Alt Legal IP News – Issue #63
Hannah Samendinger | November 15, 2017
NEW EPISODE ALERT!
Check out our latest episode of Alt Trademarks. This episode features Anne Gilson LaLonde of Gilson on Trademarks. We discuss a surprising proposal for the Lanham Act, surnames, her nontraditional career path, and much more.
Cool Kids
– A Brooklyn jury found that the graffiti on the 5Pointz complex, despite its transient nature, should be considered art and was illegally destroyed.
– Do Kanye’s most recent trademark applications for Yeezy Sound reveal what he will be up to next?
– The world’s largest medical marijuana website just received a trademark registration for BudTrader (mark here) from the USPTO. To read more about the struggles facing cannabis companies seeking trademark or patent protection, check out our recent blog post.
Eat It Up
– Joe’s Pizza, a famous New York slice shop, isn’t very happy about an ex-employee’s Joe’s Pizza shop in Brooklyn. Interestingly, they coexisted peacefully for almost a decade until the Brooklyn shop’s facade got an upgrade.
– Starbucks is appealing a recent TTAB decision regarding their cup mark.
-Soybean growers in Brazil are requesting that some of Monsanto’s patents be canceled.
Secrets, Myths, and Counterfeits
– Remember that story about how the inventor of the fidget spinner missed out on a fortune because of an expired patent? Well, that wasn’t exactly right.
– Speaking of Kanye, he intends to open several Yeezy stores, likely starting in California. But someone in China has beaten him to it, and the legality isn’t as straightforward as you might think.
– Amazon and eBay opened the floodgates for counterfeits, so what will they do now?
Odds and Ends
– Nike has an interesting way of making more money from their brand. The company shifted their licensing rights to its trademark registrations to a Bermuda-based shell company.
– In January of 2018, Canada is starting the process of transitioning to the Nice classification system.
– Check out an interesting read on a different “type” of lawsuit.
– This short TTAB opinion, which was brought to my attention on Twitter, explores the relation between coffee and donuts.
– Last week, This American Life tackled the monkey selfie case.
– Check out the Forbes 30 under 30 for Law & Policy.