- Ryan Francis, Law Student, William Mitchell Law School vs. Is he alive? Not really, but the Manhattan Second District Court recently referenced the Frankenstein monster in The Football Ass’n Premiere League Ltd. v. YouTube Inc., No. 07 CIV. 3582 LLS, 2013 WL 2096411 (S.D.N.Y. May 15, 2013). In this case, plaintiffs alleged… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Technology
Subscribe to Technology RSS FeedAre TV & Digital Mutually Exclusive? Not at All: Why Multi-Channel Marketing Makes Sense
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology, Television- David Mitchel, Director of Marketing – Distribion, Inc. AdAge posted an article today featuring CBS CEO Les Moonves commenting why his network is a better fit for media buyers than digital media. One quote attributed to Moonves was: “If you need to reach a mass audience, you’re not going to get that online….We figured… Continue Reading
Twitter Can Be a Brand Marketer’s Best Friend
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Search Engines, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology- Debbie Laskey, MBA If you’re a marketer, you probably spend a great deal of your day checking Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and LinkedIn. Depending on your industry, you may also spend time on YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, and any number of other peripheral sites. But did you know that Twitter can be your best friend… Continue Reading
The Names of MIT Media Lab: How to Describe an Innovation
Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Technology- Anthony Shore, Operative Words There is nothing else quite like MIT Media Lab. Their mission to “invent a better future” has given us a better present. It’s Media Lab’s research and development that led to the Kindle and Nook, Rock Band and One Laptop Per Child. While their innovative projects receive and deserve recognition,… Continue Reading
The Data Breach Lawsuit Powder Keg
Posted in Law Suits, Mixed Bag of Nuts, TechnologyMost data breaches occur because companies fail to implement adequate safeguards to protect personal identifiable information, and data breaches are growing in scope and sophistication. A study by NetDiligence concluded that the average cost per breach is $3.7 million, which includes the litigation defense cost. However, not all data breaches result in identify theft, and… Continue Reading
7G Wireless: The Next Big Thing?
Posted in Food, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Patents, Product Configurations, Taste, Technology, Trademarks- Brent Carlson-Lee In the past six months, I have applied for a design patent and two trademarks – all food related. When I mention this, a common response is: “I wish I were creative or knowledgeable enough to come up with an idea worthy of patenting or trademarking.” My answer is invariably: “You are!”… Continue Reading
The hope for Zipcar: Be less like Avis, more like Redbox
Posted in Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Technology- Jason Voiovich, Director of Corporate Marketing, Logic PD I don’t like renting cars. I’m not sure I know many people who do. As a frequent business traveler, I’ve gotten better at running the gauntlet of terminal shuttles, slow lines, confusing kiosks, 5-point font paperwork, scratch and dent searches, smelly cars, and last-minute gas stations…. Continue Reading
Kickstarting Your Trademark Portfolio
Posted in Articles, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Technology, Trademarks, USPTO– Draeke H. Weseman, Weseman Law Office, PLLC 68,929 Backers. $10,266,845 Pledged. 10,266% Funded. The stat line above describes “Pebble,” a project to build blue-tooth enabled watches with e-paper screens that display information from synchronized mobile phones. The project is the highest funded project in the history of Kickstarter, a crowd-funding platform started in 2009. … Continue Reading
“Who Owns You?”
