Intellectual Property

Photographers’ Rights or Transformative Art?

Sep 27 2022
A selection of British newspapers featuring the musician Prince

Are you “Team Warhol” or are you “Team Goldsmith”? Well, that probably depends on whether you are a photographer who is interested in maintaining strong copyrights to your wares. It appears that the U.S. Copyright Office (CO) is on Team …

Posted in Intellectual Property, LLG News

Can I Trademark This?

Aug 11 2022
TRADEMARK Concept. Chart with keywords and icons. White office desk

As a business and intellectual property attorney, one of the most common questions I get is “Can I trademark this?” And they are referring to their business name or to a design they intend to use as a logo. The …

Posted in Intellectual Property, LLG News

Flag on the Play: Penalties for Unlicensed Trademark Use

Jan 25 2022
NFL logo on field is trademark protected intellectual property

Many businesses use references to current events in their advertising, promotions, and social media to keep advertisements timely and better connect with audiences. One such upcoming opportunity is Team USA’s participation in the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Another, which businesses take …

Posted in Intellectual Property, LLG News

Intellectual Property Issues and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

Aug 09 2021
multicolored programming code on black screen

What are NFTs? NFTs are digital cryptographic assets that represent real-world objects like art, music, in-game items, and videos. They are bought and sold online and uniquely encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptos. The unique code certifies …

Posted in Intellectual Property, Legal Watch

Patent Protections: Wright or Wrong?

May 20 2021
Wright Brothers postage stamp

Were the famous brothers patent trolls? Or just entrepreneurs trying to be compensated for their hard work and ingenuity? The 115th Anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first issued patent, U.S. 821,393 entitled “Flying Machine” is upon us. Orville and Wilbur …

Posted in Intellectual Property

Spinning Out of Control: Peloton’s Attempts to Cancel a Trademark Bully

Mar 10 2021
women on stationary bikes in spin class

Have you attended a spin class at your local gym or health club? Or are you immersed in the more timely, sanitary home-spinning craze? Have you related either of these activities to a company called Mad Dogg Athletics, Inc.?   Likely not. However, Mad Dogg owns several US trademark registrations, including Registration No. …

Posted in Intellectual Property, Legal Watch

How Scammers Target Your Employees to Steal Your Trade Secrets

Feb 25 2021
man in office on computer

Employee Training and Education Is Key To Avoiding Online Scams What are Trade Secrets? For confidential information to be classified as a trade secret, it must not be generally known (i.e. it is only known and used by you) or …

Posted in Intellectual Property, Legal Watch

5 Tips — Protecting The Photographer’s Copyrights Online

Nov 23 2020
Photographer shooting photos in the woods

Photographers are especially vulnerable to theft of their work. Unfortunately, artists of all types have their work wrongfully copied and used without their consent on a regular basis, and in this age of the Internet and Instagram, photographers can be …

Posted in Intellectual Property, Legal Watch

Copyright Registration For Blogs and Social Media Posts Just Got Easier

Sep 11 2020
person looking at phone and laptop screens

U.S. Copyright Office Issues New Rule for “Group Registration of Short Online Literary Works” (GRTX) Are you a prodigious blogger?  Are you an influencer?  Do your social media posts garner lots of “likes”? This is because your content is great, …

Posted in Intellectual Property

Always Read the Terms of Service on Social Media

Apr 29 2020
group of people on phones reveiwing social media terms of service

By Posting to a Social Media Site, You Agree to its Terms of Service While social media was prevalent before the COVID-19 crisis, it has become even more vital as a primary means of interacting with friends/family, current customers, and …

Posted in COVID-19 Updates, Intellectual Property, Legal Watch