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Trade Dress Infringement | Van Leeuwen vs Rebel Creamery

Van Leeuwen claims that Rebel Creamery copied their trade dress by using the same kinds of colors, fonts, and minimalist designs, such that their product seems nearly identical to Van Leeuwen's signature elements.

May 09, 2024

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Top 5 Reasons Why USPTO Denied Your Trademark Application

One in five trademark applications fail their first examination according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. We have highlighted the top 5 reasons behind this failure to help you ensure this doesn’t happen to you.

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Looking at the #BigPicture in Trademarking Your Company/Brand’s Hashtags

The hashtags your business uses are not only an extension of your brand, but can indeed be the channel by which you market that brand. Can you trademark a hashtag?

December 05, 2018

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Tracy Chapman Suit Against Nicki Minaj Highlight Importance of Protection and Permission

Chapman is seeking unspecified monetary damages for copyright infringement of “Baby Can I Hold You” – which Chapman registered for copyright protection in 1983 – and for the court to require Minaj to “take reasonable steps to stop the continued exploitation” of her song.

November 15, 2018

Can Street Artists Sue For Unauthorized Use of Their Work?

Adrian Falkner sued General Motors for using a portion of a mural he had painted on a parking garage in Detroit to promote an art gallery without his permission and in a way that only showed part of the mural and left off his signature and other copyright information.

October 20, 2018

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TVEyes, Fox News, and the Future of Fair Use

In 2015, the Second Circuit ruled that the four factors that make up the “fair use” exception analysis favored Google Books, and one year later the Supreme Court decided not to take up an appeal, leaving the Second Circuit’s decision in place.

October 09, 2018

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New Hope For Your Scandalous, Immoral, or Vulgar Trademark

The prohibition against approving immoral or scandalous trademarks has long been controversial, and led to legal disputes over everything from “Madonna”-branded wine in the 1930s to “Bubby Trap”-branded bras in the 1970s to quite a lot of things branded as “MILF” in more recent decades.

September 17, 2018

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