Author Archives: rtushnet

show me how you do that trick: magic performance copyrightable, infringed

Posted on March 24, 2014 by rtushnet

Teller v. Dogge, No. 12-cv-00591 (D. Nev. Mar. 20, 2014) Teller sued Dogge for infringement in two YouTube videos offering to sell the secret to a signature Teller illusion, Shadows.  This illusion consists of a spotlight trained on a vase … Continue reading →

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Misleading health plan names

Posted on March 24, 2014 by rtushnet

NYT on how health plan names confuse and deceive consumers. http://tushnet.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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Consumer law and copyright conferences in April

Posted on March 24, 2014 by rtushnet

Making the Fine Print Fair, Georgetown Law symposium, April 4 The Georgetown Consumer Law Society and Citizen Works are hosting a symposium, Making the Fine Print Fair, at Georgetown on April 4 from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.  From the … Continue reading →

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I *am* only cheerleading: uniforms not conceptually separable

Posted on March 21, 2014 by rtushnet

Varsity Brands, Inc. v. Star Athletica, LLC, No. 10-cv-02508 (W.D. Tenn. Mar. 1, 2014) “Classical philosophy does not often come to play in the field of mundane legal analysis.” But here the court was called on to identify the essence … Continue reading →

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infringement can occur even if consumers don’t remember it

Posted on March 20, 2014 by rtushnet

Beastie Boys v. Monster Energy Co., No. 12 Civ. 6065 (SDNY Mar. 18, 2014) The Beastie Boys sued for copyright infringement and trademark infringement based on Monster’s allegedly unauthorized use of Beastie Boys music to accompany a video promoting a … Continue reading →

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Hockey fans sue over fake beer sizes because they’re false and deceptive

Posted on March 19, 2014 by rtushnet

There, I fixed the headline of the original story.  If a small costs $4 and a large costs $7, there ought to be a difference in amount delivered.  Also, anyone who uses the McDonald’s hot coffee case to “prove” that … Continue reading →

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Reliability, safety, and 1050-1150 RPM speed claims are puffery

Posted on March 18, 2014 by rtushnet

Smith v. LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc., 2014 WL 989742, No. C 13-4361 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 11, 2014) Smith sued LG over allegedly defective washing machines that shook and vibrated excessively during use.  In 2012, the CPSC recalled the machines due … Continue reading →

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Copyright infringement doesn’t violate the Lanham Act

Posted on March 18, 2014 by rtushnet

Masck v. Sports Illustrated, No. 13-10226 (E.D. Mich. Mar. 10, 2014) Previous discussion, in which I got exercised about the court’s misapplication of Dastar, herein corrected.  Masck took an “iconic” photo of defendant Desmond Howard, running for a touchdown during … Continue reading →

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

Today’s inducement question

Posted on March 18, 2014 by rtushnet

#McConnelling: The Daily Show invites users to score footage of Mitch McConnell to as many songs as possible.  The idea is that it’s funny no matter what music you use.  So, inducement?  If it’s transformative (which I think it is), … Continue reading →

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My long, sad Garcia v. Google post

Posted on March 17, 2014 by rtushnet

You know, for a judge who loves the First Amendment and free speech so much when it comes to the right of publicity and nominative fair use, Judge Kozinski can seem oddly unconcerned about it in other areas of IP, … Continue reading →

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