Law Commons^™

Patriotism For Profit And Persuasion: The Trademark, Free Speech, And Governance Problems With Protection Of Governmental Marks In The United States, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

“Governmental marks” are words or phrases which involve the identity of a social group that is partly defined in terms of its citizenship in a government-institution. The power to name a social group (especially one from which exit is difficult) confers enormous power over the group’s members. Legally classifying such words as trademarks commodifies them, increasing the namer’s power: both by giving the word monetary value and by providing the mark-holder with the legal right to prevent others from manipulating the word’s meaning.

Destination marketing employing governmental marks has become ubiquitous. The municipal governments of both New York City and …

Indianizing Hollywood: The Debate Over Bollywood's Copyright Infringement, Hariqbal Basi

Hariqbal Basi

For decades, the mainstream Indian film industry, known as Bollywood, has remade copyrighted Hollywood films for the Indian audience without legal repercussions. This practice has gone unnoticed by Hollywood until recently, and accusations have since been brought against Indian filmmakers for copyright infringement. This note provides an in depth analysis of why these potentially infringing films have only become the subject of litigation over the last two years, cultural arguments advanced by Indian filmmakers for why their remakes should constitute original, and not infringing, works, and what the effects of litigation have been. As the two industries become increasingly intertwined, …