Intellectual Property Law

Why ‘Big Red Tickle Monster’ Is Taking the Place of Elmo

Hit by the threat of lawsuits, companies that provide costumed characters for kids’ birthday parties are changing their ways. “Big red tickle monster” is replacing Elmo and “explorer girl with backpack” is substituting for Dora the Explorer, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). The costumed figures not only have…

Jul 22, 2008 3:52 PM CDT

Jury Rules Bratz Doll Created During Designer’s Stint at Mattel

A California jury has ruled that the popular Bratz doll was created by a designer when he was working for Mattel, a blow for the doll’s maker, Mattel rival MGA Entertainment Inc. Mattel had claimed designer Carter Bryant took the idea for the hip, multi-ethnic doll to MGA even though…

Jul 18, 2008 11:14 AM CDT

Fake News Article Results in Real Lawsuit

Admittedly not thinking about the consequences, a computing services manager for the University of Texas reportedly says he was the practical jokester who posted a fake Oklahoman article online under the byline of a real sportswriter. It falsely claimed that two quarterbacks at the University of Oklahoma had been arrested…

Jul 17, 2008 5:09 PM CDT

No Gold for Tiffany in Suit Against eBay for Knockoff Sales

A federal judge in New York has ruled against Tiffany in its suit claiming eBay failed to prevent sales of counterfeit jewelry. “What a difference 3,600 miles can make,” Am Law Daily writes. It points out that two weeks ago a Paris court fined eBay more than $60 million for…

Jul 15, 2008 2:05 PM CDT

Day Casebeer Survives Qualcomm, But Two Sanctioned Associates Leave

Five lawyers at Day Casebeer Madrid & Batchelder were sanctioned for failing to turn over documents for its client Qualcomm in a discovery dispute, but only two have left the firm. Despite the well-publicized dispute, the patent litigation firm continues to stay “incredibly busy,” the firm’s managing partner, Lloyd “Rusty”…

Jul 10, 2008 1:17 PM CDT

Web Companies Seek New Federal Privacy Law for Internet Ads

Existing privacy laws concerning Internet advertising are in good shape, a Federal Trade Commission official said in a hearing today before the Senate Commerce Committee, and any gaps can be filled by industry self-regulation. But big Internet companies are seeking a uniform federal law to replace a patchwork of state…

Jul 9, 2008 7:53 PM CDT

Firm Pays Associates Less and Partners Equally, Requires Fewer Hours

California intellectual property firm Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear is looking to expand without changing its unusual business model. All of the firm’s partners share equally in profits, the National Law Journal reports in an article reprinted in the New York Lawyer. Associates make below-market pay of $150,000, but the…

Jul 9, 2008 11:52 AM CDT

Google Ordered to Turn Over User Names of YouTube Viewers

A federal judge in New York has ordered Google to turn over to Viacom records of customers’ user names and IP addresses, along with records of videos they watched on YouTube. U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton of Manhattan ruled in a lawsuit filed by Viacom, which seeks to prove that…

Jul 3, 2008 2:46 PM CDT

Is ‘Cosmopolitan’ Resort Too Much Like ‘Cosmopolitan’ Magazine?

Cosmopolitan is a well-known women’s magazine. But is its brand strong enough to ban a developer from using the Cosmopolitan name for a new $3.9 billion Las Vegas Strip mega-resort? That will be for the court to decide in a federal trademark infringement lawsuit filed in the Southern District of…

Jul 2, 2008 10:56 PM CDT

Cooley Godward Adds Angel Investor to Growing Boston Office

When Cooley Godward Kronish represents start-up companies in its growing Boston office, it won’t just be legal advice that the firm can offer them. With the help of an angel investor who has been brought in as the office’s first vice president of strategy and development, Cooley can also help…

Jul 2, 2008 3:31 PM CDT

More eBay Suits Expected Over Sales of Fake Luxury Goods

Lawyers representing eBay are likely to be busy with additional lawsuits over sales of fake luxury goods after a $63 million ruling by a French court this week holding the Internet auctioneer liable for online sales conducted by users of its site. “I expect this ruling to encourage a number…

Jul 1, 2008 10:18 PM CDT

Leaning Green

Who said it’s not easy being green? According to the Dechert law firm, applications for trademarks using the word green more than doubled to over 2,400 between 2006 and 2007. But that’s not all. Consider the increase in the following green terms: Clean—Use of the word jumped by 100, to…

Jul 1, 2008 1:15 PM CDT

Tech Companies Seek to Head Off Patent Trolls With IP-Buying Group

Several high-tech companies have joined a group that seeks to deny sustenance to patent trolls. The group plans to buy rights to intellectual property, beating patent trolls to the marketplace, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). The so-called trolls buy patent rights and then sue companies for infringement. The…

Jun 30, 2008 12:18 PM CDT

Suit Claims Law Firm Misappropriated Mortgage Lending Software

Two software companies have filed a lawsuit that claims Dallas law firm McGlinchey Stafford and Youngblood & Bendalin misappropriated their mortgage loan software. The suit claims the law firm earned millions of dollars in fees for work performed using the software without permission, Texas Lawyer reports. The plaintiffs, Compliance Source…

Jun 30, 2008 11:18 AM CDT

Coke Zero Lawyers Don’t Really Want an Infringement Judgment

Coca-Cola lawyers are seeking a declaratory judgment that Coke Zero is not infringing the copyright of a water company that markets Naturally Zero Canadian Natural Spring Water. The Fulton County Daily Report sees irony in the lawsuit. It notes that Coke Zero’s ad campaign highlights the possibility of suing the…

Jun 27, 2008 3:45 PM CDT