Author Archives: John DiGiacomo

Online cybercriminal activity has been rampant for at least the last couple of decades. The media and news are full of stories and reports about hacking, ransoms, cybertheft, denial of service attacks, and other forms of online criminal behavior. At the federal level, lawmakers have enacted laws that criminalize such behavior and that require reporting […]

Social media influencers are online personalities with multitudes of followers on various social media platforms like YouTube, X, TikTok, Instagram, and more. Successful influencers are hired for marketing purposes in the hopes that the influencer’s endorsement or use of a product will result in brand awareness, loyalty, and increased sales/revenue. To use the fashionable marketing […]

The answer to this question is complex and nuanced. In the last decade or so, it has become fashionable to insist there is some stark dichotomy between what a trademark is and what a brand is. But the difference is not as stark as some marketers would like you to believe. The traditional definition of […]

The Circle R and the TM symbols both relate to trademarks and both can be physically placed on products, packaging, advertising materials, websites, etc. The Circle R symbol is an “R” enclosed in a circle (®). While both are trademark-related symbols, there are different eligibility requirements for use, meanings, and implications. Here is a quick […]

E-commerce businesses must comply with federal and State-level advertising laws and regulations. This is true of any business. But e-commerce businesses face special challenges because there is a whole array of potential methods of innocently, accidentally, or intentionally violating advertising laws. These include the potential to engage in false and deceptive advertising practices, such as […]

In the United States, at the federal level, trademarks are registered by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Most U.S. States also offer trademark registration. Historically, trademark registration began at the State level and only became a federal issue in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Trademark registration is important and beneficial to the owners […]

As reported here, a U.S. federal judge in San Francisco has ruled that it is “fair use” under U.S. Copyright laws to use books and other literature to train an AI module, but that storage of the literature in a database is not. The case involves an AI development company called Anthropic. The lawsuit was […]

As of mid-2025, twenty States have enacted some version of a comprehensive consumer data privacy statute. Fourteen of those statutes are in full effect, with the remaining six to become effective by January 1, 2026. Given the “patchwork quilt” created by the overlapping and sometimes inconsistent statutes, there are a lot of potential legal pitfalls […]

Despite what many think, it is perfectly legal to buy and/or sell a domain name. Domain name transfers are commonly conducted as part of the sale and acquisition of businesses and business assets. A domain name is a form of intellectual property, like a trademark or copyright. As such, a domain name can be bought, […]

In the U.S., registration of trademarks is handled by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”). The process officially begins with the preparation and filing of an application for registration. In addition, there are various fees that must be paid. In this article, the trusted Trademark Lawyers at Revision Legal offer a few reasons why […]