Posted in Guest Bloggers, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Social Networking, Technology— James E. Lukaszewski, ABC, APR, Fellow PRSA We are in the midst of an age where all of us are completely exposed and, in fact, are owned and sold by others, most of whom we will never know. Who is selling you today, in fact right now? As usual, in America, business opportunities come… Continue Reading
Design Patent Flexes Muscles
Posted in Guest Bloggers, Idea Protection, Infringement, Law Suits, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Patents, Product Configurations, Technology, USPTO- Jeffrey Stone and Brett Klein, Patent Attorneys, Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A. The design patent is perceived by many designers and patent attorneys as being a relatively weak and impotent patent protection mechanism as compared with the better-respected utility patent. It is typically thought that design patents are only useful in protecting against exact copies…. Continue Reading
The new infringement/opportunity frontier: Everything
Posted in Guest Bloggers, Infringement, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Patents, TechnologyJason Voiovich, Director of Corporate Marketing, Logic PD Bottom Line: It won’t be long before cheap and ubiquitous 3D printing technology will present design patent owners with a choice: Seize the opportunity to license their designs to be created (and modified) at home, or resist patent infringement and litigate millions of potential offenders. My advice? … Continue Reading
FTC’s New Rules for Advertising Mobile Apps
Posted in Advertising, Agreements, Almost Advice, Contracts, False Advertising, International, TechnologyThe Federal Trade Commission has published guidelines for advertising mobile applications. In general, the guidelines incorporate the FTC’s policies on truthful advertising and data privacy. On the advertising side, if you make objective claims about your app, then you will need proof to support your claims. The proof necessary to support objective clams is competent… Continue Reading
Assassin’s Creed III: Evil George Washington Edition?
Posted in Almost Advice, Technology, TelevisionToday marks the release of probably the most anticipated video game of the year, Assassin’s Creed III. For those of you who complain that video games don’t teach kids anything, this game goes beyond what your history teachers taught you and tells the (not in any way) true story of how the Revolutionary War was pretty much… Continue Reading
The Future of Advertising? Amazon Finds More Ways to Make Money
Posted in Advertising, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Search Engines, Technology—Laura Toledo, Account & Marketing Manager at Tenrec My husband bought me a Kindle Fire last December. At first, I was reluctant to give up hard-copy books, but eventually I became obsessed with it (if anyone from my generation remembers the TV cartoon “Inspector Gadget,” this thing reminds me of Penny’s book/computer). So when the… Continue Reading
Bordering on Logos (Again)
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Look-For Ads, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Technology, TrademarksBy now, you must know, I’m a sucker for billboard ads. I really love to notice, study, comment on, and critique them, especially when there is an opportunity for some trademark storytelling. This one for the Hampton Inn & Suites brand does not disappoint. It appears that an IP holding company for Hilton, HLT Domestic… Continue Reading
Swing and a Miss: Senator Klobuchar’s Foray into Cloud Computing
Posted in Mixed Bag of Nuts, TechnologyOn September 19, 2012, Senator Klobuchar introduced a bill titled “Cloud Computing Act of 2012” (the “Act”) that would amend the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”). Essentially, the intent of the Act is to make it a criminal offense to access a server without authorization that is owned by a cloud provider. The Act… Continue Reading
3 Reasons Why Googlers Rarely Read Anything Past Page One
Posted in Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Search Engines, Social Networking, Technology- Rich Gorman, Direct Response Marketing, serial entrepreneur and innovator On one level, the field of online reputation management is easy to explain. As Cliff Stein, Reputation Changer CEO, likes to say, it’s all about giving companies and individuals some control over how they are portrayed on the Internet. Are you a young professional, desperate to… Continue Reading
Overcoming the Ostrich Strategy by Effectively Using Your Strategic Plan
Posted in Advertising, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Search Engines, Social Networking, Technology- Debbie Laskey and Ward Schendel We all learn a great deal from DuetsBlog and the legal and marketing community assembled by Steve Baird and his team. As guest bloggers on DuetsBlog, we, Debbie Laskey and Ward Schendel, recently had a conversation about the importance of strategic planning and decided to collaborate on a joint… Continue Reading
Apple and Google Set to Litigate Their Patents in the Court of Market Opinion
