Alt Legal IP News – Issue #144
Justin Wickersham | June 25, 2019
Sitting on Capitol Hill
– Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that banning “immoral” or “scandalous” trademark registrations violates the First Amendment.
– Senator Marco Rubio wants to continue the fight against Chinese tech company Huawei and prevent it from ever receiving patent damages in US courts.
– Senators Chris Coons and Thom Tillis reflect on what they learned at the patent eligibility hearings.
Celebrity Corner
– Oprah has been sued for copyright infringement by a North Carolina teacher for allegedly stealing material from the teacher’s memoir.
– Taylor Swift has filed a trademark application for the names of her cats Meredith, Olivia, and Benjamin Swift. She isn’t kitten around.
– Hailey Bieber’s trademark application for “Bieber Beauty” was denied because her husband already registered the mark for himself 16 years ago! See the office action here.
Planes, “Drones,” and Automobiles
– Airline company JetBlue has sued Walmart for trademark infringement after Walmart began using “Jetblack” for its new personal shopping service.
– Amazon’s drones won’t only be able to deliver packages; they may also be used to protect and watch your home.
– A German court ruled that the daughter of the designer for the original VW Beetle was not entitled to any compensation for VW’s use of her father’s design.
Thanks Hannah!
– As some of you may have noticed, Hannah Samendinger left last week to start her own law firm! We’re going to miss her, but we are excited for her new venture and wish her all the best. In honor of Hannah, here are some articles she was featured in during her time at Alt Legal:
– Above the Law’s “From the Inside Out” Podcast
– 18 Millennials Changing the Face of Legal Tech
– Legaltech News’s “Women in Legal Tech” series
Odds and Ends
– What’s the one thing that every invention has in common?
– Here is a list of the best patent applications published during the last lunar month.
– What are deepfakes, and how can we address their problems?