Monthly Archives: June 2014

You have to laugh or you’ll cry: supplement regulation

Posted on June 24, 2014 by

John Oliver has yet another fantastic, and accurate, advertising law-related story, this time focusing on the deliberate unregulation of dietary supplements. http://tushnet.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Posted in advertising, fda, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post | Leave a comment

More pondering on the relationship between sec. 2 and sec. 43

Posted on June 24, 2014 by

One question from last week’s TTAB REDSKINS decision concerns the effect on §43 if the §2 cancellation is upheld.  Mark McKenna has argued that, if we took history seriously, there should be no effect, because unfair competition historically covered lots … Continue reading →

Posted in geographic indications, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, trademark | Leave a comment

Is DRM the source of Hachette’s troubles?

Posted on June 20, 2014 by

So argues Cory Doctorow.  He makes a point that also came up at the 1201 exemption hearings: the copyright owner does not clearly have the right to authorize a user to strip DRM from a work, where the copyright owner … Continue reading →

Posted in copying, dmca, drm, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post | Leave a comment

Something fishy about this trademark claim?

Posted on June 20, 2014 by

GurglePot, Inc. v. New Shreve, Crump & Low LLC, 2014 WL 2744283, No. C13–6029 (W.D. Wash. June 17, 2014) I’m not really interested in the law in this personal jurisdiction case, finding that there’s no personal jurisdiction in plaintiff’s home … Continue reading →

Posted in trademark | Leave a comment

Apply fair use to burned area

Posted on June 19, 2014 by

Via Five Useful Articles, this deposition excerpt from HathiTrust is nearly priceless–what takes it beyond the usual snark is the very last dig the HT lawyer gets in at the Authors Guild’s theory of the case. So, HT’s lawyer snarks … Continue reading →

Posted in http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post | Leave a comment

"original" and "first" are mere puffery

Posted on June 18, 2014 by

Bern Unlimited, Inc. v. Burton Corp., No. 11-12278, 2014 WL 2649006 (D. Mass. June 12, 2014) Bern sued six of its competitors in the market for sports helmets, alleging trade dress infringement.  Answering Bern’s third amended complaint, defendants asserted false … Continue reading →

Posted in http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, patents | Leave a comment

Washington’s football team registrations cancelled

Posted on June 18, 2014 by

If you didn’t get the link from five other places, here it is.  (It turns out that today was a bad day to wear shorts to the office; it’s not the best outfit for being interviewed by a suited TV … Continue reading →

Posted in trademark | Leave a comment