Trademark & Copyright

On the heels of recent attempts to trademark a celebrity baby name comes the story of an attempt to obtain trademark protection for the name of a sports celebrity. Well, a variation of a sport celebrity's name. 

Last week, during a special meeting of the ICANN Board of Directors, the ICANN Board approved a resolution that contained a "reaffirmation" that ICANN will open a second application window for the gTLD program "as expeditiously as possible." 

Trademark owners, mark your calendars.  ICANN announced that Tuesday, May 1, 2012 will be "reveal day." On May 1st, ICANN will publicly post the gTLD character strings that have been applied for in connection with its new gTLD program.

Since the birth last month of their first child, Blue Ivy Carter, Beyoncé and Jay-Z are no doubt experiencing the typical joys of first-time parenthood. Those first looks, smiles and coos.

Our colleagues at Mintz Levin’s Employment Matters blog recently posted an interesting piece about a dispute regarding ownership of a Twitter account. The dispute arose from an employer/employee relationship, but serves as an important reminder about protecting your brand on social media sites.

This Republican primary season has provided lots of fodder for political blogs, but it has also provided a few gems relating to -- what else -- trademark issues.    Now, U.S. copyright law is in the spotlight of the Republican primary campaign.

A few weeks ago, we said goodbye to 2011, welcomed 2012 and made some New Year’s resolutions – whether it be to shed a few extra pounds, to quit smoking or to complain less and laugh more. 

Following this week's Internet blackout by service providers and online resources opposed to the pending Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act, Congressional leader have announced a postponement on future action on the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid delayed a vote on PIPA scheduled for Tuesday.

Last week, ICANN began accepting applications for its new gTLD program. ICANN has posted a series of extremely comprehensive materials outlining the registration and evaluation process. 

Not only is Newt Gingrich slipping in recent polls in his efforts to become the presidential nominee for the Republic Party, but he now has a domain name problem. As reported yesterday, the domain name <newtgingrich.com> has been registered by a pro-Democratic political action committee, American Bridge PAC.

With the announcement today that the Swedish automaker Saab has filed for bankruptcy, we thought it timely to take a look at what happens to trademarks in the context of a bankruptcy proceeding. SAAB is the owner of nearly 100 U.S. trademark registrations (for SAAB, ECOPOWER, BIOHYBRID, 9-3, among others). 

This week, Yahoo! won a $610 million default judgment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in a case involving the infamous Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud perpetrated through the Defendants' infringing use of Yahoo!’s trademarks and spam.

I recently had the pleasure of attending a very informative presentation given by the Media Law Resource Center on two very important pieces of legislation currently working their way through Congress.

A few weeks ago, while in Montpelier, Vermont, I stumbled upon a Farmer's Market that featured a wealth of Vermont made, grown and raised art, produce and meats. In the midst of this bounty was Bo Muller-Moore, a self-described folk artist who is the creator of t-shirts proclaiming EAT MORE KALE. 

In opposition to the imminent launch of the new  .XXX generic top level domain (gTLD), two adult entertainment companies have filed suit in federal district court in Los Angeles against the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and ICM Registry, the sole operator of the .XXX domain name registry.

On January 12, 2012, ICANN will roll out its new gTLD program.  Under the new program, applicants will be able to create and register a Top-Level Domain registry of their choosing.

UDRP proceedings are often touted as a quick and inexpensive way to resolve domain name disputes. Several recent UDRP decisions denying relief to trademark owners, however, demonstrate that in some instances the UDRP may not be the appropriate tool.

If you’re familiar with the federal registration of trademarks and service marks in the United States, you know that U.S. trademark law allows an applicant to seek registration of a mark based on either actual use of a mark in interstate commerce  (15 U.S.C. Sec 1051(a)) or on a bona fide intent to use the mark in U.S. commerce (15 U.S.C. Sec 1051(b)).

Only two days remain to submit applications to block registration of .xxx domain names that include registered trademarks.

Section 505 of the Copyright Act provides that, in a copyright infringement action, the court may "in its discretion" award costs to a prevailing party. In addition, the provision provides that the court "may" award a prevailing party its reasonable attorney's fees as part of the award of costs.