I just got my annual email tickler from the Bank of America Chicago Marathon™ reminding me that registration is now open and that I only have 4 or perhaps 5 months before the 45,000 spots for runners will be closed. While I appreciate advance notice for a marathon that is not going to be run [...]
Entries from February 21st, 2010
What I Talk About When I Talk About Golf
February 15th, 2010 · Comments Off · Popular, Trademark
Lately I have been struck by the realization that virtually every sporting event is trademarked. Not only baseball, which has given us such monstrosities as PETCO Park and Tropicana Field, but other, lesser events, such as handball (e.g., the City of Arabia United Arab Emirates Handball Federation H.H. U.A.E. President’s Cup). The most offensive of [...]
I Can Say Your Name!
February 15th, 2010 · Comments Off · Trademark
If we pause a moment and reflect on the pervasiveness of trademarks and advertising in the world economy, we can begin to understand how – despite the lessons of history — trademark owners occasionally forget that simply trademarking a word or phrase does not remove it from the common lexicon. People can still use the [...]
Pub Owners Raise A Pint
February 14th, 2010 · Comments Off · Copyright
Publicans across the British Isles stand to recover as much as £20 million in their ongoing legal battle over the payment of copyright fees for playing music at their pubs. A High Court ruling yesterday found in the favor of pubs, restaurants, and hotels, and dismissed the appeal by Phonographic Performance Ltd, which had introduced [...]
Disney Gets Marvel, But Who Gets the Characters?
February 6th, 2010 · Comments Off · Copyright
When Disney announced that it was buying Marvel for $4 billion last fall, the hype failed to mention that Jack Kirby‘s kids were seeking to recover ownership rights to some of the most popular titles in recent times — including such luminaries as X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Spider Man, the Avengers, and the Incredible Hulk. [...]
Tags:Avatar·comics·Disney·Fantastic Four·hero·Hulk·Jack Kirby·Marvel·Spider-Man·superhero·Thor·X-Men
Who Dat Trademark, Commissioner?
February 5th, 2010 · Comments Off · Trademark
Just days before the Super Bowl kicks off, the National Football League has done some strategic back-peddling from its claim of ownership rights in the popular chant of New Orleans Saints fans — “Who Dat?” The NFL drew almost universal criticism from Saints fans and the public at large after sending out a series of [...]
Tags:cease-and-desist·demand letter·fleur-de-lis·ownership rights·who dat
“Men” Down in Case Down Under
February 4th, 2010 · Comments Off · Copyright
The 80′s Australian pop-rock band Men at Work, whose vegemite-themed hit “Down Under” vaulted them into superstardom — winning them a Grammy for Best New Artist, and earning them a place in rock history as the only Aussie band to have ever concurrently had a No. 1 album and single in the U.S. – has [...]
I am a commercial litigator and intellectual property lawyer in San Francisco. Although my practice encompasses a wide variety of business disputes, I have a particular fondness for, and am prone to wax philosophical on, the subjects of copyright and trademark infringement in music, literature, art, and film.
Relax, You Already Have a Copyright
February 2nd, 2010 · Comments Off · Copyright
Many artists operate under the mistaken belief that unless the copyright symbol © appears next to the title of their work, then their novels, screenplays, lyrics, poems, manuscripts and other assorted jottings aren’t protected by the copyright laws. Fortunately, this assumption — while historically accurate — no longer holds true today. Under the copyright laws [...]
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Tags:comment·Copyright·manuscripts·notice·parody·poems·screenplay