Happy Spring
It is a day of beginnings. What will you start today?
Only Three Fairs in the World
Jeff likes to say, “There are only three “fairs” in the world: The county fair, the state fair, and the World’s Fair.” However clever that is, in copyright law, we also have fair use. I’ve been getting asked a lot of forms of, “If I do X, am I doing something wrong with someone else’s … Read more
So That’s Why It Says That
The Food and Drug Administration (along with the FTC and FCC) regulates the claims that dietary supplements can make for their products. Dietary supplements are those things that people take to enhance their health but aren’t drugs. If the substance is “intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease” or … Read more
Top Marks For Serving Goods
Companies use words, designs, logos, colors, sounds and smells to help customers find and remember the company’s wares. If you want to buy a cold, caffeinated, carbonated beverage, you may choose a distinctively shaped bottle with cursive writing. If you are looking for tax preparation services that has its own online software, you may choose … Read more
That’s Some Pig
In order to obtain a trademark registration, you have to show your mark actually being used on the goods or services being claimed in the application. It’s called providing a specimen of use. Sometimes, that is really easy. Nike claims their “Swoosh” on shoes, and there it is on the side of the shoe (and … Read more
Talking to Potted Plants
I have had a few people tell me lately that I am a “good networker” and ask what groups I am a part of and what events I go to. I reeled off a few of them, but upon further reflection, I didn’t help those people by doing that. I should have told them that … Read more
But…But, It Wasn’t Me
We discussed infringement last week, but what we didn’t say was this is “direct infringement.” This is when the party who is held responsible is the one who actually engaged in infringing activities. OK, that makes sense, but you’re thinking, “If you are saying that, then there is something else? Someone can be held responsible … Read more
In the Fringe
Infringement is a fancy word that pretty much means “used without permission.” We talked about what copyright owners had the right to do. That means others don’t have the right to do those with the copyrighted item without the owner’s permission. If they use it without permission – ding, ding, ding = Infringement! For example, … Read more
Creativity and Control is Baked in to Copyright
Copyright is a form of intellectual property law. That means it protects the intangible aspects of a creative product that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. Specifically, it protects original works of authorship, which is defined pretty broadly to include literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer … Read more
B is for Benefit
On November 27, 2017, Wisconsin started to allow businesses to be “benefit corporations” as a business entity thanks to the new corporate statutory Chapter 204. A benefit corporation is a corporation formed in accordance with ch. 180 that states in its articles that it is a benefit corporation and has a purpose of creating general public benefit. … Read more