In a move that is getting lots of press, New York influencer and fashion blogger Danielle Bernstein’s company WeWoreWhat (WWW) filed a lawsuit on Oct. 16 for a declaratory judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Brooklyn...
Intellectual Property Litigation
If someone disputes ownership of your creative work, don’t wait to protect your rights
Copyright law protects the creations of “original works of authorship” like those in television, movies and theater productions. A high-profile copyright dispute between iconic comedian Jerry Seinfeld and long-time creative collaborator writer and director Christian...
Willfulness not needed to disgorge profits for infringing trademark
On April 23, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the federal Lanham Act does not require that a trademark infringer did so willfully as a precondition to the trademark owner getting back the profits the infringing party made in violation of the Act. At the time the...
ASCAP sues 19 bars and restaurants for copyright infringement
On Oct. 29, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, known as ASCAP, announced it had filed 19 lawsuits for copyright infringement lawsuits. According to its press release, the suits target bars and restaurants with music venues that allegedly failed...
Patagonia trademark suit against Anheuser-Busch not dismissed
On Sept. 3, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California refused to dismiss five claims in an April trademark lawsuit brought by Patagonia, the retailer of environmental and outdoor fame, against giant brewer Anheuser-Busch over its beer...
Singer sues retailer over allegedly copycat social media posts
Pop star Ariana Grande has filed a federal lawsuit against retailer Forever 21 and an affiliate because of social media and website postings she alleges copied elements of her music videos of the chart-topping song “7 Rings” and of the song “Thank U, Next,” according...
Metal band to settle trademark dispute over beer name
According to Reuters, on August 12 the band Guns N' Roses filed notice with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California that it and Oskar Blues, a Colorado brewery, had agreed on July 31 to settle their trademark infringement dispute over the...
Jury awards $2.7 million in damages in Katy Perry copyright case
On August 1, a federal jury in Los Angeles calculated that Katy Perry, her label Capitol Records and related co-defendants owe rapper Marcus Gray and his co-writer $2.78 million for copyright infringement for Perry’s 2013 megahit “Dark Horse.” Gray,...
Kawhi Leonard’s copyright fight with Nike over the “Klaw” logo
When we think of branding, we often think of trademarks, but when a logo is based on creative artwork, it can also involve copyright. This is so in a dispute between basketball great Kawhi Leonard and his former sponsor Nike over a logo based on a drawing by Leonard...
Collectively scrambling to contain the damage from deepfakes
You may not know the word for it, but you, like many people, probably saw the recently doctored video of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The “deepfake” made it look like she was slurring her words, perhaps implying that she was under the influence of alcohol. The...