In the landscape of trademarks, a point of tension exists between small and large businesses. Namely, well-funded corporations have the resources to dominate trademark real estate and to go after competitors. Yet, trademark names are limited. Trademarks of similar...
Can a beat that underlies an entire genre of music become the basis of a copyright infringement claim? A recent case raising this question about reggaeton music has taken a small step forward – not toward a definite answer, but toward further exploration of a...
Where are you selling the products and services – locally or nationwide over the internet? If you are only selling your products in the city where you live and have not expanded beyond those boundaries, then you only need to obtain a state trademark registration. If...
If your company is authorized to sell a certain brand of products in a place other than its country of origin, could you still get hit with a trademark infringement claim? It is possible. In a recent case decided by the High Court in the UK, Amazon was found liable...
Spotify has been under fire for various reasons as of late. The UMAW has criticized their low streaming pay rates, at less than a penny per listen. Indie musicians have reacted vociferously to the change of its royalty structure, which now pays nothing to artists with...
If your business’s trademark is used by a competitor in an invisible way, does that count as commercial use that could constitute trademark infringement? You might assume the answer is “No,” since there would likely not exist evidence of typical infringements like...
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...