Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Moral Rights In The U.S.: Still In Need Of A Guardian Ad Litem, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

Over ten years ago, in the pages of this Journal, I inquired whether authors’ “moral rights” had come of (digital) age in the U.S. Ever-hopeful at that time, I suggested that then-recent legislation enacted to enable the copyright law to respond to the challenges of digital media might, in addition to its principal goal of securing digital markets for works of authorship, also provide new means to protect authors’ interests in receiving attribution for their works and in safeguarding their integrity. The intervening years’ developments, however, indicate that, far from achieving their majority, U.S. authors’ moral rights remain in their …

Overcoming Babel’S Curse: Adapting The Doctrine Of Foreign Equivalents, Jonathan Skinner

Publications

No abstract provided.

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

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

Court Briefs

No. 09-16412-AA, 10-10092-A
Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. New Life Art

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Western Division Civil Action No. CV-05-00585

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 …

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.

Abolishing The Missing-Claim Rule For Judicial Cancellations, Ryan Vacca

Faculty Publications

Section 3 7 of the Lanham Act vests courts with the power to order the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to cancel trademark registrations. This power to "rectify the register" is discretionary, and since the act's enactment in 1946, courts have routinely granted cancellation requests when the trademark's invalidity was established in the trial court proceedings. However, that is not always the outcome. Some courts refuse to exercise their power to rectify the register under section 3 7 even with a proven and valid basis for cancellation.

This article examines cases where the district courts refused …

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.

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 …

Does It Really Suck?: The Impact Of Cutting-Edge Marketing Tactics On Internet Trademark Law And Gripe Site Domain Name Disputes, Mindy P. Fox

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Copyright Or Trademark? Can One Boy Wizard Prevent Film Title Duplication?, Anna Phillips

San Diego International Law Journal

This Comment will examine the various approaches that India, the United Kingdom, and the United States take in dealing with film title disputes. Second, this Comment will discuss a case brought by Warner Brothers regrding a Harry Potter film title dispute in India and how the outcome of the case affects title infringement issues... Finally, this Comment will discuss a possible loophole in current trademark regulations regarding film titles that will support the argument that countries should use both copyright and trademark law to minimize the release of film titles that are similar or identical to those already on the …

Trademark Fair Use: Braun® Versus The Bunny, Vanessa P. Rollins

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Nominative fair use is a contentious issue in the field of trademark law. Manufacturers of original products who oppose the use of their actual products in advertisements for complementary goods often resort to the Lanham Act to prevent such practices. Courts have found the use of another's product in the advertising of complementary goods falls outside the nominative fair use defense. This article examines the nominative fair use defense and whether nominative fair use should encompass such uses.

The New Chinese Dynasty: How The United States And International Intellectual Property Laws Are Failing To Protect Consumers And Investors From Counterfeiting, Anna-Liisa Jacobsen

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

As businesses expanded with the rise of globalization, so did the effects of anticompetitive activity and, in turn, the reach of the U.S. antitrust laws. Though Congress addressed the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the U.S. antitrust laws with its implementation of the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvement Act (“FTAIA”), the statute only created a three-way circuit split that led the Supreme Court to address the issue and determine that the foreign injury must arise from both foreign anticompetitive activity and the activity’s adverse effects on domestic commerce. The D.C. Circuit further clarified the issue on remand by requiring a proximate cause relationship …

Through The Looking Hole Of The Multi-Sensory Trademark Rainbow: Trademark Protection Of Color Per Se Across Jurisdictions: The United States, Spain, And The European Union, Glenda Labadie-Jackson

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

An oft-asserted prediction states that only trademarks that stimulate all five senses with the objective of attracting the consumer’s attention will acquire a firm and durable presence in today’s complex marketplaces. This, in turn, has provoked the broadening of the repertoire of signs and symbols potentially eligible to serve as trademarks for products or services. Vivid examples of these are the sounds, scents, flavors, colors and three-dimensional forms, which collectively, are grouped under the generic category of “non-traditional trademarks.

Making Much Ado About Theory: The Chinese Trademark Law, Leah Chan Grinvald

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Although the United States has had an active hand in the implementation of trademark law in China over the past century, the same frustrations that marked the turn of the twentieth century are reflected in the twenty-first century. This Article posits that one of the reasons that the United States has not seen the desired level of progress in China's protection of trademarks lies in the imposition of an American theory of trademarks, which has inhibited U.S. reform efforts in China to date. This imposition is understandable, as little thought has been given to the Chinese theoretical justification for their …

Un Arco Iris De Lentes Con Los Que Mirar: La Protección Del Color Único Como Marca En Los Estados Unidos, En España, Y En La Unión Europea, Glenda Labadie-Jackson

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

Se vaticina que imicamente tendrdn una s6lida y duradera presencia en los complejos mercados contempordneos las marcas que se sirvan de estimulos multisensoriales con el objetivo de acaparar la atenci6n de los consumidores. En diversos ordenamientos juridicos, este ha sido el motor que ha propulsado la ampliaci6n del repertorio de signos o simbolos potencialmente elegibles para fungir como marcas de productos o servicios. De aqu6l1os, vale destacar los que tipicamente suelen agruparse bajo la riibrica de “no tradicionales”, a saber: los sonidos, los aromas, los sabores, las formas tridimensionales y los colores.

