When I wrote last week about the legal issues raised by picture-taking monkeys, I was about to email the agency that appeared to be claiming rights in those photos to ask for comment, but held off because I suspected its…
Here's an excellent question (via the Legal Satyricon): if a monkey steals your camera and takes a bunch of pictures with it, who (if anyone) owns the rights to the pictures? After three days of hanging out with some crested…
Turns out Samuel Clemens invented more than Tom Sawyer: Actually, although it does look like a bra clasp, which is what this report assumed it was, the Patent and Trademark Office says that Clemens' idea was for a device that could be used to…
The Hollywood Reporter law blog reports that the Second Circuit has rejected claims by Robert Cabell that Adam Sandler, and the other people responsible for the film "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," stole Cabell's idea. We now know that the answer…
As you may recall, Round 1 of IHOP v. IHOP began last year, when International House of Pancakes sued International House of Prayer for trademark dilution. That case was filed in federal court in Los Angeles, but was dismissed in December, reportedly…
I suppose it should not be surprising that Sarah Palin has filed an application to register her name as a trademark. But having learned that, it is not at all surprising that the application was rejected because she forgot to…
Not only do the former members of Guns N' Roses not get along, Axl Rose even hates the cartoon version of Slash that appears in Guitar Hero III. Axl sued Activision this week, claiming that it had fraudulently induced him…
TechCrunch reports that Facebook, Inc., which apparently operates some sort of social-networking website, has been sued by Lamebook, LLC. Lamebook, which accepts and reposts funny and lame stuff users come across on Facebook — that is, it's sort of the FAILBlog…
"Like many," this opinion begins, "Beverly Stayart was curious about what she would find when she put her name into a search engine." And like many, Beverly Stayart was not happy with what she found. Unlike anybody else, however, Beverly…
Taiwan's Intellectual Property Office said it had disqualified Wu Chih-wei and asked him to return the medal and prize money he got for winning the "Protect Copyright" poster-design contest, after Wu admitted he had copied the design he submitted. "The…