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Intellectual Property Law Commons

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Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Intellectual Property Law

Real-Life Protection For Fictional Trademarks, Benjamin M. Arrow Dec 2010

Real-Life Protection For Fictional Trademarks, Benjamin M. Arrow

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Protecting Nominative Fair Use, Parody, And Other Speech-Interests By Reforming The Inconsistent Exemptions From Trademark Liability, Samuel M. Duncan Oct 2010

Protecting Nominative Fair Use, Parody, And Other Speech-Interests By Reforming The Inconsistent Exemptions From Trademark Liability, Samuel M. Duncan

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Federal trademark law exempts certain communicative uses of a trademark from liability so that the public can freely use a trademark to comment on the markowner or to describe its products. These exemptions for "speech-interests" are badly flawed because their scope is inconsistent between infringement and dilution law, and because the cost and difficulty of claiming their protection varies significantly from court to court. Many speech-interests remain vulnerable to the chilling threat of litigation even though they are "protected" by current law. This Note proposes a simple statutory reform that will remedy this inconsistency by creating an express safe harbor …


Brief Of Amici Curiae Intellectual Property Law Professors In Support Of Appellant/Cross-Appellee New Life Art, Inc. And Daniel A. Moore And Affirmance In Part, Mark Mckenna, Michael T. Sansbury Aug 2010

Brief Of Amici Curiae Intellectual Property Law Professors In Support Of Appellant/Cross-Appellee New Life Art, Inc. And Daniel A. Moore And Affirmance In Part, Mark Mckenna, Michael T. Sansbury

Court Briefs

The District Court properly held that New Life Art’s (“New Life”) creative works do not infringe the University of Alabama’s (“the University”) rights in the trade dress of its football uniforms, including the their crimson and white colors. First, New Life’s realistic depiction of the University’s football games is not likely to confuse consumers about the source of New Life’s goods, or as to the University’s sponsorship of or affiliation with those goods. Confusion is actionable under the Lanham Act only when it relates to these types of source relationships, and not when consumers merely recognize the plaintiff’s mark. Second, …


Pause The Game: Are Video Game Producers Punting Away The Publicity Rights Of Retired Athletes?, Brandon Johansson Jan 2010

Pause The Game: Are Video Game Producers Punting Away The Publicity Rights Of Retired Athletes?, Brandon Johansson

Nevada Law Journal

This Note argues that widely recognized retired athletes, such as Jim Brown, whose likenesses have been used in video games, will be able to recover damages under likeness laws if video game producers do not take more action to protect themselves from such lawsuits. Part II of this Note will discuss the history of likeness rights and how they have developed in our legal system. Part III will discuss how licensing agreements operate in sports through collective bargaining agreements between the current athletes and the player unions. This Note will then argue, using Brown v. Sony as an example, that …


Virtual Confusion: How The Lanham Act Can Protect Athletes From The Unauthorized Use Of Their Likenesses In Sports Video Games, Lindsay Coleman Jan 2010

Virtual Confusion: How The Lanham Act Can Protect Athletes From The Unauthorized Use Of Their Likenesses In Sports Video Games, Lindsay Coleman

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.


Virtual Confusion: How The Lanham Act Can Protect Athletes From The Unauthorized Use Of Their Likenesses In Sports Video Games, Lindsay Coleman Jan 2010

Virtual Confusion: How The Lanham Act Can Protect Athletes From The Unauthorized Use Of Their Likenesses In Sports Video Games, Lindsay Coleman

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.