The story goes that Nike's "JUST DO IT" mark originated from the 1977 execution of murderer, Gary Gilmore. Gilmore, who was executed by a Utah firing squad, offered as his final words, "Let's do it." As told in Jonah Lehrer's... Read More
On June 7 th , Angela Adams, LLC filed a copyright action against Target, Wal-Mart, and Mohawk Industries, accusing them of copyright infringement involving rug designs. The federal complaint, filed in Maine, alleges that Mohawk is manufacturing and... Read More
Plaintiff Rogue Satellite Comics recently sued DreamWorks Animation for copyright infringement. Rogue owns the copyright to a comic character named "Kingfish" (© 1996). In its complaint, Rogue alleges that the Kingfish character was... Read More
When somebody talks you up, what's the best way to thank them? Offer them a bouquet of flowers? Send them a card? Take them to court? The third option - a warm "thank you" via complaint - isn't as unlikely as you might suspect.... Read More
According to a recent complaint filed by the Authors Guild, several Universities and the HathiTrust are engaging in "...one of the largest copyright infringements in history." The lawsuit concerns Google's on-going digitization of university... Read More
On March 6 th , the Southern District of New York dismissed a trademark lawsuit filed against Oprah Winfrey, holding that Oprah's use of the phrase "Own Your Power" did not infringe plaintiff's trademark. The court held that Oprah's... Read More
Prisoners have a legal right to register their copyrights with the Library of Congress, according to a recent decision from the Third Circuit. Bernard Carter Jerry-El (Jerry), a prisoner in Pennsylvania, intended to submit his book to the Library of... Read More
Active Sports Lifestyle USA, a manufacturer of active wear for extreme athletes/riders, recently filed a trademark infringement action against Old Navy. Old Navy is accused of infringing the "Active" trademark, which includes Active's... Read More
UPDATE: On July 13 th , ex-Green Bay Packer, Darrell Thompson, filed a similar class action lawsuit in the District of Minnesota. View or download the complaint filed in Thompson v. NFL, 11-01900 (D. Minn. 07-13-11) . Sports Illustrated called... Read More
The Ohio State University licenses and markets many items using the trademarks "scarlet and gray," "Buckeye(s)," "Brutus Buckeye," the Block O with or without Buckeye Leaves, "Go Bucks," and the "Buckeye... Read More
I'm designating myself the Chicken Little of academic copyrights. Last week, I wrote about the lecture note monkeyshines at UC Berkley , where students are restricted from note sharing because of instructor copyrights. This week, I look up and... Read More
The licensed distribution of Russian DVDs without a subtitle "shut off" did not infringe a separate copyright license to distribute Russian-language-only DVDs, according to a recent decision from the Eastern District of New York. In Russian... Read More
Red M&Ms, red Crayolas red Porsches - let's hope they never end. But what about the famous red shoe battle between designers Christian Louboutin and Yves Saint Laurent? You thought there was an end to that red dispute, right? You might be... Read More
It's one for the ages. Could television's greatest talent competitions all be the product of infringement? One man asserts they are. In July, Australian Paul Thayil filed a pro se complaint in the Southern District of New York, accusing... Read More
Last week, N'Genuity Enterprises sued Chick-fil-A for trademark infringement. The oddities (I mean "facts") of the case involve ex-professional athlete Bo Jackson, the "Bo Burger," and the talking cow from the Chick-fil-A commercials... Read More