Do You Ever Notice Copyright / Trademark Infringement? Does It Bother You?
You’re missing out if you haven’t visited Regretsy—a blog that for the last year or two has found humor in products sold, and how said products are sold, on Etsy.com, a Web store that features (allegedly) handmade and vintage goods. Among Regretsy’s 30-some categories is Copyright Infringements, which points to alleged violations among Etsy sellers and sometimes notes if the sellers have been called out and, if so, how they handled it.
In recent months, some legal bloggers have been on patrol for trademark violations as well. In February, Peerviews Inc., the parent company of TechnoLawyer sent Lawyerist a take-down notice over its use of “Small Law” in a headline (Peerviews owns trademarks on “SmallLaw and BigLaw”) and demanded it remove that post. Lawyerist didn’t comply, and in March, Lawyerist sued TechnoLawyer, saying those two trademarks are generic and should never have been registered.
This intellectual property policing has us wondering: Do you often notice what you believe is copyright / trademark infringement? Does it bother you when you see it? Or do you think existing intellectual property laws are lagging behind the times?
Answer in the comments.
Read the answers to last week’s question: Bring Your ‘A’ Game, Readers: What Are the Most Annoying Business Clichés?
Featured answer:
Posted by The Schmave: “I was once on a business call with a client, and my family kept track of all the clichés I used unwittingly. After the call they all teased me: ‘Well, you sure teed things up and got your ducks in a row. Too bad you were out of pocket or maybe you would have had a platform to move forward.’ I’ve tried to cut down since then, but it’s very hard not to talk like your clients.”
