Are you a musical artist looking to protect your work? If you’ve ever sought copyright protection of your songs before 2021, you may remember feeling the burn of paying to register each song individually. However, there was news early last year from the Copyright Office which can help ease the financial burden of protecting your … Read more
After moving to Wisconsin, I came to appreciate many things about Wisconsin culture, including the near-universal adoration of Kwik Trip. After a few visits to Kwik Trip, I realized that Kwik Trip was something I had experienced long before ever having been to Wisconsin. In my native state of Iowa, Kwik Trip had been present … Read more
For creative people, copyright is a powerful concept. US law gives authors of fixed works with some element of creativity rights over their own creations, be they literary works, works of visual art, etc. This right allows the authors of these works to decide who is allowed to copy their work, and how, amongst … Read more
Product placement, by which I mean the placement of branded products in films and TV shows, is a prevalent feature in media. As a viewer, I appreciate when product placement is used (in admittedly rare instances) to drive the plot. As a trademark attorney (since I can’t seem to turn it off), I appreciate the … Read more
Last week I talked about how clients say they don’t know the difference between trademarks and copyrights. Then I didn’t explain what it was. I am here to solve that issue. A trademark is something that customers use to help with things like: “Hey, I bought that thingy before, and I liked it. I want … Read more
At the first meeting with a potential client, they often (somewhat shamefacedly) say, “I’m not really sure if I need a trademark or copyright or something else. I guess that I don’t know the difference.” They say it like of course, they should know the difference. Why wouldn’t they know? I mean everyone but them … Read more
We often have clients asking about using weak versus strong marks. This usually comes up because they want to use a descriptive mark and are asking why they shouldn’t. There are legal arguments to be made, but I find the most useful framing is about how the client wants to spend their money. And this … Read more
On January 1, 2022, copyrighted works from 1926 will enter the US public domain. That means that anyone can copy, share, and build upon that work, but it doesn’t mean the public can do the same for things that are already derived from the original. What do I mean by that? Well, the first Winnie-the-Pooh … Read more
It’s a Wonderful Life is by far my favorite Christmas movie. It might just be the overall sentimentality of the film that does it for me, or it might have something to do with me playing Ernie in my high school’s production of it (I promise I looked a little less grainy all those years … Read more
After last week’s post featured Lola celebrating Thanksgiving in style, it seems only fitting for this post to cover the next phase of the holiday season. That’s right, we’re talking Black Friday and Cyber Monday! Given the commercial success associated with these two days each year, you may wonder whether “Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday” … Read more