Alt Legal IP News – Issue #125
Justin Wickersham | February 05, 2019
Battle It Out
– Expensify is claiming another company infringed their trademark and wanted to profit off of Expensify’s Super Bowl ad.
– Burger King in Sweden revamped their menus to troll McDonald’s.
– Here are some lessons from McDonald’s global trademark battle.
– Columbia Sportswear’s patent battle has morphed into a nasty 6-year legal dispute that now includes a $20 million racketeering lawsuit.
Did You Hear That? Did You See That?
– Netflix is accused of using footage of Osho, a controversial guru, in Wild Wild Country without permission.
– It is the golden age of television, and the high demand for TV shows is changing how the industry handles their intellectual property.
– How good are you at identifying registered sound marks?
Big Names
– Michael Render, aka Killer Mike from Run the Jewels, recently explored “white gang privilege” as it relates to branding, but he may want to speak with a trademark attorney.
– Marilyn Monroe’s estate is pursuing trademark infringement claims, alleging merchandise is confusingly similar to products licensed by the estate.
– Campbell’s Soup received a trademark registration for “Chunky,” pointing to some interesting evidence of distinctiveness in their application.
Odds and Ends
– What can a Japanese patent tell us about a potentially backward-compatible PlayStation?
– The New York Public Library and the Data Conservation Laboratory are teaming up to digitize the Copyright Office’s historical records.
– Artists bringing lawsuits against the creators of Fortnite may rely on rights of publicity.
– Check out this deep dive on how a streetwear brand took a lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court.