-1949 Gene Autry Single- Brand Image Protection: This just in from the trademark battlefield. Although not one to use this blog as a platform for blowing my own horn, I can't help but share this seasonally-relevant success: protecting the goodwill of my client,...
Year: 2015
The Batmobile “Character”: A Real-World Copyright Clunker
Photo by Jennifer Graylock/Ford Motor Company http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected] Ford Motor Company from USA [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons Visual Image Protection: When does copyright law protect a...
Monkey See, Monkey Shoot: Who Owns The Copyright?
Visual Image Protection: Who should own the copyright in a selfie that is composed, art-directed, and shot by a monkey? A new lawsuit has been filed here in federal court by PETA seeking to have Naruto, the monkey, declared the "author" of his smiling selfie gone...
Team Image: Is There Copyright for Cheerleader Uniforms?
Visual Image Protection: Can a ccheerleader outfit have enough pep in its design to be protected by copyright? According to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal in Varsity Brands v. Star Athletica, (August 19, 2015), the answer is "Yay!" The challenge with any...
“REDSKINS®”: Who’s Saying That Anyway?
Brand image Protection: Is the registration and display of the REDSKINS trademark a "message" from the team owners or from the federal government? That's a key issue at the heart of the dispute in the ongoing struggle of the team to maintain its federal registrations....
Nike Jumpman Soars Over Copyright Claim
Brand Image and Visual Image Protection: Trademark law protects Nike's famous Jumpman logo of Michael Jordan (above right), and copyright law protects the rights of the photographer who shot the photograph (above left) upon which the logo was based. So...
YourBrand.SUCKS, If You Say So
Brand Image Protection: For a trademark owner, what could be more important in burnishing a brand image than making sure it doesn't suck. But sometimes "what you resist will persist."A well-known internet phenomenon is the "gripe site," where consumers vent about...