In a highly anticipated ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States recently held that the disparagement clause of federal trademark law violates the First Amendment. This disparagement clause refused federal trademark registration for trademarks that are likely to disparage people, institutions, or beliefs. All eight participating justices agreed that trademarks are private, not government, […]

Decoding IP Blog

A Sad Day for Happy-Talk

Sometimes a President can’t always do what he wants. But tell that to the owner of the Twitter handle @RealDonaldTrump, who happens to also be the current President of the United States and a new government actor. Mr. Trump has created more controversy by using his personal Twitter handle to send out information relating to […]

RealDonaldTrump, Don’t Block Your Twitter Followers

The ill-fated Fyre Festival drew delighted mockery from Internet denizens earlier this month and continues to draw lawsuits against the organizers. Social media “influencers” played a huge role in convincing people to buy tickets to the event that never happened and they are not escaping legal action. At least one case has been filed against […]

Social Media Influencers Get Fyre’d

In the United States, trademark rights generally go to the first to use a mark in commerce as opposed to the first to file a mark with the trademark office. But what does that really mean? A recent trademark dispute case, Nexsan v. EMC, made headlines because it seemed to turn that basic premise on […]

Who’s First in Trademark

Are Internet streaming services cable systems under Section 111 of the Copyright Act and therefore entitled to retransmit broadcast television under the compulsory license scheme? Under Section 111, cable systems can rebroadcast traditional broadcast television content in exchange for paying a statutory license fee to the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress. After the […]

Compulsory Licenses In The Digital Age

The “Fearless Girl” statue sparked headlines around the world in March when it appeared opposite the famous “Charging Bull” statue at Manhattan’s Bowling Green. The statue, commissioned by State Street Global Advisors as an advertisement for its index fund of gender diverse companies, generated a fair amount of controversy. Among those upset about “Fearless Girl” […]

Copyright and the Meaning of Art

Every couple of years, we see social media users publishing long posts containing broad declarations of copyright with lots of legalese. We want to shout from the rooftop: STOP!  Those posters are not doing anything to preserve their intellectual property rights. They simply spread misinformation about the nature of copyright in the age of social media. But we know that […]

Social Media & Copyright: Know Your Rights

Hastags – a pound sign followed by a word or series of words with no space between – are ubiquitous on social media. People use them to spark and continue conversation about various topics on social media platforms. But can they be trademarked? #Trademark Applications Increasingly, companies are seeking to protect hashtags as trademarks. In 2015, applicants submitted […]

Is That Hashtag A #Trademark?

When Hasbro introduced a hamster named “Harris Faulkner” to its “Littlest Pet Shop” line of animal character toys, it drew a multi-million dollar lawsuit from real-life television journalist Harris Faulkner. The complaint, filed in New Jersey, included claims for violation of the right of publicity under New Jersey common law and false advertising and false […]

Little Pet Shop, Big Right of Publicity Problem

The use of photographs and other digital images on the web can be a tricky business. Copyright owners are increasingly taking steps to police their images by monitoring web content using automated means like web scrapers. Many online content creators have had to learn the hard way about the pitfalls and best practices in the […]

The Billion Dollar Copyright

Better known for juicy tales of mobsters, adult film stars, and general shenanigans, the now-closed Las Vegas strip club “Crazy Horse Too” plays a role in providing important lessons in trademark law. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently put to rest a dispute over the “Crazy Horse” trademark for strip clubs in the United […]

Trademark Lessons From Crazy Horse Strip Clubs

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political partnership involving 28 European countries. It began after World War II, in large part because many Europeans felt that countries which trade and work closely with each other are less likely to go to war and attempt to invade their partner states. Now, the EU is […]

What Does Brexit Mean for European and UK Patents? (Part 2)

A couple of months ago we spoke about copyright protection for clothing designs. Now it’s time to talk about shoes and trademarks. Converse, the maker of the ubiquitous Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers, filed lawsuits against thirty shoe manufacturers, importers, and retailers over the last two years alleging trademark infringement of its shoe design. Converse […]

Converse Case Proves Secondary Meaning Requirements Are Getting Tougher

On May 11, 2016, President Obama enacted a new federal trade secret protection law known as the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA). The DTSA makes federal protection against the misappropriation of trade secrets available to private parties. Before the DTSA, private parties who sought to protect their trade secrets from misappropriation were limited […]

The Defend Trade Secrets Act: New Federal Law, New Litigation Options

It’s political convention time once again and that means more intellectual property drama! This political season has already given us trademark disputes involving cease and desist letters and living person name registrations. Now we have copyright issues – specifically, music copyright issues. Politicians and political parties often choose popular music as the background for their conventions. […]

Music & Politics Don’t Mix – Or Do They?

DecodingIP™ podcast covers intellectual property IP and technology topics, including patent, trademark, and copyright issues, and fun tech and pop culture IP issues making headlines. We don’t deliver canned, boring summaries of lawsuits or use confusing legalese. Instead, we explain what the intellectual property issues that are grabbing headlines mean for you and your business, in plain English.