Insights

On May 4, 2020, for the first time in history, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments through a telephone conference call in United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V. The Court considered whether the online hotel reservation company, Booking.com, is entitled to federal trademark registration for its company name or whether simply adding […]

This post has been updated. Read the first addendum here, the second addendum here, the third addendum here and the fourth addendum here. With libraries at K-12 schools, universities and local communities closed, the Internet Archive provides an increasingly valuable resource for educators and distance learning. Before diving into this vast wealth of content, however, […]

On April 10, 2020, 3M, the largest U.S. manufacturer of N-95 masks, brought suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Performance Supply LLC, a New Jersey business, alleging trademark infringement and price gouging. The suit alleges that Performance used 3M’s registered trademarks throughout the price quote document […]

Background The sudden move to distance education for K-12 as well as university students mandated by the COVID-19 shutdown of schools has left educators scrambling for new resource materials. Some educators believe that the concept of copyright fair use is flexible enough to adapt to these unique and extreme circumstances. But there has been an […]

Complaining about innovative distant learning programs in a COVID-19 era, some students and parents are revolting and seeking refunds of their tuition fees. Some are even suing their colleges. The suits claim that they paid for in-person education, and distance learning in this age of COVID-19 lockdown doesn’t cut it.  See “College Students Demand Refunds,” […]

The Supreme Court unanimously held this week that sovereign immunity insulates a state from suit for copyright infringement. Allen et al. v Cooper, Governor of North Carolina, et al., 589 U.S. ___(2020). The state in the Supreme Court case was North Carolina. In 2011 Lutzker & Lutzker fought a similar battle in federal district court […]

Copyright might seem unrelated to the pandemic, but the suddenly critical role of online education especially for young students raises important new issues and opportunities in that area. As schools are closing around the country, some perhaps for the rest of the year, our heroic teachers are scrambling to make sure that the education of […]

A Berkeley, California elementary school trying to raise funds for its PTA recently had an unpleasant surprise. After an evening showing of the movie The Lion King by the school’s Dads Club, for which there was an optional $15 entrance fee, the school received a letter from Movie Licensing USA, which represents Disney, accusing it […]

It takes more than just a trademark registration to establish and maintain a strong brand in today’s flooded consumer market. While federal trademark registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office is still the GOLD standard in brand protection, the following tips are additional ways to ensure your brand stands out: Consistency is Key […]

It’s ironic that fashion designer Carolina Herrera, who is Venezuelan and a self-declared emissary for Latin heritage, has found herself in the midst of a controversy over cultural appropriation.  The controversy arose out of the use by Herrera’s new creative director, Wes Gordon, of two designs associated with Mexican indigenous peoples on dresses in the […]