Law Commons^™

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

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Don't Be Cruel: Scope Of Parody Curtailed In Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. V. Capece, Deborah Wright

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Note explores how the Fifth Circuit limited the legal boundaries of parody in the context of trademark law. Section II provides a background of trademark law and how parody fits into a court's determination as to whether infringement has occurred. Section III presents the facts and procedural history of the case, including the district court's analysis. In Section IV, this Note examines how the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal approached the application of parody in the trademark context. Finally, Section V discusses the severe limitation on the legal use of parody set forth by the Fifth Circuit, and offers …

Intellectual Property Law - Blockbuster Videos Inc. V. City Of Tempe, Mary L. Shapiro

Golden Gate University Law Review

In a matter of first impression, the United Sates Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in Blockbuster Videos, Inc. v. City of Tempe, considered whether section 1121(b) of the Lanham Act preempts a municipality's authority to require the alteration of a federally registered trademark. Based on the plain language of the statute, the court held that a local entity may not require the alteration of a trademark to enforce a zoning ordinance, though it may prohibit the display of the trademark.

The Time And Place For "Technology-Shifting" Rights, Max Stul Oppenheimer

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Intellectual property policy requires balance between the goal of motivating innovation and the need to prevent that motivation from stifling further innovation. The constitutional grant of congressional power to motivate innovation by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries is qualified by the requirement that congressional enactments under the Intellectual Property Clause promote progress. The Supreme Court has already recognized a time-shifting exception to the intellectual property rights of innovators and lower courts have recognized a place-shifting exception. It is now the time and place for a general technology-shifting exception …

Possessing Trademarks: Can Blackstone Or Locke Apply To Fast Food, Grocery Stores, And Virtual Sex Toys?, Jesse R. Dill

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Trademark law has evolved extensively over time and is justified today for different reasons than when American law first recognized it. Scholars today question whether trademarks should now be accepted as a form of real property. Two examples of trademark problems in the global economy demonstrate that the time has come for marks to be recognized as property. Whether business entities are entering new territories or consumers are crossing borders to new jurisdictions with greater ease than ever before, trademark must adapt to the demands of modern commercial competitors. This Comment takes the position that these demands require treating trademarks …

Actual Or Hypothetical: Determining The Proper Test For Trademark Licensee Rights In Bankruptcy, Laura D. Steele

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

As trademark rights become an increasingly valuable asset in Chapter 11 reorganizations, it is critical for Congress and the courts to clarify how trademarks will be treated in bankruptcy, particularly where the debtor is a trademark licensee. Without clarity, Chapter 11 reorganization may not be a viable option. This Comment urges that trademark licensees should not be stripped of a license simply because the licensee enters bankruptcy. Rather, where a licensee intends only to continue using an existing license under the terms of the existing agreement with the licensor, the licensee's use of that license should be uninterrupted during reorganization. …

Securing Global Trademark Exceptions: Why The United States Should Negotiate Mandatory Exceptions Into Future International Bilateral Agreements, Brian S. Kaunelis

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In December 2007, the European Union and the CARIFORUM States concluded a bilateral economic partnership agreement that included a mandatory fair use exception to trademark owners' rights. The EC-CARIFORUM Agreement is the first agreement that mandates the inclusion of Article 17 of the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights and requires an exception to trademark rights. The push to balance international trademark owners' rights has begun, and this Note will detail why the United States should follow the European Union's lead and negotiate mandatory trademark exceptions into future bilateral agreements.

The Role Of The Non-Functionality Requirement In Design Law, Orit Fischman Afori

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Panel Ii: The Global Contours Of Ip Protection For Trade Dress, Industrial Design, Applied Art, And Product Configuration, Orit Fischman Afori, Wendy J. Gordon, Mark Janis, Jonathan Moskin

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Cause Of Action For "Passing Off/Associational Marketing", Margreth Barrett

IP Theory

The Trademark Scholars Roundtable participants discussed a wide range of approaches to understanding and limiting the ever-increasing sprawl of trademark rights. It was a productive and stimulating discussion. In this essay, I would like to combine some of my own ideas with points and suggestions made by the other participants, to sketch out a possible judicial approach to regulating the sprawl. Before discussing a potential solution, however, it is important to understand the nature of the problem, and some of its primary causes.

Section I will discuss the problem and set the stage for my proposal. Section II will then …

Online Auction House Liability For The Sale Of Trademark Infringing Products, Allison N. Ziegler

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

With the rise of the Internet, trademark owners have seen an increase in online trademark infringement. This Comment examines online auction house liability for the sale of trademark infringing products and the methodology used by courts in making this determination. The author outlines contributory trademark jurisprudence in the United States and France and the application of this jurisprudence in Tiffany v. EBay and LVMH v. EBay, respectively. The article then evaluates the implications of the two approaches to determine which approach is more practical and effective. The author concludes that online auction houses should not be liable for trademark infringement …

Logorama: The Great Trademark Heist, Rose Lawrence

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

King Kirby And The Amazin' Terminatin' Copyrights: Who Will Prevail?!?, Jay Goldberg

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Judge To Inventor: You Can’T Trademark A Circle, Eric Perrot

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Emerging Scholars Series: A Re-Examination Of The Original Foundations Of Anglo-American Trademark Law, Cesar Ramirez-Montes

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Contemporary accounts of the normative basis of Anglo-American trademark law frequently describe the purpose of the legal doctrine as having developed to protect primarily the consumers from being misled. Recently, some commentators have offered a different account of the law, as having developed to protect mainly the interests of the traders in not having their trade diverted. Under this account, early trademark law served one master only, the producer, with any additional benefit or protection to consumers being unintended. In this Article, the Author challenges both accounts and suggest that early trademark law was not driven by any judicial desire …