Split Circuit: Nominative Use or Trademark Infringement?

What is Nominative Use? What is nominative use? When most people need to blow their nose they will ask for a Kleenex. Most people do not realize that what they are actually asking for is a certain brand of face tissue. However, many people equate Kleenex with all face tissue regardless of the brand. This… READ MORE

Copyright Infringement and eSports

Safe Harboring eSports Broadcasting A primary player within the eSports arena is the League of Legends, which is currently in the center of a complicated copyright dispute. Among the participants in this issue are Twitch, Azubu, and Riot. The dispute centers around “SpectateFaker,” a Twitch stream that released raw footage of Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok’s games… READ MORE

How Should Attorney’s Fees Be Awarded in Copyright Cases? The Supreme Court Weighs In…..

In the June 2016 decision of Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2016), the Supreme Court held that in copyright cases, district courts should give “substantial weight” to the objective reasonableness of the losing party’s position when determining whether to award attorney’s fees. The Court vacated the Second Circuit’s ruling against awarding attorney’s fees… READ MORE

What’s up with the M22 trademark? John DiGiacomo explains trademark law, and how M22 can trademark a sign that’s in the public domain. For more information about trademark services or how Revision Legal can assist with your trademark issue, please use the contact form on this page, or call us at 1-855-473-8474.

In a recent podcast with internet marketer, Lance Tamashiro, Revision Legal partner Eric Misterovich discuss how to protect your business in an online world: Protecting your original work online You have copyright rights the moment work is created DMCA takedown notices Why outsourcing can be a huge mistake How to protect your company with a work-for-hire… READ MORE

Online Streaming: What Makes a Customer?

Music-streaming services allow their subscribers to rent music through the Internet rather than purchase albums. Services such as Apple Music and Tidal charge a membership fee and often have exclusive music deals with certain artists. Other services, like Pandora and Spotify, allow users to subscribe for free and listen to music with occasional advertisements. Despite… READ MORE

Virtual Reality: To Boldly Go Where No Copyright Infringement Has Gone Before?

Virtual reality (VR) is a unique puzzle in copyright infringement because of its relative newness—at least, compared to other copyright-protected materials. Despite that, we have a pretty good idea of the technology’s potential, as anybody familiar with the Enterprise-D’s holodeck can testify to. A television show, book, or sculpture is presented to the viewer as… READ MORE

Jerk.com: Actually A Jerk

Jerk.com billed itself as the “anti-social network.” For a $30 membership fee, the site allowed users to vote on whether other people were jerks or not. The site also included the usual social network amenities, like a profile page and the ability to post and comment on updates. Users could also submit anonymous reviews about other users. However,… READ MORE

DMCA Safe Harbor Ruling: Capitol Records v. Vimeo

In 1998, the US Congress brought United States copyright laws into the digital age when it passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The DMCA provides guidelines for handling copyrighted information that is stored or transmitted online. An important component of the DMCA is the “safe harbor” clause.

Victory For Data Brokers

In a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court disagreed with the Court of Appeals and handed a victory to Spokeo.com in their fight against Thomas Robins. Spokeo is a data broker that offers its subscribers access to its database, which contains personal information about hundreds of thousands of people.