Nutella: Sweet Spread or Trademark Bully? Time for a confession: I’m not really a fan of Nutella. I can’t tell if it’s too sweet for me or what it is, exactly, but I just can’t summon up the passion for the spread that everyone I know seems to share. (Calm down, Internet, I still like bacon.) Nonetheless, I will rise to the defense of its fans against what appears to be a case of trademark bullying – or, at least, overreach. Time to cross February 5 off your calendars, because World Nutella Day is no more.
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Keep it Legal Blog
Internet Meme Copyright & Trademark Battle
May 16, 2013
Internet Meme Copyright & Trademark Battle The owners of two popular Internet memes, Keyboard Cat and Nyan Cat, have sued Warner Brothers (“WB”) and 5th Cell Media (“5th”) for unauthorized use of their memes in WB and 5th’s video game series known as Scribblenauts. Memes are all over the internet – I’ll bet there are some on your Facebook timeline right now – so why are they suing over this particular use? Who can and can’t use a meme, and who needs permission to do so?
The Copyright Monster
May 13, 2013
The Copyright Monster My friend Katie recently asked me, “what’s up with those ‘copyright’ notices …are those even enforceable?” She was referring to the notices found at the bottom of just about every website. You’ll see one on the bottom of this very blog. My friend’s email was prompted by the Copyright Monster you see to the left, but it’s a good general question to discuss. Is the Copyright Monster real? Read on to find out…
Trademark Law: Good, Bad, and Ugly
May 3, 2013
Trademark Law: Good, Bad, and Ugly Blogger and co-editor of Boing Boing Cory Doctorow recently posted an article titled Trademarks: the good, the bad and the ugly, in which he lays out his observations about trademark law and his arguments against trademark bullying – a topic I’ve written about from time to time, including in this blog post. While I can’t say I agree with every word of Doctorow’s article, I applaud his overall approach and wanted to take the opportunity to respond and touch on some of his themes from the perspective of a practicing trademark attorney.
