Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Obtaining Trademark Registration For Marks Containing Political Commentary: A Look Into Vidal V. Elster, Annick Runyon

University of Miami Law Review

For decades, courts have struggled with balancing trademark law with the First Amendment—specifically with cases challenging the denial of trademark registration of certain marks. Congress codified trademark registration through the Lanham Act, also known as the Trademark Act of 1946. This statute outlines the registration process and expands the rights of trademark owners. In recent years, a string of cases have ruled certain provisions of the Lanham Act that bar certain marks from registration unconstitutional.

Currently under review by the Supreme Court, the case Vidal v. Elster involves an applicant who was denied trademark registration for his mark “Trump Too …

No Flash Photography Please: An Analysis Of Corporate Use Of Street Art Under Section 120(A) Of The Awcpa, Sierra Epke

University of Miami Law Review

Street art and graffiti are pervasive artforms found throughout the world and throughout history. While the artforms have been associated with crime and vandalism in the past, they have increasingly been featured in different capacities from art galleries to corporate marketing campaigns. With street art’s growing recognition and popularity, corporations have begun to use the medium to target new customer bases. In some situations, the use of artwork in marketing campaigns is unsanctioned by the artist. Therefore, courts have now begun to examine the balance between copyright protection for street artists and the corporate use of street art. Section 120(a) …

The Freedom Of Influencing, Hannibal Travis

University of Miami Law Review

Social media stars and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) Act are clashing. Influencer marketing is a preferred way for entertainers, pundits, and everyday people to monetize their audiences and popularity. Manufacturers, service providers, retailers, and advertising agencies leverage influencers to reach into millions or even billions of consumer devices, capturing minutes or seconds of the market’s fleeting attention. FTC enforcement actions and private lawsuits have targeted influencers for failing to disclose the nature of a sponsorship relationship with a manufacturer, marketer, or service provider. Such a failure to disclose payments prominently is very common in Hollywood films and on radio …

Denying Cultural Intellectual Property: An International Perspective On Anjali Vats's The Color Of Creatorship, J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

Articles

In The Color of Creatorship, Anjali Vats offers a compelling analysis of intellectual property (IP) laws through the lens of critical race theory. Providing a persuasive account of the role of racialized perspectives and colonial histories in the making of IP laws, Vats calls on activists to "persuade lawmakers that knowledge production comes in a variety of forms." She makes a valuable contribution to the literature on race and IP, asking us to think about IP citizenship and how this has been framed in the United States. In this brief essay, I will connect Vats's analysis to some of the …

The Law As Uncopyrightable: Merging Idea And Expression Within The Eleventh Circuit’S Analysis Of “Law-Like” Writing, Christina M. Frohock

University of Miami Law Review

The Eleventh Circuit recently issued an opinion in Code Revision Commission v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. that meditates on the law as much as resolves a dispute. For that reason alone, attention should be paid. A commission acting on behalf of the Georgia General Assembly and the State of Georgia filed a copyright infringement action against a nonprofit organization that had disseminated annotated state statutes. The Eleventh Circuit took these modest facts and delivered a philosophical analysis of the nature of law, finding that statutory annotations are outside copyright protection because the true author of such “law-like” writing is “the People.” …