SF Giants Ace Tim Lincecum Sued by Ex-Landlord

While Tim Lincecum may be one of the best pitchers baseball has seen since the turn of the millennium, he can’t seem pitch his way out of court. First, The Freak faced charges for pot possession in 2009.  Now, Timmy’s ex-landlord is suing him for entering his former apartment after his lease expired and stealing and destroying property. Good […]

Spelling Mistakes Can Be Expensive

An article by the BBC reports that spelling mistakes can cost businesses “millions” in lost online sales.  In this day and age of short attention spans and over-stimulation on the internet, companies have only a few seconds to catch a potential customer’s eye and close a sale.  The article reports that companies have “about six seconds” to catch someone’s […]

“Fear the Beard?” No… Fear the Feds.

After somewhat of a hiatus, I return to the blog with two of my favorite subjects in one story:  Trademark infringement and the San Francisco Giants (defending World Series Champions, of course). It appears that federal agents seized over 2,400 t-shirts and baseball caps destined for Port au Prince, Haiti, bearing the registered trademarks of […]

Sarah Palin vs. USPTO

Last Friday the “mainstream media”, blogs and intellectual property attorneys were all a-twitter over Sarah Palin’s latest move: applying for trademark registrations for the names “Sarah Palin” and “Bristol Palin.”  No, really. The CNN article may be found HERE: Upon review of the information on the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office website, it appears that our […]

Art, Law & Beer

The Younger Lawyers Division of the Federal Bar Association Southern District of New York Chapter presents ART, LAW & BEER a Free Event January 26th 6:30 – 8:30 PM at GALLERY HENOCH 555 W. 25th Street Featuring: DAVID KASSAN, Figurative Artist LILLIAN LASERSON, Copyright and Entertainment Lawyer and Former General Counsel of DC Comics DANIEL FISHER, Beer Blogger and Craft Beer Advocate RSVP […]

Copyright Protection for Fashion Designers Closer to Reality

The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Protection Act (“IDPPPA”), which (if passed by Congress and signed by President Obama) would expand Article 13 of the Copyright Act to include and protect “apparel” items such as clothing, luggage, handbags, wallets and eyeglass frames.  The IDPPA protects fashion designers from having […]

South Park Sued for Copyright Infringement

A few weeks ago, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone escaped a possible lawsuit for lifting lines of the movie “Inception” in one of their South Park episodes. Parker and Stone apologized for using and making fun of lines they believed came directly from the movie’s script, but, in fact, were from another […]

Reflections from the 2010 NYC Marathon

The New York City Marathon is truly a multicultural and awe-inspiring experience. From the multilingual banners at the pre-race expo to the spectators’ signs along the course (“¡Si se puede!” and “Vive Le France” to name just two), it is clear that NY draws athletes and crowds from across the globe. Even at the Staten […]

What’s YOUR Religion?

On this eve of Yom Kippur, I began to think about whether running is a religion. No, seriously. It all started when I thought about whether I was going to fast tomorrow. On one hand, even for secular Jews, Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year, to be respected and observed. On the […]

ASMP Seminar: Copyright and the New Economy

Yesterday I attended a seminar put on by the American Society for Media Photographers called “Copyright and the New Economy.” The afternoon panelists included, among others, Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School Professor and author of books such as Remix and The Future of Ideas, Chase Jarvis, the well-known commercial photographer, and David Carson, U.S. Copyright […]