Alt Legal IP News – Issue #82
Hannah Samendinger | April 04, 2018
Check out our latest episode of Alt Trademarks. This episode features Lauren D. Shinn of WIPO. We discuss her role at WIPO and recent updates to the UDRP.
In the Pipeline
– Apple wants you to be able to fight zombies and hang glide while in their self-driving cars.
– The European Commission announced that EU copyright rules will not apply in the UK post-Brexit.
– Australia’s innovation patent may be on its way out.
Watch and Listen
– Netflix has designed their own typeface, which will save the company millions in licensing fees. This, along with personalized visuals, will help strengthen the brand’s aesthetic.
– The same week that an appeals court said Adnan Syed should get a new trial, TTAB refused to register “Serial” as a trademark.
– The Weeknd is seeking to stop a realtor, who has a history of “shady” business, from registering “Starboy” as a trademark. See the proceeding here.
– This article shows how a hypothetical dollar trickles down within Spotify and how those amounts vary if the artist is repped by a label versus self-releasing their music.
A Seat at the Table
– The ABA’s “Landslide” Publication is focusing on women in IP for their March/April issue. Check out a few favorites below.
– While the legal field is slowly diversifying, women of color remain largely “invisible” but there are ways to open more seats at the table.
– “Cat Ladies, Quilters, and Creativity:” How the Patent Act and Copyright Act, while facially gender neutral, reinforce persistent gender disparities.
– An application to register #MeToo has been refused for being merely descriptive and failing to function as a trademark.
Odds and Ends
– In the ongoing patent infringement battle between Bumble and Tinder, Bumble has filed a countersuit, alleging fraud and trade secret violations amongst other claims.
– The legal counsel for Arby’s and Warby Parker allowed their teams to have some April Fool’s branding fun.
– In the latest development in the Oracle v. Google case, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that “Google’s use of the Java API packages was not fair.” After almost 7.5 years, the court is heading back to federal court, with Oracle seeking $8.8 billion.
– Tattoo law may be one step closer to being codified. A New York federal judge refused to dismiss the ongoing case over Lebron James’ tattoos in “NBA 2K.”