‘Generalissimo Francisco Franco is Still Dead!’* At least insofar as patent licensing goes. On June 22 the Supreme Court decided yet another patent case – this one relating to patent royalties after the patent expires. In 1964, the Supreme Court in the Brulotte case determined that even with a contract, a patent owner cannot collect royalties for […]
Blog – Adam Garson Law
On the subject of interesting IP spats, here’s one that’s worth smiling (or frowning) over. You may know that Taylor Swift recently complained in an open letter to Apple about its using musicians’ work without compensation during the 3-month trial period of its new music streaming service (which, by the way, debuts today). Swift wrote: […]
Artist Richard Prince and the “Derivative” Work
June 30, 2015
Copyright
Ask Dr. Copyright … Dear Doc: Back in April 2013, you wrote about how Richard Prince drew a few electric guitars and naughty bits on photos taken by photographer Patrick Cariou, and then sold them to Beyoncé, Giselle, and other really famous people for tons of money. I seem to remember that a court said […]
New Patent Legislation Pending 2015
May 29, 2015
Patent
“They’re baaack…”* *Heather Michele O’Rourke, ‘Poltergeist II,’ 1986 Congress, that is. Several patent bills are pending, most of which will make it more risky and expensive to enforce a patent or defend against a patent infringement action in court. These bills represent the second half of the America Invents Act, which changed the patent landscape […]
There are many misconceptions about posting images on websites and social media. They range from believing everything online is free-for-the-taking to assuming that if you give attribution of ownership to an image, you’re not infringing someone’s copyright. These assumptions are just plain wrong. Just ask anybody who’s received a cease and desist letter and ended […]
Dear Doc: What’s new in your neck of the woods? Signed, Laurent Nom de Plume Dear Monsieur de Plume: It’s been a slow month for copyright law. Trademarks, however, have been a hotbed of ridiculosity. Exhibit One: John Wayne’s heirs have filed a law suit against Duke University (which was Trinity College until 1924 when […]
Want to sell your patent?
April 30, 2015
Patent
Google is running what it calls a ‘patent purchase promotion.’ From May 8 through May 22, 2015, you can offer to sell your issued U.S. patent to Google. You must provide the patent number, contact information and a take-it-or-leave-it price along with the submission contract. Google will let you know if it is interested by […]
Back in January, we were so bold as to state that “it’s not very often that the United States Supreme Court decides a trademark issue…” Well, it appears that Supreme Court pronouncements in the trademark field are more common than we thought, at least this year. On March 24, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court, inB&B […]
Robin Thicke and a Trial of Two Songs
March 30, 2015
Copyright
Ask Dr. Copyright … Dear Doc: You wrote about the legal fracas over the song “Blurred Lines” in a prior issue of your column. What’s up with that? Sincerely, Farel Thick Dear Sir: That case went to the jury about three weeks ago, and, true to the name of the song, it truly did blur […]
PTO Axes the SAWS Program
March 30, 2015
Patent
The PTO intended that its secret Sensitive Application Warning System (‘SAWS’) program would avoid embarrassment to the agency by requiring additional layers of review for potentially controversial patent applications. The program had exactly the opposite effect and the patent community harshly criticized the PTO for the secret and arbitrary nature of the program. The PTO […]