Being an attorney, it can be somewhat embarrassing to acknowledge some of the lawsuits that get filed in U.S. courts. The case of monkey selfie is one such case. It seems that wildlife photographer David Slater was taking photographs of Sulawesi crested macaques in...
Authors across the U.S. are outraged by a recent federal appellate court decision they believe nullifies their copyrights in books and magazine articles they've written and unfairly gives Google rights in those works that may (eventually) gut their commercial value....
November marked the 100th anniversary of the issuance of the patent for the iconic Coca-Cola bottle design. Oftentimes cited as one of the best examples of trade dress in the world, the Coke bottle design was originally envisioned as a way to mass produce a drink...
In the world of trademarks, the success or failure of trademark infringement lawsuits are measured by the "likelihood of confusion" standard. Broadly speaking, this means that if consumers are likely to be confused (or, better yet, actually are confused) about the...
Last month we reported on the unusual "right of publicity" case involving Harris Faulkner and Hasbro ("A plastic hamster by any other name..."). You may recall that Hasbro, a toy manufacturer, released a line of plastic toy animals with real sounding names, including...
M.A.S.H., the popular television sitcom of the 1970's, was on the air for 12 ½ years, 9 ½ years longer than the actual Korean War (June 1950 to July 1953) which served as the setting for the series. Oddly enough, a battle over the copyrights in a U.S. Postal Service...
When you're out shopping at your favorite big box store and you come across a pair of blue jeans prominently displaying the label "MADE IN THE USA," does it affect your decision to purchase and, equally important, just what does that label mean to you? Does it mean...
Do you ever forward memes to your coworkers and social media friends? It might be a picture of a kitten hanging from a branch and being told to just "hang in there" or it might be a grumpy cat who "hates Mondays" or it might not even feature a picture of a cat. It...
Just in time for the fall football season, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a ruling on the question of what makes a cheerleading uniform a cheerleading uniform. If you have a favorite football team, professional or college, then you probably also...
Whether it's Yelp, Facebook, or Twitter, positive online reviews can make or break a new product or service. No one knows that better than the savvy folks over at Microsoft. So, when Microsoft released the XBoxOne back in 2013 the marketing department tried to make...
