Imagine the following: You were very sick. It was touch and go for a while, but you’ve just awakened and feel much better. You open your eyes and see… nothing. It’s absolutely, completely black, like the deepest cave. ‘Am I blind?’ you ask yourself out loud, but the sounds of your own voice are all wrong. […]
Dear Doc: I have heard that Congress is considering a new law that would create a small claims court for copyright infringement cases, particularly those that stem from infringement on the Internet. That sure sounds like it would help to stop unauthorized copying! Whaddya think? Signed,Well-intentioned. Dear Well: Have you ever shared a […]
Here is some news for old fogey music lovers (like me). Remember the Spencer Davis Group? Stevie Winwood was the sixteen year old lead singer belting out hits like “Gimme Some Lovin’.” In 1966, the song reached the number 2 hit single position in the U.S. According to Muff Winwood, the bassist, it was “conceived, arranged, and […]
In the not too distant past, a person or company unhappy about a patent had two choices: (a) wait to be sued for patent infringement by the patent owner in Federal court and then challenge the validity of the patent, or (b) preemptively sue the patent owner in Federal Court and ask the court to […]
Many in the U.S. take advantage of low prices offered by Canadian ‘pharmacies’ by purchasing doctor-prescribed patented pharmaceuticals. The Canadian pharmacies are not pharmacies in the traditional sense. That is, they do not maintain stocks of drugs nor fill prescriptions from their own inventories. Instead, the Canadian pharmacies are “ordering services” that ship pharmaceuticals to U.S. […]
Dear Doc:I heard that it’s now legal to take someone else’s photograph, mess with it, and sell it as your own. That can’t be right, right? Please tell me that the copyright law is not that insane. Signed, Every person who ever took a photo. Dear Every: Yes, I am afraid that copyright […]
The Navy just received a patent on flying saucer technology. No, I don’t mean a circular wing that flies like every other aircraft. I mean a craft that relies on laws of physics that neither Newton nor Einstein would recognize. The patent, by Navy inventor Dr. Salvatore Pais, describes what is literally anti-gravity technology, referred […]
Earlier this year we wrote about recent trends in trademark filings by China. Between 2013 in 2017 Chinese companies filed more as PTO said than 50,000 trademark applications With the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The increase in filings could be explained by growth in the Chinese economy and Chinese government subsidies, paying […]
Dear Doc: My cardiologist says that I need to cut out salt. My copyright lawyer says that salting is useful. What gives? Signed, Patient but Confused Dear PbC: No wonder you’re confused! You think that doctors and lawyers speak the same language?!? The Doc never heard anything so funny! Let’s get this […]
Nearly two years ago we wrote about the Washington Redskins and its efforts to maintain their registration of REDSKINS, which the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board cancelled because it was disparaging of Native Americans. The U.S. Supreme Court took up the cause in an unrelated case, Matal v. Tam, and held that section 2(a) of […]
