The United States Government is the largest single purchaser of goods and services in the world, spending over $550 Billion dollars a year. It has long been the policy of the United States to purchase buy American. Indeed, the Buy American Act, which promotes domestic purchasing of goods and services, was signed into law
The Biden administration brings with it a changing of the guard at the United Stated Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). As is customary for at least the last several decades, the USPTO’s leaders have resigned at or near the end of each presidential term. President Trump’s appointees have followed this custom. Indeed, both the
For the first time in nearly three years, the USPTO will be adjusting its fees for Trademark Registrations and for filing fees related to proceedings involving the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). Some fee increases are minimal (e.g., only about 10% increase to file an ex parte appeal). However, other fee increases are substantial,
The U.S. Copyright Office recently called for changes to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). Congress enacted 17 U.S.C. § 512 of the DCMA to balance the threat of liability for copyright infringement on online service providers with “the threat of rampant, low-barrier online infringement.” This was accomplished with the use of “safe harbors” for
Artificial Intelligence, commonly referred to as AI, is increasingly being used to perform tasks previously only capable of being done by humans. For example, some companies are pioneering automated journalism, allowing smart software to analyze data, match relevant phrases in a story template and put together a narrative that can be published. AI is
Happy Halloween! It is the day (or week, for some) of the year where we venture out pretending to be something we are not. Some may choose to go for a classic costume like a ghost or witch. However, others want to dress up as their favorite character from a TV or movie. But these
SCOTUS has finally resolved the copyright registration debate but in doing so has emphasized a statute of limitations issue of which we should all be aware. This post follows up on my colleague’s prior posts (and here) regarding when a copyright holder can properly file a copyright infringement lawsuit.
Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §
We live in an era where news, information, and trends move very quickly. Words, phrases, or ideas that were obscure or non-existent yesterday can be the top trending story tomorrow. These overnight trends are now routinely used by opportunists in trademark applications. But trademarks are meant to be used to identify the source of and
The General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, took effect May 25, 2018. As predicted, the GDPR has complicated access to WHOIS information (commonly used to look up the contact information for website domains for, among other things, stopping others from infringing IP rights) and given ICANN (the corporation that manages WHOIS data) a headache.
We do it all the time, but is it legal? Maybe. Maybe not.
Embedding content from one source, e.g., a website, into another source, e.g., another website, is not uncommon. News sites embed photographs from Instagram, twitter messages, and videos into their content. Businesses embed videos and photographs of their products into their websites. Embedding
