Posted on December 14th, 2011 by Derek Bambauer
America is moving to censor the Internet. The PROTECT IP and Stop Online Piracy Acts have received considerable attention in the legal and tech world; SOPA’s markup in the House occurs tomorrow. I’m not opposed to blacklisting Internet sites on principle; however, I think that thoughtful procedural protections are vital to doing so in a [...]
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Filed under: Blogging, Copyright, Court Decisions, Digital Media, Filtering, First Amendment, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, ISP, Media, Music, Peer Production, Politics, RIAA, Scholarship, Search Engines, Social Networking, Software, Trademarks
Posted on August 2nd, 2011 by William McGeveran
I was quoted in a story in the newest ABA Journal — the lawyers’ club newsletter, essentially — discussing the fight over the term “urban homesteading.” The phrase refers to a sustainability movement of folks who try to raise and grow their own food and rely on alternative energy and other environmentally-oriented practices. This is [...]
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Filed under: Media, Trademarks
Posted on July 21st, 2011 by William McGeveran
Kim Kardashian, possessor of the world’s most famous Armenian-American posterior, has sued Old Navy over a television commercial featuring an actress with an uncanny resemblance to her. You can read a Washington Post account of the suit, and watch the ad, here, and read New York Daily News coverage here. Celebrity impersonators can be a [...]
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Filed under: Impersonation, Media, Privacy, Trademarks
Posted on May 15th, 2011 by William McGeveran
Because it was only noted in a few news outlets (like this and this), I doubted it, but then I went and looked at the Patent and Trademark Office trademark search site myself, and it is true: Disney has filed an application for trademark rights over the name “Seal Team 6.” This is, of course, [...]
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Filed under: First Amendment, Trademarks
Posted on May 13th, 2011 by Tim Armstrong
Teaching Civil Procedure and Copyright together again during the just concluded semester, which I have not done since 2007, made for a study in contrasts. As we teach it at Cincinnati, the second semester Civ Pro course is an in-depth examination of some of the trickiest and most important provisions to be found in the [...]
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Filed under: Cincinnati, civil procedure, Copyright, Education & Copyright, Internet & Society, Law School, Patents, RIAA, Trademarks
Posted on May 12th, 2011 by William McGeveran
A Utah federal court has dismissed a complaint by Koch Industries — the giant privately-held conglomerate of the politically controversial billionaire Koch brothers — over a prank press release issued in the company’s name. (EFF blogged about the court’s opinion and also posted a PDF of it here.) The dispute began when anonymous pranksters calling [...]
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Filed under: Anonymity, First Amendment, Impersonation, Trademarks
Posted on April 2nd, 2010 by Derek Bambauer
No, it’s not the Butler Bulldogs trying to mess with the Spartans, though Michigan State is involved. I’m presenting The Hacker’s Aegis (forthcoming in the Emory Law Journal) at the Junior Scholars in IP Workshop at MSU’s College of Law. My friend Dave Levine has a paper on trade secrets here, and there’s a wealth [...]
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Filed under: Blogging, Copyright, Law School, Media, Patents, Scholarship, Security, Trademarks
Posted on March 1st, 2010 by Derek Bambauer
My friend and Berkman colleague Oliver Day and I have just released a new paper, The Hacker’s Aegis. It argues that intellectual property law has been hacked to block socially valuable research on software security. Moreover, we contend that software vulnerability data challenges existing assumptions, and scholarship, on how information about improvements to works protected [...]
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Filed under: badware, Berkman, Computer crime, Copyright, Digital Media, Encryption, Internet & Society, Law School, Microsoft, Patents, Peer Production, RIAA, Scholarship, Security, Software, Trademarks
Posted on February 11th, 2010 by Derek Bambauer
Domino’s has just started a new ad that makes fun of Papa John’s for its defense in a false advertising case: challenged by Pizza Hut over its claim that “Better Ingredients” mean Papa John’s has “Better Pizza,” PJ responded that the statements were “puffery.” Puffery sounds like something related to the Big Bad Wolf, but [...]
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Filed under: civil procedure, Court Decisions, Digital Media, First Amendment, Internet & Society, Media, Trademarks, Video
Posted on November 15th, 2009 by Derek Bambauer
… according to The Onion. If my calculations are correct, I owe the Evil Empire approximately $9268.65 plus statutory interest. Coincidentally, this is roughly the same amount as an order of nachos and a domestic beer costs at the new Yankee Stadium. “Interactive media is the next wave,” Cashman said. “With our upcoming mobile phone [...]
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Filed under: Court Decisions, Internet & Society, Media, Trademarks