I am not a huge fan of artichokes. Eating them takes too much effort, and I am not very impressed by their taste. However, I do know how to eat one, and I would expect that if someone asked me to serve him an artichoke, he would also know how to eat one properly, or […]
Author: Darren Heitner, Esq.
Trademark bullying watch! My first post on trademark bullying discussed the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) interest in eliciting suggestions to address these problematic litigation tactics. Legit claims are one thing; trademark bullying ties up the courts, costs people money that would be better spent on innovation, and takes up unnecessary time litigating. My […]
For over 20 years, South Florida has hosted an annual week-long event called the Winter Music Conference (WMC). People from around the world come to the event, which includes over 500 sub-events under WMC’s umbrella of festivities. One of the more popular sub-events is the Ultra Music Festival (Ultra). For the first year, in 2011, […]
Here is a sample definition of likeness – name, silhouette, personality, appearance, performance, depiction, portrayal, photograph and voice. It is an integral definition in many licensing agreements where one party hopes to be able to exploit the other party, usually for a hefty fee. What if you were not entitled to just compensation for the […]
High net wealth individuals often look to invest their money outside of a bank. These individuals might choose to invest in real estate or a professional sports franchise. How about bankrolling other people’s lawsuits to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars? It is happening, and it seems as though it has the potential […]
On October 24, 1999, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). The UDRP incorporated by contract into registration agreements for .com, .org, .net and some other domain names. The focus was on regulating bad faith cybersquatting on trademarks. Clause 4 of the UDRP discusses the Mandatory […]
If you have an idea (a great idea) to create a website that allows visitors to watch and share YouTube videos together with their friends, you should consult an attorney to figure out how to embark on the venture without stepping on anyone’s toes. The last thing you want to worry about in a start-up […]
Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) are a favorite type of of business entity for many businessmen. Advantages of LLCs include the following: Limited liability – no “member” is liable for anything other than the amount of his investment in the LLC, regardless of how involved that member is in the daily operations of the business. Taxed as […]
On its “About” page, The Pirate Bay describes itself as follows: The Pirate Bay is the worlds largest bittorrent tracker. Bittorrent is a filesharing protocol that in a reliable way enables big and fast file transfers. The website was founded by a Swedish anti-copyright organization and has gone through a few changes of ownership before […]
Is Facebook being a trademark bully, or is it really just trying to protect its intellectual property? In March 2010, Facebook sent small scale parody website Lamebook (some of the stuff on there is really funny) a cease and desist letter. Facebook had a problem with Lamebook’s name, mark, and look and feel of its […]