A dispute between darts associations led to an interesting recent court ruling concerning whether a delinquent corporation can own a trademark. The case is Southern California Darts Association v. Zaffina in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
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Social Media Law: Can an Employee be Fired for a Facebook Like?
September 9, 2014
Time for another social media law update. Last year a federal appeals court ruled that Facebook “Likes” are speech protected by the First Amendment. Now the National Labor Relations Board has issued a ruling concerning an employee who was fired for liking another employee’s Facebook status update – which, as you might expect, was critical of the company.
When are Online Arbitration Agreements Enforceable?
September 3, 2014
Do you read the Terms of Use every time you buy something online? It’s OK, neither do I. Those Terms of Use often include provisions requiring any dispute to go to arbitration rather than a jury trial in a court. Are online arbitration agreements always enforceable?
Can Fictional Products Infringe Real-World Trademarks?
August 26, 2014
Someone needs to put a stop to this kind of nonsense. In The Dark Knight Rises, a few references are made to a fictional software product known as “clean clate,” which can erase all information about a person’s past. This is handy if you are Catwoman and you live in a fictional comic-book universe. Fortres Grand (yes, apparently that’s how they spell it) is a software company that sells a product, named “Clean Slate,” which erases the data on an individual computer. It’s been on the market since 2000. Since 2001, they’ve held a USPTO trademark registration for the mark…
