All posts by: Adam Garson

About Adam Garson

You may have heard about the Discovery channel’s popular TV series, Amish Mafia.  The Discovery Channel describes the show: Untrusting of outside law enforcement, some Amish in Lancaster County, PA have for many years regularly turned to a small organized group of men for protection and justice. Discovery’s new series Amish Mafia provides a first-ever […]

A client recently asked whether he could apply to register his personal name as a trademark.  Of course, just ask Lebron James, Sarah Palin, Arnold Schwarzeneggr, or Elvis (if you catch sight of him), all of whom registered their names as trademarks.  Does that mean if your name is “Joe,” you can register “Joe’s Bar” […]

If you haven’t heard by now, this past week the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office canceled several trademarks owned by Pro-Football, Inc. (“Pro Football”) for the term “Redskins” on grounds that the marks were “disparaging to Native Americans.”  This issue has been around for some time […]

This week, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion of great importance to those wishing to enforce their copyrights. In Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., the Supreme Court clarified confusion among lower courts about whether the doctrine of laches (also known as unreasonable delay) could bar a lawsuit for copyright infringement.  While the court’s opinion […]

You may recall that we reported about “one of the biggest changes in the Domain Name System” was about to be implemented by ICANN, which was introducing hundreds of new top level domains that could “end with almost any word in any language.”  So, instead of such dependable and familiar domains like “nike.com” and “nikon.com”, […]

Have you ever played the mobile app game, “Candy Crush Saga” by King.com, Ltd. (“King”)?  Are you addicted to it?  Not me, you say.  More power to you because by some reports King earns a million dollars a day from users who actually pay for the chance to continue using this “free” game.  The way […]

You may already know by reading this newsletter that utilitarian objects are typically not protected by copyright law.  Fashion designs are but one controversial example.  Here’s a little more history.  In the 1950’s, the Supreme Court of the United States in Mazer v. Stein, held that statuettes incorporated into lamps – unarguably utilitarian objects –  […]

It’s been decades since the British Invasion and believe it or not, the Beatles are still releasing music.  Well, it’s not “new” music but familiar tracks, which had not seen the light of day (although many have been available for years as bootlegs).  These include four extra versions of “She Loves You,” five versions of […]

If you ever doubted the economic importance of branding, take a look at the 2013 World Intellectual Property Report authored by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).  For the  period from 1987 to 2011, United States investments in branding accounted for close to a quarter of all intangible asset investments!  Brand ranking organizations value the […]

In February of this year, the Center For Copyright Information (CCI) — a group representing rights holders in the media industries — began a so-called “six-strikes” educational campaign to combat Internet piracy.  Leading Internet Service Providers  (ISP) — Verizon, Time Warner, Cablevision, Comcast and AT&T — are taking part. Here’s how it works.  When it […]