– James Mahoney, Razor’s Edge Communications
This past summer, The Hollywood Reporter wrote about the challenge to the copyright of the Happy Birthday tune (and the lucrative licensing revenue that it enables). That reminded me of another copyright question that I’ve wondered about.
Awhile ago, I bought a box of greeting cards featuring vintage travel
Is photography nowadays really so easy even a monkey can do it?
What about a caveman?
If Wikimedia is right, the caveman would own a copyright in his selfie (or perhaps Geico, under the work for hire doctrine) because he is a human being, capable of being an author under U.S. copyright
There’s no place like home. Just be careful where and how you say it.
It is common knowledge among lawyers that copyright protection does not normally extend to titles, words, or short phrases. Movies, politicians, and our family and friends constantly quote books, movies, and famous politicians, actors, and others. From a trademark perspective, we
A hot dog is a type of sandwich, and “footlong” denotes a type, category, or class of sandwiches (those measuring about a foot in length), making “footlong” a generic term and part of the public domain — incapable of serving as a trademark for any kind of
It’s that time of year again. The fishing opener in Minnesota is upon us this coming Saturday, so Rapala is sporting its new billboard advertisement.
Judging from USPTO trademark filings, it looks like the cutesy “Bass Friends Forever” tagline is intended to adorn clothing items too.
You will recall that we have consistently
Yet another brand name and trademark being promoted as a verb in the tagline or signature at the end of each television commercial: "Don’t Just Watch TV. DirecTV."
For more on the subject of trademark verbing and the risk of genericide:
As a trademark type, something struck me as odd about the Best Buy logo image appearing on the brand new outdoor baseball scoreboard at Target Field, during the Minnesota Twins recent home opener against the Boston Red Sox, so I captured a photograph to discuss it here on DuetsBlog.
What caught my eye was the curious placement of the