Last month, DynaStudy, a small, relatively new Austin, Texas, educational publisher of study guides was victorious in a copyright infringement lawsuit against the Houston school district. According to the Houston Chronicle, the jury found "dozens" of district...
Year: 2019
Trademark dispute: Guns N’ Roses is not amused over Guns N’ Rosé
In another intellectual property dispute involving a rock band, metal group Guns N' Roses sued a Longmont, Colorado, brewery on May 9 over a new craft beer branded as Guns N' Rosé. The complaint for trademark infringement, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central...
Another video game subject of intellectual property lawsuit
We have written in this space before about video games raising issues of intellectual-property ownership. It makes sense. Many video games reproduce aspects of true life in artistic or graphical ways. Sometimes, creative video-game content may intersect with actual...
Did “No Handlebars” use recycled parts of “Handlebars”?
Copyright protects a creative work from copying by someone other than the owner or licensee when the copied work is "substantially similar." Creating a substantially similar copy without permission constitutes copyright infringement.Billboard Magazine reported on May...
Copyright, the First Amendment and the right of publicity
Robert Barbera, who photographs celebrities, has sued pop singer Ariana Grande because she uploaded photographs of herself to Instagram that he had taken and posted online. What could be wrong with posting pictures of yourself, even if someone else created them?After...
Chicago Cubs victorious again! This time, before the TTAB.
After a 108-year lull, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016. No one who watched the games could argue against the enthusiasm and loyalty of Cubs fans. You might even be able to call some of them obsessed or even -- obnoxious.Right on time for a new baseball...
Striking or substantial similarity in lace patterns
On April 24, in a copyright infringement case involving floral lace fabric patterns, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit explained what federal copyright law requires when comparing protected and allegedly copied works. In Malibu Textiles, Inc., v. Label...
Commercial use of Steve McQueen’s name in dispute again
This time, the dispute is over cardigan sweaters. Last time, it was over luxury cars. In both cases, Chadwick McQueen, the son of deceased actor Steve McQueen, objected to companies using his father’s name to sell their products.In August 2018, we shared...
Mr. and Mrs. Bieber file for trademarks based on their names
In September, pop star Justin Bieber and model Hailey Baldwin tied the knot. Now, Hailey Bieber is taking serious steps to preserve rights to use her new name for business purposes. TMZ reported that she has filed a trademark application to register "Bieber Beauty"...
Counterfeiting: Trademark infringement on steroids
We often talk in this space about trademark infringement. Trademarks are protected indicators of branding that identify the sources of affiliated products.Perhaps the most extreme kind of trademark infringement is counterfeiting. On March 19, the U.S. District Court...