We know that one rule of intellectual property is that the onus is on the copyright owner to enforce their copyright. This means that they must put effort into finding copyright infringers in order to pursue claims and protect their property. However, you may be...
What is your trademark? A simple wordmark? A stylized wordmark? A design/logo with words? Or a design/logo without words? If your trademark consists of a design/logo with words, you have to decide if you want to register the words separately from the...
We have posted many intellectual property cautionary tales on this blog, but the IP news story of this week is an example of the opposite lesson: the intellectual property reward tale. The 1970s rock band KISS recently sold their song catalog for upwards of $300...
Trademarks, copyrights, AI, Google Trends, case law updates, Live Stream IP violations, and USPTO expert database searches were some of the many subjects I learned more about during the International Trademark Association’s Annual Conference in Atlanta. Logan McEwen...
When trademarks contain geographic locations, does that make their enforcement more difficult? If a bagel shop calls itself “Augusta’s Best Bagels,” how much hold does it have on the name “Augusta” in connection with bagels? If another bagel shop opened up calling...
When an artist grants the transfer or license of copyrighted material to another party, is that assumed to be in perpetuity or can they reclaim copyright at some point? Is it solely on the creator to set time limits for these agreements? Fortunately for creators, the...
Is a similar trademark name enough to prove trademark infringement? We have seen in a recent ruling regarding tequila companies with products Casa Azul and Clase Azul that the answer is: No. Specifically, a judge has denied Casa Tradicion’s lawsuit against Casa Azul...
What You Need to Know About Trademark Searches When a company decides to change their logo or create a new product line that needs a name and logo, they will task their marketing department or a branding consultant to develop the new name and logo. As the new names...