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
Of all the TV attorneys out there, Jackie Chiles is my favorite. Close second, of course, is Denny Crane, but Jackie certainly takes the top prize. Jokes aside, the title of today’s post is “Your Face, is My Case,” because we’re talking about likeness and image rights, sometimes collectively referred to as “personality rights.” From … Read more
I called the customer service line for my utility provider the other day and had a moment of confusion when I was addressed as “Samuel J. Kavalier.” The name I heard was not “Sam,” the name by which friends and family have known me for as long as I can remember, and the name I … Read more
Royalties, the Net v. Gross Profit Distinction, and Dolly Parton. Part 2 Welcome back to the Dolly Parton party. Last week we picked up where we left our heroes last week – struggling with the tension between artistic collaboration and the need to delineate legal ownership. This second installment deals with the potential subjectivity of … Read more
Unsurprisingly, I find myself often being asked to describe what “intellectual property” is. I, all too often, find myself giving a description that is not all that helpful. If you are asking what “intellectual property” is, then saying “intangible business assets” isn’t going to get us much closer to understanding. One way that I have … Read more
We want you to start your 2021 armed with knowledge! Strong Foundations is a presentation series to help owners of companies build their knowledge of key legal concepts and then use this knowledge to grow their companies on those strong foundations. This first series will discuss intellectual property including trademarks, copyrights, patents, trade secrets and contracts relating to … Read more