Monthly Archives: March 2015

court refuses to enjoin consumer protection law on First Amendment grounds

Posted on March 23, 2015 by rtushnet

Loan Payment Administration LLC v. Hubanks, 2015 WL 1245895, No. 14-CV-04420 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 17, 2015)   A misinterpretation of nominative fair use mars this otherwise quite sensible rejection of a First Amendment challenge to a consumer protection law.   … Continue reading →

Posted in california, consumer protection, disclosures, first amendment, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, trademark | Leave a comment

And another commercial advertising or promotion case, no competition required

Posted on March 20, 2015 by rtushnet

Educational Impact, Inc. v. Danielson, No. 14–937, 2015 WL 381332 (D.N.J. Jan. 28, 2015)   EI sued Charlotte Danielson and other entities for breach of contract, violations of the Lanham Act, unfair competition, tortious interference, and unjust enrichment.  Per the … Continue reading →

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

commercial advertising or promotion post-Lexmark

Posted on March 20, 2015 by rtushnet

Tobinick v. Novella, No. 9:14–CV–80781, 2015 WL 1191267 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 16, 2015)   Steven Novella wrote two articles criticizing the practice of Edward Tobinick, “a doctor who provides medical treatment to patients with ‘unmet medical needs’ via two institutes—‘Edward … Continue reading →

Posted in 230, commercial speech, defamation, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post | Leave a comment

The photocopier and the arc of history

Posted on March 20, 2015 by rtushnet

Smithsonian Magazine on the politics and culture of easy personal copying (version one). http://tushnet.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Posted in copying | Leave a comment

Materials on privacy and surveillance

Posted on March 20, 2015 by rtushnet

Terry Diggs, an adjunct at U.C. Hastings Law, alerted me to a website she put together for a privacy/surveillance website with both text and video materials of possible interest to teachers of the subject.  (See the video and MCLE sections … Continue reading →

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picture of refurbished equipment wasn’t literally false passing off

Posted on March 19, 2015 by rtushnet

Stolle Machinery Co., LLC v. RAM Precision Industries, — Fed.Appx. —-, 2015 WL 1137429, No. 13–4103 (6th Cir. Mar. 16, 2015)   Stolle makes used to produce food and beverage cans. Stolle’s former employee, Shu An moved back to China, … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, dastar, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, trade secrets | Leave a comment

Amicus brief in Dryer v. NFL

Posted on March 19, 2015 by rtushnet

Mark McKenna and I drafted a law professors’ amicus in Dryer v. NFL, a right of publicity case now on appeal in the 8th Circuit. We argued for a strong First Amendment standard for non-advertising speech as well as for … Continue reading →

Posted in first amendment, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, my writings, preemption, right of publicity, trademark | Leave a comment

Pleading around Dastar?

Posted on March 19, 2015 by rtushnet

Kowalski v. Anova Food, LLC, 2014 WL 8105172, No. 11–00795 (D. Hawai’i Dec. 31, 2014)   Kowalski owns a patent entitled “Process For Manufacturing Tasteless Super–Purified Smoke For Treating Seafood To Be Frozen And Thawed.” He sued Anova for patent … Continue reading →

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

"I’m not a regular Republican, I’m a cool Republican"

Posted on March 19, 2015 by rtushnet

House GOP attempts to explain its immigration policy in .gif form.  There’s probably an interesting gender analysis to be done here about the use of reaction .gifs of women making extremely expressive faces but not saying much.  HT Phil Schrag. Bonus … Continue reading →

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

How does the doctrine of foreign equivalents apply to scandalousness?

Posted on March 18, 2015 by rtushnet

Restaurant with questionable name opens in Arlington.  Unregistrable? HT Zach Schrag http://tushnet.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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