"See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Hea[R] Me" (And Maybe Smell And Taste Me, Too): I Am A Trademark – A Us Perspective, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

The preceding chapter, “Between a sign and a brand,” addresses the current law in the UK and the EU regarding which signs can be a registered trademark, and the scope of protection a trademark receives. Jennifer Davis also considers the extent to which that scope does or should cover the more ineffable subject matter of “brand values.” This comment from the perspective of United States trademark law will follow a similar plan. It first will address what is (and is not) a trademark, focusing on the extensions of trademarks beyond traditional word marks and design marks (logos; trade dress [get-up]) …

Consumer Gripe Sites, Intellectual Property Law, And The Use Of Cease-And-Desist Letters To Chill Protected Speech On The Internet. , Rachael Braswell

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Trademarks Of Privilege: Naming Rights And The Physical Public Domain, Ann Bartow

Law Faculty Scholarship

This paper critiques the branding and labeling of the physical public domain with the names of corporations, commercial products, and individuals. It suggests that under-recognized public policy conflicts exist between the naming policies and practices of political subdivisions, trademark law, and right of publicity doctrines. It further argues that naming acts are often undemocratic and unfair, illegitimately appropriate public assets for private use, and constitute a limited form of compelled speech. It concludes by considering alternative mechanisms by which the names of public facilities could be chosen.

To Live In In-‘Fame’-Y: Reconceiving Scandalous Marks As Analogous To Famous Marks, Jasmine C. Abdel-Khalik

Faculty Works

In 1905, Congress enacted a revised trademark registration act, which included a prohibition on registering marks containing or consisting of scandalous or immoral material. Because Congress failed to provide any further guidance either in legislative history or in the statutory language, administrative bodies and the courts have struggled to define this standard. Over the past century, decisions applying this prohibition have been inconsistent. The general public and potential trademark owners are unable to predict accurately if a mark will be accepted or refused for federal registration, which has some significant benefits. Perhaps because of this uncertainty, some estimate that hundreds …

Rescuecom Corp. V. Google, Inc., Arielle G. Lenza

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Economics Of Cultural Misrepresentation: How Should The Indian Arts And Crafts Act Of 1990 Be Marketed?, Jennie D. Woltz

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

On International Trademark And The Internet: The Lanham Act’S Long Arms, Joshua Clowers

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Trademarks tie a face to a product. The face is often a name or symbol, but it can also be something like a sound, a smell or even a “look.” They exist for the benefit of both the trademark owner/producer and the consumer. The purpose of a trademark, traditionally, has been to protect against the confusion of consumers when selecting products or services. Yet, a trademark’s functionality is not limited to preventing confusion. Other uses include both preserving the goodwill of the consumer for the mark owner and preventing the “diversion of trade through commercial misrepresentations.”

Dilution's (Still) Uncertain Future, Mark D. Janis, Graeme B. Dinwoodie

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Why We Are Confused About The Trademark Dilution Law, Christine Farley

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

In the decade following passage of a federal right of anti-dilution, the biggest question in trademark law was how to prove dilution. This is a clear sign of something. Can no smart attorney, judge, or social scientist figure out what dilution is in order to prove it? Dilution has proven to be a "dauntingly elusive concept" for the courts. Even in the Supreme Court, nearly all of the questions from the Justices In oral argument in Moseley v. V. Secret Catalog were seeking to simply understand what dilution is. Unless they simply know it when they see it, other courts …

D.I.Y. After Dastar: Protecting Creators' Moral Rights Through Creative Lawyering, Individual Contracts And Collectively Bargained Agreements, Rick Mortensen

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Part I examines the scope of Dastar and argues that it is sufficiently narrow to permit some false attribution claims based on section 43(a) of the Lanham Act. As support, Part I examines district court cases after Dastar as well as pre-Dastar attribution cases that are still arguably good law. Part II examines the Second Circuit case of Gilliam v. ABC, Inc., in which the Monty Python comedy troupe successfully enjoined ABC from showing a mutilated copy of its work, as a model for pursuing right of integrity claims. Part II will show that this case is still good law, …

Post No Bills: Can The Nba Prohibit Its Players From Wearing Tattoo Advertisements?, John Vukelj

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Post No Bills: Can The Nba Prohibit Its Players From Wearing Tattoo Advertisements?, John Vukelj

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Why The Initially Confused Should Get A Clue: The Battle Between Trademark Infringement And Consumer Choice Online, John Handy

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Crisis Of Indefinite Consequence: How The Derivative Works Exception And The Lanham Act Undercut The Renumerative Value Of Termination Of Transfers, Ashok Chandra

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.