I ♡ Trademarks NewsletterIssue #307
Bri Van Til | September 27, 2022
As Humble as Thou Art
Copyright concerns mean Getty Images won’t allow AI-generated art on their sites.
This video of an interpretive dance to the USPTO’s hold music has been around for a while, but I just stumbled across it and wanted to make sure you don’t miss out on it.
The suit between Vans and MSCHF may come down to whether shoes are art.
Aren’t You Clever?
Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith has filed a trademark application for the clever one-liner: “THEY WROTE ME OFF I AINT WRITE BACK THOUGH.”
Apparently NBA fans who want to tease LeBron James have taken to knocking his attempts to trademark TACO TUESDAY: “Did Bron just stop eating tacos after that?”
Here’s a slideshow of some clever, generic, humorous, and strange things people have tried to trademark.
Say My Name
Metacaptial Management is suing Facebook parent company Meta over the name.
The city of Leavenworth (Washington, not Kansas) is suing the company it used to contract with to host the town’s annual Oktoberfest festivities for filing a trademark application for LEAVENWORTH OKTOBERFEST. The mark was registered in 2017.
The Library of Congress needs some help identifying the names of people in still photos. They can tell you lots of people the images don’t depict.
Ford has filed a trademark application for MEGAZILLA. I’m thinking it must be the name of a new super compact seeking to compete with Smart cars. That’d be pretty cute, wouldn’t it?
Professional Concerns
I Pitney (Bowes) the fool that doesn’t apply to be technology attorney at this technology company.
Surely you’re interested in being a visiting assistant law professor at the University of LaVerne.
If you don’t Nintendo stay at your current job, consider serving as IP and corporate disputes counsel for this video game giant instead.
This opportunity is huge: Mammoth is looking to hire general counsel. I bet some attorney’s friends are thinking, “Wooly stay where he is or go there instead?”
When you connect with Cisco as their senior corporate counsel, anything is possible.
Have an open role on your team? Send a link to your job listing to [email protected], and we’ll publish it in our next newsletter.
Odds and Ends
A study from the National Science Foundation found that many companies consider trade secrets more important than patents and copyrights. Hear all about the value and risks of trade secrets here.
Beyond her pop career, Beyoncé is apparently also the queen of brand protection.
Students are suing Denver Public Schools for applying for a trademark for the name of their student-run racial justice podcast, “KNOW JUSTICE, KNOW PEACE.”