Back in June 2009, we wrote about protecting trademarks under Facebook’s new URL redesign, which permitted a member to use a personal name as part of his or her Facebook address. Aware that the redesign offered new opportunities for trademark infringement, Facebook simultaneously issued guidelines for protecting trademark rights should a Facebook owner steal a […]
All posts by: Adam Garson
Your trademarks are among your company’s most valuable assets; controlling them is a necessity for successful branding. Domain names, particularly if they incorporate your trademarks, are part of your intellectual property portfolio and demand as much attention as your other assets. Sometimes, through no fault of your own, another company owns a domain name, which […]
ICAAN Changes the Web!
June 29, 2011
Internet Law
It is not an understatement to suggest that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) new plan to increase the number of top level domains is one of the biggest changes to the Domain Name System since it was founded. Top Level Domains (gTLDs) are those domain names at the the highest level […]
Viacom v. YouTube: The Saga Continues
May 26, 2011
Copyright
YouTube is no stranger to copyright infringement issues. In 2008, Viacom filed a $1 billion copyright infringement suit against YouTube, claiming that the video site contributed to an explosion of copyright infringement by permitting users to post infringing videos. The federal district court eventually dismissed Viacom’s action against YouTube on grounds that the Digital Millennium […]
Yes, folks, there may be method (a little bit) to his madness. Charlie Sheen has filed trademark applications for 24 trademarks. All your favorite sayings: “violent torpedo of truth,” “that’s what winners do,” “park your nonsense,” “you’ve been warned,” “I’m not bi–polar, I’m bi–winning,” “defeat is not an option,” “duh winning,” and the list goes […]
On Friday, February 11, 2011 from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (“FPRI”), Lawrence Husick will be presenting on the subject of “Understanding Cyberspace as a Battlefield.” The FPRI describes Lawrence’s presentation as follows: Cyberwar, as Richard Clarke recently explained to FPRI’s members, is the next great threat to national […]
A popular method for protecting and managing intellectual property (“IP”) assets — high valued assets, in particular — is to transfer them to a special company created for the purpose of creating, protecting, licensing, and monitoring, IP. Typically, a corporation may create a subsidiary to hold its IP, which it may license back to the […]
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) takes on another automobile-related trademark case, this time between General Motors and Jim M. Sweeney, who wanted to register CORVOLTTE to identify “electric vehicles, namely, automobiles.” Of course, general General Motors opposed the registration of CORVOLTTE on grounds of priority and likelihood of confusion with its CORVETTE mark. […]
Policing Trademarks is Important but Have We Gone Too Far?
November 30, 2010
Trademark
Policing your trademarks is as important as registering them. Policing requires that you monitor the world of commerce to insure that others are not using your marks — or confusingly similar marks — and, if so, that you take immediate action against the infringers. Big corporations zealously defend their trademark portfolios but have they taken […]
I took my Cobra down to the track,hitched to the back of my Cadillac, Everyone was there just a waiting for me There were plenty of Stingrays and XKEs… (written by Carol Conner)The Rip-Chords – 1964 It’s just a shame that, according to the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”), your 1965 Cobra 427, […]