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If You Thought Copyright Was A Mess On Earth, What Does It Look Like In Space?
Assuming you haven't been under a rock, there's a decent chance that you've seen astronaut Chris Hadfield's rendition of David Bowie's Space Oddity (with the lyrics conveniently changed to skip the whole dying in space part). The video...Show More Summary
Adam Savage On Why Copyright And Trademark Holders Need To Get Over Their Obsession With 'Control'
Reader aster points us to a tested.com video in which Adam Savage talks about copyright issues. I've seen Savage mention on Twitter in the past that he's a closet copyright geek who is very interested in copyright policy, and the conversation...Show More Summary
H&R Block can't plausibly plead confusion from comparative ads
H/T The
Trademark Blog
H&R Block Eastern Enterprises, Inc. v. Intuit, Inc., No.
13-0072-CV-W-FJG (W.D. Mo. May 22, 2013)
An anti-trademark-expansionist twofer: claim against
comparative ad dismissed on the pleadings, and a holding that “confusion” doesn't mean just any kind of confusion. Show More Summary
Cool New Platform For Supporting Artists: Patreon, From Jack Conte
I'm obviously a big fan of crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, but I've always argued that it's just one of many models that content creators can use to succeed today. In fact, for a long time, I've felt that the biggest thing that was missing from Kickstarter was any sort of ongoing payment system. Show More Summary
Modest Proposal: Going Piracy Neutral
Here's an amusing one out of the UK. Nick Henderson has created something of a Swiftian "modest proposal" for people who feel guilty about infringement. Modeled after the idea of carbon offsets to become "carbon neutral," he suggests...Show More Summary
Chicago Blackhawks Fire Reporter Over Silly Old YouTube Videos
When we typically discuss companies coming to blows with content control (aka censorship), the stories tend to be about what would otherwise be obscure wrong-doings going viral on a national or international level. Major automakers concocting horrible advertising around suicide, for instance. Show More Summary
Never steal anything from someone you can't outrun: Warner Bros. defeats infringement claim
Fortres Grand Corporation v. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., No. 3:12-cv-00535 (N.D. Ind. May 16, 2013) McCarthy has said that there’s “surprisingly little” case law on whether a fictional company or product using the same name/brand...Show More Summary
DailyDirt: DIY Junk Food
Is it still junk food if you make it yourself? If you feel guilty about buying junk food and have lots of time on your hands, here are a few links that might inspire you to try recreating some popular snacks at home. Here's a recipe for homemade Cheez-It crackers, which supposedly taste better than the store-bought version. Show More Summary
Lots Of People Don't Turn Off Their Devices When They Fly
I've always been careful about putting my phone into "airplane mode" when flight attendants ask. However, a few years back, for reasons that I've yet to see any explanation for, flight attendants changed the script and started insisting that "flight mode" wasn't enough any more and you had to turn the phone all the way off. Show More Summary
IRS scandal, cont’d: “It was pretty much a proctology exam through your earlobe”
As Ezra Klein says IRS furor has nowhere to go, more and more keeps tumbling out [Althouse, Examiner, flashback, Chronicle of Philanthropy] Background: partisans on both sides have taken shifting positions of convenience on whether nonprofit political advocacy is abuse of the tax laws or free speech worthy of protection. [Dave Weigel] Now if only [...]Show More Summary
There Is No Logic To The Argument That Zach Braff Shouldn't Use Kickstarter
Not this again. Back in 2011, we first discussed why it was silly that some people got upset that someone rich and famous would use Kickstarter, as if the platform was only allowed for unknown artists. That was about Colin Hanks, the son of Tom Hanks, financing a documentary via the site. Show More Summary
Deposition Lojinks
Our last few weeks have been filled with depositions. Mostly we have been defending them. And mostly we have exited the proceedings feeling they were non-events. That is precisely how you want depositions to be when you are defending. Show More Summary
Digital Surveillance Report Exposes Short-Sightedness In UK Law-Making And Shows The Way Forward
If you would believe the UK government, there are two types of people. In the one category, you have law abiding citizens whose every movement, communication and social network activity must be monitored and digitally analyzed to keep them at bay, for their own good. Show More Summary
Native Advertising Is Advertising People Want
In the internet media and advertising worlds these days, there's been a lot of talk about so-called "native advertising." This is advertising that is "native to the medium" or which fits within the framework of the site or service, rather than being off to the side, flashing away, hoping for attention. Show More Summary
Perspective: 1987 Panel On The Press, National Security, And Official State Secrets
As we observe what we can in the Bradley Manning trial, it is difficult not to also consider where the mainstream press and Wikileaks fall on the spectrum of their duties to the public and, if any, to the governments whose secrets they expose. Show More Summary
IRS Says It Will Change Its Policy On Looking At Emails Without A Warrant... At Some Point
You may recall a couple weeks ago the discovery that the IRS believed that it did not need a warrant to view emails over 180 days old. That got a fair bit of attention, and recently, Senator Wyden asked the IRS about this. And, almost immediately, the IRS folded, kind of. Show More Summary
Why Did Law Professors Misunderestimate the Lawsuits against PPACA?
(Nick Rosenkranz) I quite enjoyed reading David Hyman’s new article of this title. It vividly illustrates a point that I tried to make three weeks ago at the Intellectual Diversity Conference at Harvard Law School (Panel 2 – 47:00) — which is that the liberal echo chamber of elite law schools has made them startlingly poor at [...]
Deftones Guitarist: People Who Download Our Music Are Fans, They're Welcome To Do So
Note: I started writing this post up prior to the unfortunate news that longterm Deftones bassist Chi Cheng passed away, after spending much of the past four years in a coma following a car accident. Sad news. One of the points we've...Show More Summary
Documentary On The History Of Apple And Microsoft Show It Was All About Copying, Not Patents
We recently posted about an absolutely ridiculous NY Times op-ed piece in which Pat Choate argued both that patent laws have been getting weaker, and that if we had today's patent laws in the 1970s that Apple and Microsoft wouldn't have survived since bigger companies would just copy what they were doing and put them out of business. Show More Summary
The Volokh Conspiracy: Emory Law Follies 2013 version
(Sasha Volokh) My Emory Law students, for their Follies 2013 show (the best I’ve seen in the four years I’ve been at Emory), have their own take on the Volokh Conspiracy.
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