The evolution of generative artificial intelligence has prompted courts in two highly-publicized recent federal district court decisions to apply copyright law’s doctrine of fair use to the “training” and output of generative...more
In 2015, the Wall Street Journal observed why Birkenstock sandals might be considered cool: “It’s a taboo thing,” said New York-based stylist Brian Coats, who dresses Jimmy Fallon....more
As we head into a new year after a US election year, we are sure to see two things in the media, all kinds of articles on New Year’s Resolutions and all kinds of articles on what we can anticipate occurring in the inaugural...more
Defamation cases are hard ones in the real world. Recent US matters involving Dominion Voting, Sara Palin, and even Cheetos show that these cases continue to interest the general public as well as legal cognoscenti....more
Title? Typo? Cryptic code? Equation? Really it is a combination of three of the four. In other words, it is not a typo (You can look elsewhere in this piece for those)....more
5/9/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Deep Fake ,
Endorsements ,
Fair Use ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Online Platforms ,
Political Campaigns ,
Political Candidates ,
Robocalling ,
Trademarks ,
Transformative Use ,
Video ,
Willful Infringement
“Headlines” and “titles” are related, sometimes interchangeable, items appearing atop news stories. But, in this space, headlines are usually a source of inspiration (so we can write about intellectual property issues that...more
Fiction writing has a curious claim on truth. We learn this at the youngest age, listening to fairy tales when the child in us “intuitively comprehends that, although these stories are unreal, they are not untrue …” ...more
Whether one focuses on the word’s connotation of silliness or excitement, or maybe even anger, or analogizes to the raucous and rhymingly-named team from Savannah that makes up its own baseball rules, US copyright law is...more
“Yes, the law is about words…,” says Ben Chiriboga in writing about the essential skills that lawyers must have. And Ken White noted more recently that “the entire project of the law is about words meaning specific things.”...more
In a recent article examining international trademark, copyright and related issues, we started with a focus on the place humor holds as a possible defense. To understand the roots of the penchant for humor to act as a...more
In my recent attempt at spring cleaning, I mentioned that “the Copyright Office’s ‘refusal to register a two-dimensional artwork claim in the work titled ‘A Recent Entrance to Paradise’ (‘Work’).” I also observed that “[e]ven...more
Many cultures have the tradition of spring cleaning. These range from those in Iran observing the Persian New Year festival of Nowruz (and the practice of “khooneh tekouni,” or “shaking the house” to prepare for Nowruz), to...more
4/20/2022
/ Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Trade Secrets ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks
I have to give it to creative, resilient lawyers (and in fact, I have lauded them in the past). When the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Allen v. Cooper, 140 S.Ct. 994 (2020), a decision holding that the...more
1/5/2022
/ Allen v Cooper ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Damages ,
Eleventh Amendment ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Just Compensation ,
Patents ,
Personal Property ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Private Property ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
Takings Clause
Admittedly, the second word in that title is a mouthful—but Paraskavedekatriaphobia is a real word, with an etymology and definition. It even has a synonym, friggatriskaidekaphobia. Each means “fear of Friday the...more
The title of this piece tracks a common “phrase of exasperation used to emphasize a question or statement.” If that be the case, and I think it is, then the subtitle implies the question this piece will address. That question...more
On March 26, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided The Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith, a decision addressing the “fair use” doctrine, an important part of copyright law. “Fair use” tries...more
For those of you who may read my past ILN posts, you will not be surprised that I subscribe to the Tucker Max approach: Make the title attention-grabbing, memorable and searchable, informative, easy and not embarrassing to...more
At heart, and still, I am a non-singing Jersey Boy, and one who grew up reading Sherlock Holmes stories and watching Star Trek, the Original Series (before it even needed that modifier), in reruns in the 1970s while also...more
10/23/2020
/ Appeals ,
Authorship ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Expiration ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Dilution ,
Fair Use ,
Fictional Characters ,
IP License ,
Licensing Fees ,
Playwright ,
Public Domain ,
Television Shows ,
Video Games
We live in a time of contradictions and confusion, and today we aim to explore how some such tensions have manifested themselves in the area of intellectual property law.
On the one hand, we have a national and...more
7/23/2020
/ 42 U.S.C. §1983 ,
Allen v Cooper ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Remedy Clarification Act ,
Counterfeiting ,
Deprivation of Property ,
Eleventh Amendment ,
Exclusive Jurisdiction ,
FBI ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Legal History ,
Piracy ,
Preemption ,
Privileges and Immunities ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
State Sovereignty ,
State Universities ,
Theft ,
Trade Secrets
Tattoos, one of the oldest art forms in the world, are all over the legal news in recent years. The news runs the gamut from a tattooist suing a movie studio over replication of Mike Tyson’s facial tattoo in The Hangover II...more
10/16/2019
/ Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Legal History ,
Movies ,
Native American Issues ,
NBA ,
Photographs ,
Tattoos ,
Thirteenth Amendment ,
Video Games ,
Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA)
Springsteen.
Sinatra.
Chuck Wepner (for at least one night in 1975 and then through the “Rocky” avatar).
At least some of the people that rest stops on the New Jersey Turnpike are named after.
These public figures...more
7/30/2019
/ Celebrities ,
Commercial Appropriation ,
Common Law Torts ,
Copyright ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
International Litigation ,
Privacy Torts ,
Right of Publicity ,
State Law Claims ,
Trademarks ,
TRIPS Agreement ,
Unfair Competition ,
WIPO