Alt Legal IP News – Issue #49
Hannah Samendinger | August 08, 2017
New Alt Trademarks episode alert! Our guest is Suzann Moskowitz of the Moskowitz Firm. We discuss the Slants case in our first NSFW episode. Check out the episode here.
Listen Up
– A federal appeals court upheld the invalidation of the “podcasting patent” with a little help from the EFF.
– The soundtrack licensing deals behind Atomic Blonde were almost as intense as the movie’s fight scenes.
– Another movie currently in theaters, Baby Driver, is facing a lawsuit over alleged lack of due diligence.
This Is Art
– Frank Ocean played Panorama Festival recently, attracting considerable buzz for his t-shirt. Now the shirt’s 18-year-old designer is in a copyright battle with another teenage tweeter.
– A judge found picture books based on famous novels to violate the novels’ copyrights.
– On Friday, a joint motion to stay the appeal was filed in the monkey selfie copyright case.
Eat It
– A trademark battle broke out over a pierogi festival name.
– The ACLU filed an amicus brief with a section titled Anyone Can Legally Say “Eat Shit, Bob!”
– Coco Loko, a company that for unknown reasons is producing a snortable chocolate, is being sued by Four Loko.
Odds and Ends
– Stone Cold Steve Austin received a trademark registration for “3:16.” He also got the Colbert treatment and a response from Jesus.
– Could toilet paper covered with Trump tweets pose a copyright problem?
– One Star Wars video baffled YouTube’s copyright cops.
– Here’s an interesting read on how one of America’s oldest detective firms is trying to catch counterfeiters.