It’s Girl Scout Cookie Time! The arrival of those industrious young women and the delicious products they peddle is always a welcome time of year at our home. We have been waiting for a year to get our Samoas fix. This year we scoured the product list, but no Samoas. Our astute Girl Scout representative
Intellectual Property
Dilly Dilly on Infringement Demand
In its recent campaign, Bud Light recognizes true friends of the Crown by raising a cold adult malted beverage and chanting Dilly Dilly. The marketing slogan was created apparently coming out of nonsense and fun. In its campaign, Bud Light seems to want people to celebrate with a lighthearted toast of Dilly Dilly and escape…
General Mills Not Cheery about TTAB Ruling
General Mills filed an application to register the color yellow appearing as the uniform background on a box of Cheerios. It contended that consumers have come to identify the color yellow specifically with Cheerios, when used in connection with the goods. It submitted survey evidence and expert reports to support the claim of acquired distinctiveness. …
Offensive Trademarks are Protected Under the First Amendment
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a provision of federal trademark law banning offensive trademarks from federal registration is unconstitutional. Matal v. Tam, No. 15-1293 (U.S. June 19, 2017). The case concerned a dance rock band’s application for a federal trademark registration of the band’s name, “The Slants.” “Slants” is a derogatory term for…
Supreme Court Restricts Patent Infringement Venue, Upsets Eastern District of Texas “Rocket Docket”
On May 22, the Supreme Court tightened the reigns on where a patent infringement case with a corporate defendant can be filed, uprooting nearly three decades of common practice. TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Food Brands Grp. LLC, No. 16-341 (May 22, 2017).
The specific statute for patent infringement venue states that a defendant may…
Supreme Court Reverses and Remands on Award of $399 Million to Apple
On December 6, 2016 the Supreme Court ruled on the nearly $400 million dollar damages award to Apple, Inc. adding yet another chapter in the nearly five year-long case between the technology giant and a competitor, Samsung Electronics, Co. in Samsung Electronics Co., LTD., et al., v. Apple Inc., 580 U.S. __ (2016). When…
Protecting Your Brand 101
Trademarks and service marks (collectively, “trademarks”) are source identifiers or brand names. For example, JUST DO IT ® identifies a brand of athletic clothing and gear by Nike. A trademark is essentially a word, phrase, symbol, design or combination thereof that is used to identify and distinguish the source of one party’s goods or services…
Copyright: The Basics 101
Copyright law protects original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium. Although the phrase may seem complicated, copyrights are perhaps the most basic and widespread of the intellectual property rights. Copyright law affects our daily lives. However, copyright’s effects are most apparent in the way they negatively impact everyday life – as in the…
Top Tips for Copyright
- You obtain copyright protection in a work simply by creating it. In order to sue for copyright infringement, however, you must register the work with the Copyright Office. The timing of your registration can greatly impact your rights against a potential infringer.
- If a work is registered prior to the alleged infringement, the copyright owner
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Patented Invention Spotlight – Aqua Dam by Layfield Group
The City of Baton Rouge and the surrounding areas have been struck by devastating floods. Thousands were stranded. The roadways to their homes are flooded and most impassable. Flooding is not new to Louisiana. Just over ten years ago, the state experienced one of the most devastating natural disasters on record with Hurricane Katrina. Since…