A federal district court judge last week threw out a lawsuit brought by Mattel Bratz® rival MGA. The suit accused Mattel of anti-competitive conduct since August of 2010. Judge David O. Carter tossed MGA’s suit because it alleged the same facts underlying MGA’s claims to the Bratz® trademarks in defending an earlier case against Mattel. (...) [Read More]
Monthly Archives: October 2011
Facebook of Sex — Trademark Infringement or Parody?
October 23, 2011
Facebook has sued Various, Inc., the owner of Penthouse, adultfriendfinder.com and other adult-themed websites, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, for trademark infringement based upon Various’ creation of website called Facebook of Sex with the URL: facebookofsex.com. Various has defended the name and the website saying, among other things, (...) [Read More]
It’s Not Too Late To Protect Your Brand From An Unsavory Double Entendre
October 19, 2011
”…in bed.” Maybe it was just us, but tacking those two little words on to the end of a perfectly innocuous sentence turned the fortune in every Chinese takeout fortune cookie my friends and I have had since high school into racy innuendo. The same thing is about to happen to internet addresses. That’s because (...) [Read More]
10th Circuit Dish Network insurance case reinforces the need to read your policy closely……very closely.
October 19, 2011
Well-known patent troll Ron Katz sued Dish Network in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleging infringement of 23 patents by Dish Network’s customer service telephone system pay-per-view ordering features. Dish had five commercial insurance policies in place all of which provided for defense costs in lawsuits claiming “advertising Injury.” As (...) [Read More]
Meet Roy Craig — Baltimore’s Patent “Lawyer of the Year”!
October 17, 2011
Our very own Roy Craig was named a “Best Lawyer” in two categries: Patent Law and Patent Litigation by BestLawyers.com. In typical fashion, when Roy was asked to comment on the honor, he deflected and heaped praise upon the entire IP team. Way to go, Roy! Read how proud the team is of Roy and (...) [Read More]
Maryland Lawyers for the Arts meets with Paraguayan Journalists about IPR at Ober|Kaler
October 13, 2011
What’s IPR you ask? Intellectual property rights. The U.S. Department of State once again asked lawyers from MLA to meet with a delegation of journalists and media lawyers from Paraguay. The Paraguayans are interested in how lawyers in the United States assist artists and record labels in halting piracy and counterfeiting. While the U.S. music (...) [Read More]
Is HIPAA privacy compliance required when unencrypted Personal Health Information is lost on a train?
October 13, 2011
A lawyer lost a portable hard drive containing protected health information (PHI) on a commuter train, reports The Baltimore Sun. What compliance is required? From the Sun article, the hard drive, while complicated and technologically difficult to access, was not encrypted. Loss of unencrypted data by healthcare professional or company triggers compliance under the HIPAA Privacy (...) [Read More]
A Hater’s Guide to Golan v. Holder
October 7, 2011
At first I hated the idea of restoring copyrights in public domain works. This week the US Supreme Court heard arguments in Golan v. Holder taking me back to when Section 514 was first implemented. I hated the idea even though I am pro-copyright. I hated the idea despite my feeling that on some level (...) [Read More]
Heavy Seas- a delicious case study
October 7, 2011
I just read Baltimore homeboy Hugh Sisson’s interview in this week’s Baltimore City Paper. His tale of two branding strategies is a great case study. And it reminded me how much I admire Hugh’s agile navigation when the business changed. My first studio with D.S.Bakker was the old Sanitary Laundry (now sadly gone) at 2703 Sisson Street. The neighborhood (...) [Read More]
Steve Jobs: Farewell to a Visionary
October 6, 2011
The image is from the Apple.com website today. Steve founded Apple® Computer in 1976, and launched the first successful personal computer (the Macintosh®) in 1984. I was working as an electrical engineer at the time and remember the incredible buzz that it created. Since then we have all enjoyed the iPod®, iPad®, iPhone®, and Pixar®. (...) [Read More]
