lack of relevance to, or association with, the underlying story. Misdirecting your audience in this fashion […]
For the ‘Too Good To Be True’ File
So let me get this straight: according to the Las Vegas Sun, the Fab Four, a Beatles ‘tribute band’ [a lousy generic descriptor for bands like this, imho – how about ‘murder band’ instead], is suing the Fab 4, a different Beatles ‘tribute band,’ alleging that The Fab 4 is “essentially identical in sound and […]
Going Rogue, Going Rouge
So here’s a cute little copyright (or trademark?) problem (or, depending on your viewpoint, an outrageous rip-off). According to Entertainment Weekly (and the Gateway Pundit) start-up publisher OR Books has announced plans to publish Going Rouge: Sarah Palin An American Nightmare, a collection of essays about the former Alaska governor with a title — and […]
Domain Bullying
A posting over on the Big Government blog details recent attempts by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to shut down the website at AFTExposed.com (which, as you might guess from the name, doesn’t have very nice things to say about the AFT). The AFT’s General Counsel has sent the operators of the offending website […]