When You Need Someone’s Permission to Use the Thing You Bought
How Long Is a "Transitory Duration"? Normally, you don't need anyone's permission to use a copyrighted work. If you buy a book, you may read it. If you are given a painting, you may enjoy it. If you take a knick-knack from your grandma, you may display it with...
How Might I Own the Copyright? Let Me Count the Ways
Schrems II left a mess, and other data protection news
I recently co-authored a short article earlier this month for the International Trademark Association Bulletin. In it, we discuss the recent cross-border data transfer issues wrought upon the EU and the US since the Schrems II decision last year and its aftermath. In...
Oracle Fought Google. Transformativeness Won.
Oracle v. Google Is Over. And Rick Can Stop Blogging About It Forever. I was in the middle of writing a blog post about The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith—you know, the one about Andy Warhol's use of a photograph of Prince[ref]The...
Some Fireworks on Our Way to Oracle v Google
The Case That's More "Oracle v. Google" Than Oracle v. Google While we wait for the Supreme Court to hand down its decision in Oracle v. Google, we can have some fun with a case that might be exactly what folks are afraid Oracle v. Google is: use of copyright law to...
Trademark Law Is Presumptuous Again
Party Like it's 2006 I mentioned last time that the gigantic Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (remember that?) had three "IP"-related Easter eggs, two for trademark and one for copyright. I blogged about the copyright one last time, the "copyright small claims...
New Small-Claims Court for Copyright Claims (But Don’t Get Too Excited)
Last time, Tara discussed one of the three intellectual-property Easter eggs in that massive must-pass "Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021." You probably know the bill better as "that gigantic omnibus spending bill" or perhaps the "COVID-19 Relief Bill." Tara...
Major changes coming to U.S. Trademark Law
On December 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 was signed into law. This massive 5660 page bill consolidated Covid-19 economic assistance to America with an omnibus 2021 bill that covers everything from pipelines to Asian carp. It also resolves a...
Sixth Circuit Reminds Us to “Filter” Software
Panning for Bad Code Software cases are few and far between here in the Sixth U.S. Circuit, which includes Tennessee along with Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan. Other U.S. Circuits have hubs for software development—e.g, California and Washington in the Ninth, Texas in...
Oracle v Google: An Opinionated Primer
The U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral argument in Oracle v. Google on October 7. It's supposed to be one of the most important copyright cases in decades. Not only will the Supreme Court visit computer programs for the first time since 1996's Lotus v. Borland, which...
The Adorable Heartache of Functional Product Design
What a Fight Between Two Lines of Stuffed Animals Teaches Us About Trade Dress and Functionality I've warned you about trying to protect "designs" in the U.S. before. Outside of design patents (which are rare and not always an option), U.S. law doesn't really...
Washington Football Team Mascot Mess: Trademarks Aren’t a Hobby
Hail to the Washington Football Team! By now you've probably heard that the American football team that plays in the Washington D.C. area has decided to change its team name from a racist slur to, well, something else. Nobody's not sure yet. The Washington football...
Footnotes
| ↑1 | For a certain value of "own." |
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