Copyright registration does not protect the concept of a game. It does protect its literary and pictorial expression, however, namely the appearance of the game, the board, cards, etc and the content of any instructions or published material packaged with the game against someone creating substantially similar materials. This assumes the registration refers to these …
Monthly Archives: April 2010
USING OTHER’S IMAGES
The ILLINOIS RIGHT OF PUBLICITY ACT (765 ILCS 1075) provides that, “the public use or holding out of an individual’s identity (which is defined in the Act as “any attribute of an individual that serves to identify that individual to an ordinary, reasonable viewer or listener, including but not limited to (i) name, (ii) signature, …
NAMING YOUR ROCK BAND AND KEEPING IT LEGAL
It was reported recently in the Wall Street Journal that former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones was having difficulty finding a name for his new band. Apparently, there is a shortage of good band names out there, and believe it or not, the term, “counterculture,” now has a new meaning as the prior users …
CYBERWAR (Cont.)
On May 30, 2007 in a blog post titled “Cyberwar” I wrote about a distributed denial-of-service attack launched against Estonia. According to an article published on February 19, 2010 in the New York Times, investigators into the online attacks on Google and reportedly more than 30 other companies including Intel, Adobe and Yahoo, which involved …
THE IPAD & WHY YOU SHOULD DO A TRADEMARK SEARCH
“Remember that prior to filing an application to protect a product name, logo or design, a search should be undertaken to determine if a mark or design similar to the one that you are seeking to protect has already been applied for or registered.” Also, because the owner of a federally registered trademark or service …
PARODY AND TRANSFORMATIVE USE
I attended a public discussion about music sampling, fair use and transformative use. So I would like to take the opportunity to carry on that discussion on the web. The U.S. Copyright Office advises, “One of the rights accorded to the owner of copyright is the right to reproduce or to authorize others to reproduce …
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (ALT VERSION)
The quintessential Christmas movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life” provides an excellent opportunity to understand the current credit crisis. Mr. Henry Potter operated a successful commercial bank in Bedford Falls. His lending practices were judicious and his institution was well capitalized, surviving the Great Depression. Mr. Potter, at one point in the movie, offers a position …
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY-AMERICA’S GROWTH INDUSTRY
During his campaign for the Presidency, Barack Obama, at a San Francisco fundraiser, referred to working class voters as follows, “So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their …
E-MAIL & YOUR EMPLOYER
It’s tempting, eyes glazing over, spending 8-10 hours at your desk in your cubicle, to want to check your personal e-mail one or two times during the day or to research that new restaurant you are thinking of dining out at on Saturday night or even check out pictures of Eliot Spitzer’s call girl. Beware! …