Author Archives: John DiGiacomo

Under U.S. trademark laws, there is a legal concept called the “Doctrine of Foreign Equivalence”(“DFE”). Essentially, the DFE prevents the registration of trademarks that violate U.S. trademark rules where foreign language words are used instead of English language words that have the same meaning. Thus, “blaue Milchviehbetriebe” and “fermes laitières bleues” are not registerable since […]

As many know, changes in the last few years with respect to college athletics have allowed college athletes to get paid for their celebrity status. This has been accomplished through monetization of the NIL rights of the athletes in question. In this article, the NIL Rights Attorneys at Revision Legal answer a few Frequently Asked […]

On April 22, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) formally adopted updates to regulations related to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). The FTC has regulatory authority over matters impacted by COPPA. The new regulations will take effect in June 2025, and relevant covered businesses will have to fully comply with the new regulations […]

On May 9, 2025, the U.S. Copyright Office released a report on how copyright laws are likely violated by artificial intelligence (“AI”) modules and training procedures. See here. For the relevant portion of the Report, see here. The Report is considered important because there are currently dozens of pending lawsuits around the country — and […]

Online affiliate marketing is big business now. Affiliate marketing, of course, has been around for a long time. Basically, a business or a person agrees to promote and recommend a product, a brand of products, or even a whole business in exchange for various things of value. Generally, the affiliate does not actually sell the […]

Yes, as long as the proposed trademark meets the other requirements for registration. U.S. trademark laws do not require that only the English language can be used for trademarks. However, whatever the language, trademarks must meet the legal requirements, including functionality, distinctiveness, uniqueness, etc. For example, every trademark must function as a trademark in that […]

In a new ruling, a California federal judge has declared the entirety of California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (“CAADCA”) to be unconstitutional. Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1798.99.28 et seq. See media report here and the Opinion here. The case is Netchoice, LLC. v. Bonta, Case No. 22-cv-08861-BLF (US N.Dist. Cal, March 13, 2025). The CAADCA […]

Without question, there are famous brands and trademarks that are global in their reach. The examples are nearly endless. Soft drinks like Coca-Cola and Pepsi, luxury brands like Tiffany and Gucci, restaurants like McDonald’s and Starbucks, and many more. When we speak of “brands,” we are, of course, speaking in terms of trademarks. Despite the […]

In very basic terms, a SaaS lawyer is tasked with protecting the intellectual property of businesses that provide software-as-a-service (“SaaS”). This includes ensuring that end-users pay for use per their user agreement and do not violate the terms of use — that is, not use the software improperly. Most SaaS is now accessed through websites […]

E-commerce mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) are often successful and achieve the goals for which they were designed. But we have all heard the horror stories of M&A “gone wrong.” When everything is eventually parsed and examined, there are often specific reasons why the M&A went wrong. In this article, the e-commerce M&A attorneys at Revision […]