Most 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
Tweaking March Madness
– Derek Allen, Attorney –
It’s the end of February, which by my calculations means its almost the beginning of March, which means OH YES FINALLY MARCH MADNESS ASDFNLEKLDFNDF!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Apologies, I just get a little excited thinking about it.) This is without a doubt my favorite sporting event of the year. Once you include the conference tournaments where each of the winners get a bid to the Big Dance, starting next week every team in college basketball has the opportunity to win the national title if they can string together enough wins. Time to get hot Grambling State!
Excitement is building here in the Twin Cities as the Gophers knocked off #1 Indiana last night, all but assuring its spot in the tournament. Excitement is building here in my office as the Wisconsin Badgers moved to within a game of first place in the Big Ten with a team that looks a lot like the Winthrop & Weinstine rec league team.
While the tournament itself is widely regarding as the most exciting in American sports (I’ll hedge so I don’t offend the rest of the world and the World Cup, although I prefer the Euros myself), anyone who has attended the first weekend’s games knows the atmosphere in the arenas is often lacking. A combination of teams travelling hundreds and thousands of miles from campus for opening round games, the small fan base of many lower seeded teams, and the cavernous arenas that play host to many of the games all combine for lackluster crowds. The notable exceptions are, of course, North Carolina and Duke who somehow always get their opening round games scheduled about 10 minutes from campus. The lack of atmosphere at non-Tobacco Road games is especially unfortunate when regular season college basketball games probably feature the most boisterous crowds in American sports (again, hedging for those abroad because I’ve never been hit with a bag of urine at a college basketball game and bonfires in the crowd are usually absent).
My partial solution is to stop scheduling these games at large, NBA (and in some cases, NFL) stadiums. For example, when the tournament is here in Minneapolis, the opening round games have been held in the Metrodome. The stadium gets filled to 20% of capacity and the atmosphere is terrible. Meanwhile, the Barn is perhaps my favorite arena in the Big Ten and sits idle about two miles away. NCAA, schedule the games at the Barn! Not to leave my home state out, opening round games should be played at the Kohl Center (or better yet, the Field House), not the Bradley Center where they usually occur.
For those interested (I’m looking at you NCAA!), my 16 suggestions, which would host the opening games ever year, are below the jump:Continue Reading Tweaking March Madness
Is Strange A Good Naming Strategy?
– Mark Prus, Principal, NameFlash
In 1967 The Doors wrote a song called “People Are Strange.” In the chorus, the lyrics include the phrase, “No one remembers your name when you’re strange.” It seems like some current fashion labels think that advice no longer applies.
“If you are building a brand from scratch, you’re going
Crushing a Perfectly Good Brand Name?
Remember how important it is to stay on the right side of the suggestive/descriptive line when it comes to making proper use of a brand name?
We have cautioned about the danger of “taking a suggestive name, mark, or tag-line, and using it descriptively in a sentence on labels, packaging, ad copy, or the Internet,”
No Escape
This post is probably a bit dated for the readers that are on the cutting edge of developments in the film industry. But since that may only be a small subset of our readers, I thought this information was worth sharing.
Apparently, a brazen independent film director managed to surreptitiously shoot nearly an entire film
Copyright and Historical Landmarks
– Anjali Shankar, Attorney –
I recently heard that Dubai has planned to build a replica of the Taj Mahal, which will be four times the size of the original and is expected to be completed in two years. The Taj Arabia complex featuring the replica of the Taj Mahal in Dubai will
Rock, paper, horns.
Here is a fun exercise. Hold your hand up and make a closed fist. Raise your index finger, and now your pinky. Now look at your hand, what does this symbol mean to you? If you said “Hook ‘em Horns,” the University of Texas would love for you to participate in a survey in the coming months.
Athletes, musicians, and even probably a few of your friends have their own “trademark move.” Recently it appears that football players have moved away from celebratory touchdown dances to more controlled gestures. Aaron Rodgers has his “discount double check” move, Colin Kaepernick has his “kiss my bicep” move, and Tim Tebow has “Tebowing.” (admittedly less of a touchdown celebration than a sideline contemplation recently). Both Tim and Colin and have sought registration for their respective moves as the word marks TEBOWING, Reg. No. 4263370, and KAEPERNICKING, Serial No. 85822700 (Tebow has been discussed on our blog previously, both for his trademark and his branding potential). It should be noted that these are strictly for the wordmarks rather than the gesture itself. This brings us back to the University of Texas, who has recently filed a lawsuit over their hook ‘em horns hand symbol.
Continue Reading Rock, paper, horns.
Monster Cable Ordered to Pay Monster Daddy Attorneys Fees in Meritless Appeal
Techdirt has written extensively about why Monster Cable is considered “somewhat famous as a trademark bully.” Numerous comments to a TTABlog post reinforce this view.
One of the examples Mike Masnick over at Techdirt has highlighted is a TTAB case we handled for a Monster Cable victim a few years back, reported here, with
BAND-AID, TM Death by a Thousand Cuts?
If you were a Band-Aid brand adhesive bandage, and you were cut, would you protect yourself?
Brent, sorry I couldn’t help myself, I’m still enjoying your Louis Vuitton waffle-maker post.
With that intro, let’s turn another page to the Genericide Watch category, here at DuetsBlog:
In focusing attention on the first item in
From “First to Invent” to “First Inventor to File”
One month from tomorrow, the most significant change to U.S. patent law in recent history will go into effect. Since 1790, when the first patent act was signed into law, the U.S. patent system has been a “first to invent” system. Next month, it will change to a “first inventor to file” system. The U.S.