July 29, 2008 was a day of mourning for half a million procrastinators around the world. It was the day Scrabulous, a notoriously popular application on Facebook, was removed from the networking site. The withdrawal was prompted by a lawsuit launched by Hasbro, the US copyright owners of Scrabble. Hasbro cited Scrabulous’ developers, Jayant and […]
“The fundamental purpose of trademark law, in the bricks-and-mortar world and on the Internet, is to protect consumers from being confused as to the source or affiliation of the products or services that they seek to buy”, announced American Airlines in American Airlines, Inc. v. Google, Inc. in August 2007. The airline brought the lawsuit […]
What happens when a corporation files for a trademark on a popular phrase? In the case of “The Last Best Place”, the cries from outraged Montanans were heard all the way into the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, where lawmakers took unusual steps recently to try and ensure that no one could have […]
Where does the fashion industry stand in intellectual property law in Canada? Quite frankly, it doesn’t. The fashion industry in Canada is an exception to the “protection rule”. It is a creative industry, arguably as creative as music, movies and novels, yet it has not established the protection of these other industries. The question therefore […]
On October 13, President Bush signed a controversial bill that makes some important modifications to the existing American copyright and trademark regimes. The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO-IP) Act toughens civil penalties for movie and music piracy and beefs up criminal sanctions for counterfeiters. Additionally, the bill creates a new office called the ‘International […]
The famous company Apple Inc is ready to take a ‘bite’ at Victoria School of Business and Technology. The dispute ‘centers around a piece of fruit‘. The ‘apple’ could be one of the most litigated issues in history. The story begins in 1978 when Apple Corps, a recording company owned by The Beatles filed a […]
On September 25, 2008, VANOC (The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee) held a press conference to announce the new slogan for the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games to be held in 2010 in Vancouver and Whistler. VANOC boss John Furlong asserted that the motto is decided with an attempt to “touch […]
The proposition that consumers are confused by the use of geographical indicators (GIs) by producers other than those from the specified geographic region is arguably a weak one. Evidence that GIs have become generic terms in many countries bolsters this argument because consumers generally do not consider generic marks to be indicia of source. However, […]
In late 2007, Virgin Enterprises successfully opposed the registration of “VIRGIN CANDLES” in Israel. The applicant sought to register the TM in association with candles. The Israel Patent and Trademark Office accepted that because Virgin is a famous TM and had a large range of products and widespread international distribution, a likelihood of confusion did […]
Editor’s Note: On Monday, March 10, 2008, Prof. Lametti delivered the lecture archived here. Thanks for those of you who joined us! If you are unable to see the video above, please use the following link to open Windows Media Player on your computer: Link Bio: David Lametti is an Associate Professor of Law, McGill […]