Blog Posts: Intellectual Property

Cybersquatters often exploit brand owners by demanding a large payment for a domain name that is similar to the brand owner’s trademark. Cybersquatters may also seek to profit from rerouting internet traffic intended for the brand owner’s website—to compete with the brand owner, to attract attention to different offerings, or to disrupt their competitor’s b...

Social media is causing defamation claims to become more common. There are several areas for consideration if you feel your business has been defamed. First, what is defamation? Expressing an opinion is not defamation. For example, if someone claims that the pizza at your pizza parlor “sucks” or “tastes terrible.” That is not defamation. It is just their o...

The Lawsuit Against Tarantino On November 16, 2021, Miramax filed a lawsuit against famed film director Quentin Tarantino, alleging breach of contract, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and unfair competition. While intellectual property legal disputes are nothing new in Hollywood, the non-fungible token (“NFT”) subject matter makes the case nove...

Substantively, copyright protection is the same in the digital world and on the internet as in traditional form. The only practical difference is the likelihood that the copyright will be infringed. Works available in cyber space are far more likely to be the subject of unauthorized copying. This may be the result of people's misconception about copyright protectio...

If you want to use photographs, graphics, or other content without paying a fee or by paying a one-time fee rather than an ongoing royalty, it is important that you understand the law to avoid subjecting yourself or your business to a copyright infringement claim. Common forms of royalty-free works are clip art, templates, and works licensed under Creative Commons...

If you want to use content that you did not create, it is helpful to know whether that content is copyright-protected or whether you can use it without permission. Whether the content is text, drawings, graphics, photographs, or sound recordings, the rule is always that if it is in the public domain, you can use it freely and without permission. Public domain is of...

If someone has copied or reproduced your book, article, blog, artwork, photograph or other copyright-protected works without your permission, you have several options. Before using any of these options, be sure that you actually own the copyrights to the content that you are reporting. Falsely reporting copyright infringement can be a violation of federal law tha...

Copyrights are a bundle of legal rights belonging to the owner of an original work of authorship. Federal statutes provide that copyright protection subsists in “original works of authorship” that are fixed in any tangible medium of expression. The statute also expressly provides that works of authorship include pictorial works. Original works means that only t...

The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (the “TMA”) was buried in the enormous COVID relief and stimulus bill (i.e., the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2021), signed into law on December 27, 2020. The TMA amends federal trademark law in several significant ways of which trademark owners should take note. Rebuttable Presumption of Irreparable Harm. One ...

How important is reputation in your line of work? What is it worth? Does it matter that others associate your company with consistently high-quality goods or services? That your company represents a strong value-add proposition? That your company was easy to work with and exceeded expectations? And how do customers find you? Word-of-mouth? Marketing efforts? Search...