Author Archives: John DiGiacomo

Trademark licensing can create valuable revenue streams for your business. Licensing has the advantage that your business retains possession of the trademark and can create more than one licensing regime over the life of your business. Licensing is also a method of expanding the reach (and value) of your trademark without the need to invest […]

If you plan to be a serious YouTuber, then you will need good internet law lawyers. As just one example, if you put copyright-protected images or videos in your YouTube uploads, you risk being accused of copyright infringement unless you have prior permission to use the material, have a “fair use” basis for the use, […]

The California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) requires that companies that collect and process consumer private information must publish — disclose — their policies with respect to retention of data. That is, companies must disclose the company’s policies for how long certain types of information will be stored and when the information will be deleted. More […]

A “trademark disclaimer statement” is part of an application for registering a trademark that is filed with the U.S. Trademark Office. There is a specific section of the application that is provided for disclaimers. The statement is itself rather simple: “No claim is made to the exclusive right to use “________” apart from the mark […]

California was the first State in the U.S. that enacted a consumer privacy statute called the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). Via a successful ballot initiative, the CCPA was amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) to enhance and expand the rights and protections that were provided by the CCPA. This article offers a […]

There are valid trademarking strategies for cannabis-related businesses. While you cannot trademark your cannabis — the specific product — at the federal level, you CAN trademark your cannabis at the State level and, at the federal level, you CAN trademark everything related to your cannabis. Indeed, at the federal level, it is important to register […]

Trademarks can last literally forever, at least as long as commerce exists. There are some trademarks that have been in use for hundreds of years. Some trademarks currently in use in the U.S. are over 100 years old. Examples include John Deer, Coca-Cola, and others. We must distinguish between the trademarks themselves and the registration […]

Non-compete agreements/clauses are generally required when a business or substantially all of its assets are sold. Buyers require this generally to prevent the management and high-level employees of the seller from opening a new business in competition with the one that has just been sold. For obvious reasons, the buyer does not want the seller’s […]

As noted in Part One of this article, in May 2023, Montana passed the “Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act” (“MCDPA”), which will take effect in October 2024. In Part One, we summarized the applicability of the MCDPA and the rights that are given to Montana consumers while pointing out some oddities and unique features of […]

In May 2023, Montana became yet another State to enact a consumer data privacy/protection statute. Montana’s version is called the “Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act.” The MCDPA will take effect in October 2024. In this article (Parts One and Two), we will provide a brief summary of the MCDPA. In Part One, we will summarize […]