Categories
Copyright Entertainment Law

Pandora Rocked With A Lawsuit For Displaying Lyrics Without Consent

A copyright infringement lawsuit has been filed against the popular music streaming service Pandora. The Complaint, filed by Wixen Music Publishing, alleges that Pandora has continued to exploit lyrics to musical compositions without authorization. It includes a schedule of musical compositions, but indicates that there are likely many more that have not been included in […]

Categories
Trademarks

Catching Up With Some Recent Heitner Legal Client Trademark Registrations

We love it when clients are able to beat our projection of 9-12 months from trademark application to registration. One client to recently capture that prize is Influential Drones LLC, which was awarded its registration for “Influential Drones” on May 14, 2019. The filing date of the application was September 18, 2018, which means that […]

Categories
Sports Law Trademarks

LA Times Highlights The Smart Personal Branding By Fred VanVleet

We love a recent article written by Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times. Titled, Branded or not, Raptors teammates sport their own signature gear, Woike looks at how various members of the Raptors are taking branding into their own hands, with some going the extra step to ensure that their marks are protected. One athlete featured in […]

Categories
Intellectual Property Trademarks

Trademark Defendant Between Rock And Hard Place On Attorney’s Fees Request

Typically, each party must pay its own attorney’s fees in litigation. The exception is when a contract contains a prevailing party clause or a statute provides that the prevailing party is entitled to a reimbursement of reasonable attorney’s fees. One such statute is the Lanham Act, which permits an award of reasonable attorney’s fees only […]

Categories
Bankruptcy Trademarks

Trademark Licensing Rights Survive Bankruptcy, Says US Supreme Court

What happens to a trademark licensing agreement when the licensor files for bankruptcy? It is an issue that was just reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Mission Product Holdings v. Tempnology. The highest court held that filing for bankruptcy does not deprive the licensee of its rights to use the licensed trademark. […]

Categories
Copyright

What Is Fair Use For Parody Works Is A Central Issue In Logan Paul Copyright Case

Internet personality Logan Paul, who has millions of subscribers on his YouTube channel, has been sued for copyright infringement. The Complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that his composition “No Handlebars” willfully infringes on an original composition by Flobots titled, “Handlebars.” The original was written and recorded in […]

Categories
Trademarks

Welcome To The Trademark Jungle, Guns N’ Roses

The rock band Guns N’ Roses has been around since 1984 and is a known name in the music industry to just about everyone in the United States. While the band members have spent most of their lives creating and performing music, they are now going to be occupied with litigating a trademark infringement lawsuit […]

Categories
Professional Responsibility

Can You Lose Your Attorney-Client Privileged Protections By Speaking With 3rd Parties?

Attorney-client privilege, the confidentiality of communications between lawyer and client, is a protection for discussions between those two parties. How strict is that rule? What if a public relations firm has access to the communication? Is the privilege lost?

Categories
Drugs/Doping Trademarks

What’s The Deal With Cannabis And CBD Trademarks?

We have been asked by many clients whether we can assist them with registering trademarks connected to the sale of cannabis and cannabis-related goods and services. In the past, we needed to be very creative to push applications through to registration. Now, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) may be making things a bit […]

Categories
Trademarks

The Milk Bar You Know Is Suing A Milk Bar Startup Based In Chicago

MomoMilk LLC, the owner of trademark registrations to the word mark “MILK BAR” and design marks for a stylized versions of “milk,” has filed a federal lawsuit against Milk Bar, LLC in Illinois. The plaintiff claims that the defendant has infringed on its trademarks based on the defendant’s use of a confusingly similar stylized design […]