Broadly, creative works of art in many instances can be properly protected by copyright. We recently talked about copyright issues surrounding tattoos. Today we discuss an interesting case about copyright in graffiti in the context of its appearance in the background...
Year: 2018
Can reproducing an affixed tattoo violate a copyright? Probably.
Copyrights grant exclusive legal rights to the owners of creative works. One protected category is "pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works" -- think paintings, graphic art, sketches, illustrations, photos, sculptors and the like. But let's go out on a limb here. Can...
Actress appeals right-of-publicity case to California high court
At our law firm, we represent people whose identities have been exploited for commercial benefit without our clients' permission. The "right of publicity" means that a person's "name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness" may not be used without consent to...
Part 2: Harley-Davidson wins $19.2 million in counterfeiting case
In Part 1 of this post, we talk about the recent federal case of H-D U.S.A., LLC v. SunFrog, LLC, out of Wisconsin. The judge found, among other things, that SunFrog had engaged in counterfeiting when it placed images and phrases trademarked by Harley-Davidson on...
Part 1: Judge finds counterfeiting of Harley-Davidson trademarks
The law firm of , represents a range of clients in trademark matters — ranging from protecting distinctive marks or symbols, to preventing wrongful use of trademarks, to asserting trademark infringement claims or defending against...
Discussing the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy
Domain names are basically street addresses for the web. They are critical pieces of information that hold a ton of value, not just as a part of a company's intellectual property portfolio, but also from the more practical perspective of branding your company and your...
Ever heard of the DMCA? It’s important to copyright holders
In our last post, we talked about copyright law and some of the common questions that envelop this important aspect of intellectual property law. We will continue this conversation today by discussing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law that has been in...
On copyrights, and the many questions surrounding them
Whether you are trying to copyright one of your original works or you find yourself in the middle of a legal dispute over a copyright, the situation will likely be the same: you will have plenty of questions about how to handle your current predicament. With that in...
Reviewing common questions with trademarks
Trademarks are a crucial part of the world of intellectual property, but not every person, inventor, writer, or company knows what to do to obtain a trademark or how to appropriately utilize a trademark. With that in mind, we would like to answer some frequently asked...
The basics of a trade secret
Businesses both small and large want to protect the information or know-how that is crucial to their financial success and sustained future. Sometimes this information is in the public sphere, but protected by law. In other situations, the information is kept...