A planned Netflix movie about Sherlock Holmes’s sister is the target of a lawsuit from the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the legendary detective. The estate has
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Branding
Lanham Act’s Prohibition of Immoral and Scandalous Marks is Officially “FUCT”
The U.S. Supreme Court this week officially pulled the plug on the Lanham Act’s prohibition on the registration of trademarks that comprise…
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San Diego Smackdown, the Final Chapter?
The jury has spoken. After a saga worth of Homer, Comic-Con is a valid trademark.
The battle began when, the organizers of San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), the 50-year old grandaddy…
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Federal Circuit Decision Leaves Lanham Act’s Provision Barring Registration of Immoral and Scandalous Marks “FUCT”
It is not often that a court of law can issue a landmark opinion laden with profanity and sexual innuendos. But last Friday,…
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San Diego Smackdown: Comic Con Trademark Fight Goes First Amendment
The stakes just raised in an imminent trial over the validity of the San Diego Comic-Con trademark. What started out as a straightforward trademark dispute has now implicated First Amendment…
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2017 Upfronts: Broadcasters Take Digital Head On
The upfront selling season is when broadcast networks sell the majority of their advertising inventory. That season kicks off this week as the networks present their fall schedules to advertisers…
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Update: Band Names, Free Speech, and the USPTO
Following up my colleague Lori Kozak’s blog post from almost one year ago, the Asian-American rock band known as “The Slants” had their day in the highest court of…
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Snapchat Invents a New Kind of Ad
On June 15, the LA Times reported on an innovative way that Snapchat is monetizing its popular ephemeral messaging service–sponsored geofilters. Snapchat already lets users add backgrounds to their selfies…
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Morals Clauses: Protecting Both Brands
Many agreements in the entertainment industry contain morals clauses. These are provisions that provide a party with the right to terminate the agreement (and stop paying or even receive a…
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Brand Building: The New Realities
For many years, only major corporate entertainment companies like studios, networks and record companies had the capacity to build entertainment brands. These companies essentially had a monopoly on all mass-market…
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