The Metropolitan Museum announced access to nearly 400,000 images – for free. The Museum provides these images under an Open Access license for all public-domain works in the Met collection. The Creative Commons Zero (“CC0”) license allows use of the images without restriction. Entrepreneurs, artists, and business owners can now use and share these images Read more about The MET Announces Access to Free Images[…]
Paul Allen, former Microsoft co-founder recently brought a patent infringement suit based upon 4 of his patents against many notable companies including Apple, Google, Facebook, NetFlix, AOL and others. Last week the district court granted a stay while the patents are being reexamined. Two of the reexamination requests (those for patents 6263507 and 6034652) were filed Read more about Patent Reexamination[…]
Beginning in 2013, musicians and others who create sound recordings (or their heirs in the event of their death) may terminate previously assigned copyrights. Customarily, many recording artists assign or otherwise transfer their rights for their music under one-sided agreements with record companies for a fraction of the commercial value of the music in exchange Read more about Copyright Termination of Musical Works[…]
Patents are becoming highly prized pieces of intellectual property in the high tech arena. While, Google has admitted that it has far fewer patents than many of its rival technology companies, Google made a $900m bid to acquire the patent portfolio of Nortel Networks, a bankrupt Canadian telecommunications manufacturer. Google believes the additional patents could Read more about Google’s Patent Portfolio[…]
Charlie Sheen has recently filed 22 Trademark Applications related to many of his catchphrases, including “Duh, Winning” and “Tiger Blood,” according to reports.
Understanding Patent Law Patent protection is provided by federal law through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and gives a patent owner the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, distributing or importing the subject of the patent for a certain period of time. Only certain things may be patented, and there Read more about February 2010[…]
A copyright owner’s right of distribution is limited by the first sale doctrine, which is an exception to the Copyright Act. The first sale doctrine is a legal principle that limits the rights to control content after a work has been sold for the first time. The first sale doctrine states that once a copyright Read more about The First Sale Doctrine under Copyright Law[…]
There are standards that must be met for admissibility of expert testimony in trademark infringement actions. Experts may have their methods challenged before they take the stand. Expert testimony may be excluded as speculative and unreliable if an expert’s methods are not based on sufficient facts or data, are not reliable, or are not applied Read more about Trademark Infringement Litigation[…]
In the United States, subject to one exception, trademark rights arise from use in commerce, regardless of whether or not the mark is registered. The first user of a mark generally takes priority over all subsequent users with respect to use of the mark in that market. The first user of a mark in commerce, Read more about Trademark Use in Commerce[…]
After a patent is issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the discovery of prior art or publications not noticed prior to the patent’s issue may raise questions as to the validity of the issued patent. In such a case, a patentee or a third party may file an application for reexamination Read more about Reexamination of Patents[…]