Alt Legal IP News – Issue #130
Justin Wickersham | March 12, 2019
Powerful Women
– These 19 women made groundbreaking discoveries, only to have them credited to men.
– The Captain Marvel character evolved out of a legal dispute.
– Was Ms. Marvel created to secure a trademark registration for a female variation of Captain Marvel?
Techies
– Google is releasing a video game controller.
– Soon you may be able to turn a truck bed into a movie theater.
– H-E-B, the best grocery store, is being sued for patent infringement for their self-checkout app.
– BlackBerry is suing Twitter for patent infringement. The case is similar to cases filed last year against Facebook and Snap.
Updates
– Following a Supreme Court ruling, several plaintiffs have withdrawn their cases against the makers of Fortnite for allegedly copying their dance moves.
– The USPTO is pushing back against attempts to register a trending catchphrase.
– UPS won an early victory in their battle against several cannabis companies.
– Barstool Sports recently faced controversy over the company’s legal team paying comedians to withdraw DMCA claims. The company’s founder responded to the controversy by saying, “ultimately Barstool Sports has idiots in our company.”
Odds and Ends
– It has been 25 years since the Campbell v. Acuff-Rose ruling. How has the case affected fair use controversies?
– A California judge found VidAngel, a streaming service that filters for sex, profanity, and more, liable for copyright infringement.
– US brands should start planning for Brexit.
– China is taking steps to curb bad-faith trademark filings.