The pandemic relief and economic stimulus legislation that hurriedly passed Congress at the tail end of 2020, named the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (“the Act”), resulted in major changes to American trademark and copyright law. Specifically, the Act included three intellectual property bills: the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020, the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims
The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 is Enacted
On December 27, 2020, Congress signed the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (the “Act”), which had rare bipartisan support, into law.
The Act makes substantive changes to the Lanham (Trademark) Act that will better protect the relevant consuming public from confusion regarding the source of goods and services, and implement procedures that the
Animal Rescue Groups May Proceed With Unfair Competition Claims
An update from Jennifer Madaras, one of the firm’s summer associates:
A California federal judge has ruled that two animal rescue groups can proceed with unfair competition claims against numerous defendants accused of misusing the word “rescues” when advertising dogs they purchased from breeders and puppy mills.
The plaintiffs asserted claims under both state and
Does AI Infringe? Do You?
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
Coachella/Filmchella Dispute Ends
Over the past year, including in my blog post last month, we’ve traced the progression of the Coachella/Filmchella lawsuit, which was scheduled for trial earlier this month. Approximately a week before trial, the parties settled the case and the Court entered a stipulated order as a result. The order contains a permanent injunction prohibiting
Coachella/Filmchella Dispute Headed to Trial
The Coachella/Filmchella trademark infringement case, which we have previously covered here, here, and here, is headed to trial in California this October. Last week, the federal judge assigned to the case denied Coachella’s partial summary judgment motion and ruled that a jury, not the judge, must ultimately decide whether the Filmchella founder
Update: Brand Enforcement Challenges
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.
Send a C&D, or Just Sue?
When evaluating how to address what you believe constitutes infringement, false advertising, or unfair competition, the decision to send a cease and desist letter or to file a lawsuit becomes an important one. Is there a right approach in each instance? No. There are pros and cons to each and, in a typical lawyer answer,
The Looming (Brand Enforcement) Blackout
There are over 330 million domain names supporting over 1.8 billion websites having a unique hostname on the internet right now. But who owns each of these? There are many reasons one may want to identify the owner or operator of a particular domain or website. In addition to law enforcement and cyber security, owners
Social Media Influencers and Infringement Concerns
If anyone was still unsure, Kylie Jenner recently proved that a tweet or post from a social media influencer can have a profound impact. Accordingly, companies are increasingly collaborating with social media influencers to promote their brand. This partnership has become quite lucrative for both parties. For example, a recent Forbes article found that influencers