Posted in Fair Use, Famous Marks, Guest Bloggers, Infringement, Law Suits, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Patents, Search Engines, Technology, Touch, Trademarks, USPTO- Jason Voiovich, Director of Corporate Marketing, Logic PD Last week, the US Patent and Trademark Office conferred upon Apple the Excalibur of intellectual property: The GUI patent that covers the general operation of today’s smartphone and tablet universe. Officially, it is patent 8,223,134 and you can read all about it here, or in excruciating… Continue Reading
The Internet Goes Back to High School: “Groupthink” Sends Pitbull to Alaska
Posted in Articles, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Social Networking, Technology—Laura Toledo, Account & Marketing Manager at Tenrec I grew up in a very small town (graduated with less than 40 kids). Our class’s makeup consisted of maybe 15 girls and all the rest boys. We had a love-hate relationship (mostly hate). When the girls decided we wanted something, the boys would always out-vote us… Continue Reading
New “Generic” Top-Level Domains Need a New Name
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Technology–Dan Kelly, Attorney In case you did not yet hear the news, ICANN at long last revealed this week the new applied-for strings in the new gTLD program. If you are unfamiliar with what this is, ICANN will be expanding the number of available so-called ”generic” top-level domains (gTLDs) for use in Internet domain name addresses. A… Continue Reading
The Far-Reaching Impact of Emotion: Brands, Engagement, and the Law
Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Technology-Jesse de Agustin, Methodology Advisor, Facial Coding, emonalytics, inc. The human face reveals what occurs on a subconscious level and understanding emotion allows marketers to create stronger brands that engage their audiences. Emotion research is so far reaching that it also gives us telling clues into deceit, and a person’s genuine beliefs and behaviors. The… Continue Reading
Nine Steps to Integrating the Cloud into Your Business
Posted in TechnologyLast December, I was interviewed by Finance and Commerce magazine for an article titled “Tech Toolkit: IT planning for the year ahead.” Part of the article included cloud computing and what companies can do to include the cloud in their businesses. Early the same month, I posted on the technology trends for 2012, and the… Continue Reading
Europe Ups the Ante on Data Privacy
Posted in TechnologyLast Wednesday, the European Commission unveiled the changes to its data privacy laws. If the changes are adopted, companies will deal with a single, national data-protection authority in the EU country in which they have their main base. Individuals can tender complaints to the data-protection authority in their own country even when their data is… Continue Reading
Duets Blog Authors
Steve Baird
Just so you know, I'm all about brands and the law, both professionally and personally. I regularly annoy family and friends in retail stores by focusing on product labels—not to buy the product, but to read the fine print and ask, "Who owns these brands" and "Did they really register those marks?" More...
Brent Lorentz
Although I wish I could say my path to the law was the result of a lifelong dream or calling, it was more the result mere curiosity and an affinity for leather-bound books. More...
Tiffany Blofield
Although my initial career path was to be one of the Supremes (not the musically talented ones with platform shoes and sequins, but rather, the nine wearing sensible shoes and pressed black robes in DC), I will likely stay in Minnesota as I have never lived anywhere else. More...
Brad Walz
My law career started on the ice…as a defensive hockey player (we’re not talking professionally…and if I were, I probably wouldn’t have gotten into law). More...
Derek Allen
In hindsight, writing about creativity and the law may have always been in the cards for me. I began training for a career in litigation at an early age by finding ways to disagree with pretty much anyone about pretty much anything. In my longest-running “case,” I argued with my middle school math teacher, Mrs. Jabs, for the better part of four years over whether, even if I got the right answer, I had to show my work to get full credit. More...
Martha Engel
Although my interest in gadgetry and my aptitude for math eventually led me to become an engineer, my ad executive father and artistically gifted mother fostered an appreciation for the creative from a young age. More...
Anjali Shankar
When I was in elementary and middle school, I loved writing short stories. Creativity and imagination seem to come naturally to people when they are young. More...
Timothy Sitzmann
I have always considered myself to be a creative person. Full disclosure: I'm not claiming that I've created anything good, merely that I have created things that exist.More...
Cathleen Dahl
Trademarks and I met through a small job advertisement in the back of a local newspaper, and little did I know that I would spend the next 18 years (and counting) deriving a living from their existence and importance. More...