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 […]
Major League Baseball has a battle on its hands. One of its main sponsors, Anheuser-Busch Inc., has filed a lawsuit against MLB, claiming that the company was entitled to a multi-year renewal on its beer-sponsorship rights based on negotiations that ended with a letter agreement in April 2010, and that MLB all of a sudden […]
Imagine spending your time writing an article with the hope that it will be published on a popular website. Imagine the thrill when you find out the the website is going to publish your article. You are becoming a trusted source for that particular information. Perhaps you will be able to earn money by granting […]
Very talented athletes stand to make more money from off field/court/ice/etc. activities than what they earn based on performing in the trade that they are truly qualified. Agents, attorneys, and marketers attempt to find and negotiate these deals for their athlete clients. Often times, those deals are licensing agreements, or at least contain provisions that […]
Earlier this week, I talked about trademark bullies, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) concern that the practice of bullying is getting out of hand. Would you file the following lawsuit into the category of bullying? The Los Angeles Dodgers is giving Brooklyn Burger a hard time about its use of the classic […]