Once Again, New Life for “My Reincarnation”

Beginning this week and next (check local listings) on PBS and streaming online: From record-breaking crowd-funding, to theaters, to PBS, public acclaim for My Reincarnation has once again given this compelling film renewed life. After an impressive theatrical run, the critically-acclaimed, award-winning documentary was picked-up to make its television premiere on PBSPOV, kicking-off POV’s

Louis Vuitton’s ‘Hangover 2’ Case Knocked Off Without Giving Judge a Headache

A filmmaker’s rights under the First Amendment to use well-known trademarks for artistic and expressive purposes will be protected against a challenge from the trademark holder so long as the use has genuine relevance to the film’s storyline. On June 15, 2012 the District Court for the Southern District of New York, on a motion

Artist Wins Touchdown Against University for his Paintings

An artist’s right to incorporate trademarks in expressive works pits the artist’s fundamental right of freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment, against the desire of a trademark owner to aggressively control the licensing of merchandise based on its trademarks. And when the artwork involves a much-loved college sports team, the tension runs deep.

Indy Film Crosses into 3-D

I Heart Shakey — the first independent family comedy in 3-D — tells the story a 10 year-old Chicago girl’s adventure to keep her dog Shakey, despite her father’s plans. The film has been featured in many articles, including one in the Wall Street Journal, in part as it marks the expansion of 3-D technology

Google Cleared of Java Copyright Infringement

Google Cleared of Java Copyright Infringement: In First Ruling on Copyrightability of APIs, CA Court Finds That Functional Java API Code Is a “Method of Operation” Not Protected By Copyright Law

Google AdWords: A Tough Sell?

By Daniel J. Klein Google’s AdWords program is no stranger to legal controversy, having been the subject of several trademark infringement lawsuits in the past.
News

“Reveal Day” Unveils 1,930 New Domain Name Applications

On Wednesday, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – which oversees the international internet address system — unveiled 1,930 applications it had received for new top-level domain names (TLDs). Dubbed “Reveal Day,” ICANN made public the applications for new domain extensions such as .google, .book, .app, .beer, .bank, .cloud and .buy. The

Decoding Rosetta Stone: Trademark Lessons and Unanswered Questions From The Fourth Circuit’s Decision Regarding Google’s Keyword Advertising Program

On April 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit handed down its decision in Rosetta Stone Ltd. v. Google Inc. At issue in the appeal was whether Google’s sale of “Rosetta Stone” keywords for use in Google’s AdWords advertisements constituted primary (direct) or secondary (contributory/vicarious) trademark infringement or diluted Rosetta Stone’s trademarks.

Nancy E. Wolff & Eleanor M, Lackman Elected Treasurer & Assistant Treasurer, CSUSA

We congratulate CDAS partner Nancy E. Wolff and partner Eleanor M. Lackman. Ms. Wolff was elected to serve as Treasurer of the Copyright Society of the USA, and Ms. Lackman was elected to serve as Assistant Treasurer. For the last two years, Ms. Wolff and Ms. Lackman have served as Secretary and Assistant Secretary respectively.

Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP Named a “Top Ranked Law Firm”

As featured in New York Magazine, Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP has been selected as one of the New York Area’s Top Ranked Law Firms. To compile their list of the top U.S. law firms, Martindale-Hubbell analyzed their database of over one million lawyers in over 160 countries and identified Tri-State firms in which