Collaborations in Creativity & the Law ®
-Martha Engel, Attorney
I spent much of Saturday morning watching Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger at the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting. I have previously made the pilgrimage to Omaha, waiting outside before dawn with a plan for our seats much like these guys. In the last two years, thankfully, they’ve streamed it…
By way of follow-up to Tim’s and David’s recent discussions about Rio2016 and related U.S. Olympic Committee trademark enforcement issues, it appears that a local Minnesota carpet cleaning business called Zerorez, is poised to press the issue of the USOC’s overreaching trademark policies by asking the federal district court in Minnesota to confirm it…
-Martha Engel, Attorney
It’s rare that we focus on descriptions of goods or services here, but one of the most common reasons that a trademark for a brewery or winery is refused registration at the Trademark Office comes down to the description of services. “Brewery services” and “winery services” are popular descriptions often used by…
-Martha Engel, Attorney
Emojis – those cute images you may find in a keyboard on your Android or iPhone device – have changed the way many people communicate thoughts, ideas, feelings and concepts. They can add a certain level of pizzazz to an otherwise ordinary text message, Facebook post, or tweet. And, if I may…
– Debbie Laskey, MBA
These days, as newspapers and magazines are on the wane, it seems as if anyone who can write has become an online journalist to promote his or her area of expertise. In social media lingo, the title is now known as a “blogger.”
According to Wikipedia, “A blogger is a…
-Martha Engel, Attorney
If you are a member of the Cult of Apple, like tech, or even just watch the news, you’re probably aware that yesterday was Apple’s big fall event where they announce new product launches and updates. The event showcased a new iPhone with enhanced photo features (as this Wired article aptly puts…
– Jason Voiovich, Vice President, Marketing, Logic PD
We trade data for access all the time.
Facebook, LinkedIn, Google – you name it, if you use these free services, you are explicitly granting them permission to aggregate and disaggregate your data at will. Sure, there are “privacy” settings, but few people actually actively manage them. …
– Debbie Laskey, MBA
There is an often-overlooked aspect of marketing that can be considered a distant relative. Public relations, also referred to as PR, is this sometimes forgotten but very important component of marketing promotions. At its core, PR can be defined as managing a brand’s image and reputation, but it touches all…
– Aaron Keller, Managing Principal, Capsule
There was a time, back in the day, when you could just “Google” yourself and that was the best way to assess the value of your personal brand. Simple quantifiable way to see how many mentions you had on Google’s interwebs (the reference is intentional). And, you could…
A few weeks back, we discussed IKEA’s claim of trademark infringement against the popular website, IKEAhackers.net, and the resulting online backlash.
In what’s become an increasingly common result, IKEA has reportedly backed off from its demand letter:
We want to clarify that we deeply regret the situation at hand with IKEAhackers. It has
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