View Recent Blog Posts in Intellectual Property
- New Allen Toussaint Legacy Act Creates a Right of Publicity in Louisiana On June 15, 2022, Governor John Bel Edwards signed into law Act No. 425, S.B. 426, named the "Allen Toussaint Legacy Act."[1] The Act is named after the late Allen Toussaint, a famous New Orleans musician, songwriter, and producer. Toussaint was known for hits such as "Java," "Fortune Teller," "Southern Nights," "Working in the Coal... Continue Reading...
- The Ball's In Their Court Now: NCAA's NIL Policy Provides Trademark Opportunities for College Athletes In the United States, name, image, and likeness ("NIL") are the three elements that make up a legal concept known as the right of publicity. The right of publicity is an intellectual property right that protects against the misappropriation of a person's name, likeness, or other forms of personal identity—such as nickname, pseudonym, voice, signature,... Continue Reading...
- It Pays to go to College: NCAA Allows College Athletes to Profit from their Name, Image, and Likeness Effective today, July 1, the NCAA has officially suspended the organization's rules prohibiting athletes from selling the rights to their names, images, and likenesses ("NIL"). Despite the NCAA's longstanding principles that payments to athletes while attending college would undermine amateurism of college athletics, the organization's Division I board of directors decided Wednesday that it would... Continue Reading...
- Bookings.com: Supreme Court Rejects Bright-Line Rule on Generic Terms In United States Patent & Trademark Office v. Booking.com B. V.,[1] SCOTUS held that a mark styled as "generic.com" is eligible for federal trademark registration if the applicant shows "generic.com" is not a generic name to consumers. Although the Court did not expressly say so, this decision chips away at the rule that generic terms... Continue Reading...
- Preparing for the squall of post-COVID bankruptcies: Intellectual Property rights in Chapter 11 Intellectual property comprises some of the most valuable assets a business may hold – its brands, patents, know-how, and other intangible rights that make the business unique. The intellectual property assets (IP) throughout the energy sector—upstream, midstream, downstream and service providers along the way—will be affected as more energy companies seek bankruptcy relief in the... Continue Reading...
- Trade Secrets and Teleworking: How to Protect Your Rights in an Evolving Crisis Companies that rely upon trade secret information must remain diligent with their rights at all time – one inadvertent disclosure could, in theory, kill trade secret protection. As such, companies will need to adapt and revamp their security measures to account for the mass adoption of teleworking in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Uniform... Continue Reading...
- USPTO Extends Certain Patent and Trademark Deadlines Under CARES Act In addition to providing financial support to individuals and small business, the much discussed CARES Act also authorized government agencies like the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to extend certain deadlines prescribed by statute. As of time of publication, the USPTO has granted a 30 day extension for (1) the specific filings set forth... Continue Reading...
- Sharing is Not Caring: Copyright Violations in the Age of Email Distribution Over the past few years, Energy Intelligence Group ("EIG") – the New York and London-based publisher of 15 newsletters for the oil and gas industry – has sued more than a dozen energy companies and investment houses, alleging violations of federal copyright law. The alleged violations result from buying subscriptions to its publications (sent by... Continue Reading...
- Using Social Media Influencers or Employees to Tout Your Business? Make Sure They Follow the Rules Whether you keep up with the Kardashians or you are just a casual Instagram user, you have probably been exposed to social media influencer posts. Due to social media's increased marketing importance, companies will offer free products, money or other compensation to social media "influencers", i.e. users that boast at least 2,000 or more genuine... Continue Reading...
- Cell Phone Reward and Risk In a recent Supreme Court decision involving the Fourth Amendment, Justice Roberts noted that there are 396 million cell phones accounts in the United States for a nation of only 326 million people. The cell phone provides numerous functions including access to contacts, data, information and the internet. Some studies suggest people check cell phones... Continue Reading...