Here’s another Internet copyright conundrum. Assume you have a social networking website where you let users post links or bookmarks to their favorite videos from all over the Internet. To view the videos, a visitor clicks on a link and the video is streamed into a video frame much like you see on YouTube. Many […]
Internet Law
Ask Dr. Copyright . . .
April 30, 2012
Ask Dr. Copyright, Copyright, Internet Law
Dear Doc: I hear a lot about storing files on “the cloud” these days. From your perspective, do I lose any rights when I use such a service? They sure are convenient! Signed, Will Robinson DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!!! DANGER!!! The “Doc” has reviewed the terms and conditions of the license agreements of a few “cloud” […]
A Book By Any Other Name
March 29, 2012
Internet Law
Readers of this newsletter will recall that trademark rights in the United States are established by use, not by registration. There are benefits to registration, of course, but rights arise by the actual use of a mark in commerce in conjunction with a product or service. Often, the assertion of a trademark use is indicated […]
Is Facebook Your Friend?
February 29, 2012
Internet Law
Do you have a Facebook Account? Do you realize that every time you click the “Like” button for a product, service or website, Facebook may distribute a paid advertisement (“a sponsored story”) using your name to all of your “Friends” suggesting that you are recommending the product or service? While Facebook is described in the […]
Privacy We Give Up for Cell Phone Convenience
November 30, 2011
Internet Law
Most of us use our cell phones for business and personal use. For instance, in the car returning from a family Thanksgiving celebration, my wife read her business e-mail, checked the weather, referred to a map for our location, and browsed for Black Friday sales. We all assume such phone activities are relatively private, but […]
Protecting oneself from personal liability is top on the list when a business owner forms a corporation or similar entity. Lawyers and courts refer to this protection as the “corporate veil”. Be careful, though, because your corporate veil is not armor clad. Larry Chasin, president of Ideal Diamond Solutions, Inc. (IDS), learned this the hard […]
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 […]
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 […]
Protecting Your Trademark from XXX
May 26, 2011
Internet Law, Trademark
To bring some protection from unintended exposure to pornographic websites, the international body that administers the Internet Domain Name system has approved a new domain: .xxx (dot triple-x). New to this domain will be a way to block the triple-x registration of certain domains, without actually having to acquire them, as is now the norm […]