Patents, trademarks and copyrights had all settled in over the years and worked very well to protect the objects they pertained to. Business used to be conducted face to face and on a more personal level so there was almost an unwritten code of honor and respect when it came to taking ideas that were […]
Widerman Malek Law Blog
A Properly Done Copyright makes David able to Fight ‘Big Business’ Goliath
There has been a lot in the news lately about big businesses suing each other over patents and copyrights. The numbers the plaintiffs are looking for in the cases are sometimes in the billions of dollar range, those are staggering figures for most of us even to imagine. These numbers are sought not only to […]
The Invisible Line Between Copyrights and Infringements
There is a very fine line between what can be used and what should not be copied from the internet. Most people follow a general rule which is “if I can see it, I can use it”. However, when it comes to intellectual property and copyright right protected innovations, people must know where to stop. […]
Food for Thought: Images on the Internet
In this day and age where anyone can write a blog or put up a website many use images found on the internet to use to make their blog more interesting. Many times these bloggers or website owners will then be shut down after getting a threatening letter from an attorney over the use of […]
An Intellectual Property April Fools Prank
It’s hard to image how any intellectual property news or trademark law can be part of an April Fool’s joke, but the anarcho-capitalists of Keene, NH were able to pull it off, if even for just an hour or two. Free Keene is a loosely organized group of self-titled anarchists, libertarians and “voluntaryists” who openly […]
Blurred Lines
In 2013, Robin Thicke, along with co-writers Pharrell Williams and T.I., released a song called “Blurred Lines”. It quickly became a smash hit and jumped to the top of the billboard charts. Thicke received three Grammy nominations, sold over 6.5 million tracks and has a full concert season scheduled. While clubbers and party-goers were dancing […]
Timing is Everything!
In 1923, a silent film titled Safety Last! was released. Although this film is rarely seen or even discussed anymore, it is still considered one of the top 100 films ever created by the American Film Institute. In it was a scene where a young child, played by Harold Lloyd, is seen dangling from the […]
The Flap over Flappy Bird
First it was Angry Birds. Then it was Candy Crush. Just recently, Flappy Birds became “THE” game to download and play. Grown adults were taking to twitter to complain about how addicting the game is and how they’d rather play the game than make dinner for their children. Children were failing homework because they’d rather […]
Why Dumb Starbucks Made A Dumb Trademark Move
When the Dumb Starbucks store showed up late last week in Los Angeles, there was a lot of media attention on it. One defense that I heard in the media was that it was a parody of a Starbucks store and, therefore, it was probably ok. That’s not exactly the case.
GoldieBlox Sues Beastie Boys First Over Use of “Girls” Song
The Beastie Boys are receiving a bad reputation after suing toy company GoldieBlox for copyright and trademark infringement of their song “Girls”, but apparently they were not the first to strike. GoldieBlox sued the Beastie Boys first! The trouble all began last month when the toy company GoldieBlox launched a highly successful YouTube video using […]
