Category Archives: Intellectual Property
Instagram, Food Porn, and Copyright Law
A German court has recently decided that taking photographs of your meal, a practice often referred to as food porn, may run afoul of a chef’s copyright in the food’s artistic arrangement. While that decision does not have a lot of practical impact on people stateside, looking at a similar situation under American copyright… Read More »
Newly Discovered Songbook May End Happy Birthday Copyright
“Happy Birthday to You” has been a traditional fixture at birthday parties for the better part of the last century, which is why it surprises many people that the song is actually covered by copyright law. While people singing at their family birthday parties probably do not have to worry about a cease and… Read More »
Justin Bieber and Copyright Law
A recent federal court decision demonstrates that even musical superstars are not beyond the reach of federal copyright law. A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit against Justin Bieber and Usher for allegedly copying a song Bieber released in 2010 “Somebody to Love.” Importantly, this decision does not mean that Bieber and Usher were… Read More »
Copyright and Characters: When Fictional People Take on Lives of Their Own
Most people know that there is some type of legal protection for creative works like books, music, or movies, but the contours and limits of that copyright protection are a little murkier. For instance, one often litigated area of copyright law is how it applies to characters from creative works. For instance, when J.K…. Read More »
The Pros and Cons of Collaboration: Understanding Joint Copyrights
The modern world is becoming more and more collaborative across the board. Whether it’s a team of independent artists working together to produce a movie or a team of software developers working on a new app, creative endeavors are bringing groups of people together to work on the same project. Naturally, this has important… Read More »
Copyright in the Social Media World
People often think of copyright as a tool reserved for artists and writers, as something that only protects books or music or movies. However, the reality is that copyright protection applies to much more than that. According to the statute, copyright law protects “original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression.”… Read More »
When You Need Another Person’s Trademark: Fair Use in Trademark Law
Modern companies understand the importance of protecting their brand and reputation, and as such are often quick to dispatch a cease and desist letter as soon as they spot even a hint of potential trademark infringement. Consequently, many people are often hesitant to use someone else’s trademark, preferring to avoid the hassle of dealing… Read More »
Seeing Red: What the Fashion World Has Shown Us about Trademarks and Color
One of the most interesting things about trademark law is its flexibility. The law has adapted to provide trademark protection to a wide variety of objects from the mundane, like words or logos, to the unusual, like live animals. One commonly litigated non-traditional trademark is color. While the ability to trademark a combination of… Read More »
Is Trade Secret Protection Right for Your Business?
Modern businesses have begun to realize that some of their most important assets are completely intangible, things like business reputation or innovative ways of doing things. This has led more and more companies to begin seeking intellectual property protection for their ideas in order to gain an edge over their competitors. When people begin… Read More »
Tattoo Artists and Copyrights
Although tattooing has been around for a long time, it has recently become a more mainstream form of art. In fact, a recent poll shows that over one in five American adults now has a tattoo. As with any burgeoning industry, the law is now struggling to accommodate it. For tattoo artists, one of… Read More »
What Happens When a Trademark Goes too Far
Trademark law is usually concerned with protecting consumers from fraud. The idea behind it is that each company should get its own logo and name so that consumers know who they are buying from. Yet, sometimes trademark law goes beyond this, and attempts to address other concerns. One area of trademark law where this… Read More »
Don’t Scuff the Copyright: Federal Court Extends Intellectual Property Protection to Flooring
When trying to come up with things that copyright law protects, most people think about works like art, music, or movies. However, it turns out that copyright law protects much more than that. A recent ruling by the 11th Circuit, the federal appeals court covering Florida, highlights the surprisingly broad reach of copyright law…. Read More »
Automakers Employing Copyright Law Against Hobbyists
As software finds its way into more and more pieces of previously analog equipment, it expands the reach of copyright law. This has led to new groups being forced to navigate the complex American intellectual property system. One such group includes car hobbyists, who are now being forced to deal with car manufacturer copyrights… Read More »
Spontaneous Generation: A Key Limit of Copyright Protection
Of the three branches of intellectual property protection, patents, trademarks, and copyrights, copyright law is often the one that touches people’s everyday lives most directly. Few people are inventors or business owners, but many people consume media like TV and music on a daily basis, putting them at risk at violating copyright law. Even… Read More »
Why Small Business Owners Should Care about Trademark Genericide
The law protects trademarks because they function as “source identifiers.” When a person sees a company logo on a product, they know which company is responsible for it. This allows consumers to easily find companies whose products they like, while avoiding those who sell inferior goods. Understanding this purpose of trademark law allows for… Read More »
Contesting an “Incontestable” Mark
One of the benefits of registering a trademark with the federal government is that after a certain period of time a mark becomes “incontestable.” That sounds like a powerful benefit. No one wants to be sued by someone with a mark that the government has labeled as beyond contestation. Yet, the name is actually… Read More »
The Basics of Music Copyright
Music copyright is one of the most common ways for people to interact with the intellectual property system. It affects many different services that people use all the time, such as Pandora, YouTube, and Netflix. It even appears in the news, such as the recent multimillion dollar judgment against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams… Read More »
The Supreme Court Deals with Tacky Trademarks
The U.S. Supreme Court is usually content to leave trademark law more or less untouched, relying on the lower courts to adjust the doctrine since it is something of a niche area of law. Yet, the Court has actually heard two trademarks cases this term. One, B&B Hardware v. Hargis Industries has yet to… Read More »
A Copyright Law Blog Post about How Copyright Law Affects Blog Posts
With the maturation of the internet, more and more people are putting their own copyrighted work out into the world. People write stories, post pictures, and upload videos online, and that can make the legal landscape of online content both varied and complex. Bloggers in particular should be aware of copyright for two reasons…. Read More »
Intellectual Property Protection for Restaurants
Restaurant owners often wonder about whether they can use the intellectual property (IP) system to stop competitors from stealing their recipes. The answer, as with so many things in law, is that it is complicated. American IP is divided into four categories: patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. These each protect their own types… Read More »
