Insights

On March 26, 2019, the EU Parliament passed Article 17 (formerly Article 13) of the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, entitled “Use of protected content by online content-sharing service providers” (EU Directive 2019/790, Art. 17), which will require large, online content-sharing service providers like YouTube and Facebook to actively screen and […]

The path to trademark registration for hemp and CBD-based products may be a little easier now. In response to the enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized hemp, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) recently issued Official Guidelines for the examination of marks for cannabis and cannabis-related goods and services. Brand owners […]

On March 4, 2019, the Supreme Court decided Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, settling a long-standing dispute over the Copyright Act’s registration requirement. Under the Copyright Act, a copyright owner generally may not institute a copyright infringement action until the work at issue has been registered in accordance with 17 U.S.C. § […]

For the first time in over 20 years, on January 1, 2019, US copyrighted works entered the public domain due to the expiration of their copyright term. Going forward, more works will now enter the public domain annually. The expiration of copyright for works published in 1923 means that everyone may use these materials, for […]

The European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became effective on May 25, 2018. In light of this sweeping new law, the WHOIS global database of domain name registrants has ceased to be a key resource for intellectual property stakeholders seeking to protect their rights online. Registries will now need to have a good […]

On September 12, 2018, the European Parliament took a first, but crucial, step in adopting sweeping changes to copyright law on the Internet in the European Union. The vote on this copyright directive pitted media companies who hold the copyright to music and news content against technology platforms such as Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook. […]

Note: “Marking the Infinite,” a stunning exhibit of works by contemporary women artists from Aboriginal Australia is on view until September 9, 2018 at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. In spring 2018, a Utah high-school student named Keziah Daum caused a controversy when she tweeted out some prom pictures in which she was wearing […]

On May 18, 2018, Hasbro announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) approved its application to register the scent of its well-known Play-Doh clay. 1 Barring a successful legal challenge to the registration, this development means that Hasbro will be able to prevent its competitors from using confusingly similar scents for their […]

On June 19, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Matal v. Tam that the Disparagement Clause of the Lanham Act violates the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause and constitutes viewpoint discrimination.[1] The trademark at issue in Tam was THE SLANTS for live music performances. By using this mark, an Asian-American rock band, The […]