What is a “trademark use”?  This question comes up in this way: You want to use a trademarked name or brand or logo (not yours).  You want to make commentary about the trademark, or simply reference the trademark in some way. Trademark protections give their owners the right of exclusive use to the trademark, but [...]

One unintended consequence of the accelerating popularity of HTML5 for mobile app development is an ability to skate past Apple’s App Store restrictions on in-app sales.  So I put this question to Piotr Steininger of Tapangi Consulting: There’s talk out there about being able to use HTML5 to get around Apple’s App Store ban on [...]

In March of this year, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland denied the preliminary injunction that the Pennsylvania “Field of Screams” had sought against the Maryland “Field of Screams.” Andrew Mirsky wrote about this case last fall, a trademark infringement action involving a haunted amusement house in Pennsylvania operating under the name [...]

In June of this year, Senator Al Franken (D. Minn.) introduced the “Location Privacy Protection Act of 2011” (S. 1223).  According to the bill summary available on Franken’s website, a 2010 investigation by the Wall Street Journal revealed that 47 of the top 101 mobile applications for Apple iPhones and Google Android phones disclose user location [...]

Sector Labs, a California company that makes a smartphone-size video projector, filed a federal trademark registration in 2003 for the name “video pod”. Apple, Inc. challenged the registration, filing an opposition to Sector Lab’s registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  Apple claimed (among other things) that Sector Labs’ “video pod” “is extremely similar [...]

Kate Tummarello is a Research and Social Media Intern with Mirsky & Company and a reporter at Roll Call/Congressional Quarterly.  Follow Kate on Twitter @ktummarello.  Andrew Mirsky of Mirsky & Company contributed to this post. Gone are the days of bashing your boss in the breakroom. Now, colleagues gather online to anonymously air their grievances.  A [...]

Much has been made lately of tension between Twitter and its outside developers.  The issues stoking the fire are less legal issues than business issues brought to front-burner by two particular factors: (1) The maturity of Twitter as a development platform, or in the words of Ryan Sarver of Twitter, “In the early days, all [...]

Earlier this month, Dropbox spawned a new kerfuffle in internet-land with changes to its Terms of Service (TOS). The outrage was fast and furious.  A nice deal of blog and Tumblr and other commentary zeroed in on changes Dropbox announced to its TOS before the 4th of July holiday, and in particular how this or [...]

A blogger publishing under the name “WTForever21.com” recently got threatened with litigation for trademark infringement by the LA-based clothing retailer Forever 21. WTForever21.com, a parody site published by Rachel Kane, had prominently disclaimed any affiliation or endorsement by Forever 21.  And as indicated, Kane’s purpose was (some would claim clearly) parody.   Kane was the proud [...]

“With regulators considering easing fund-raising rules for start-ups …” a recent Wall Street Journal story began, “social-networking sites that link entrepreneurs to large pools of donors are gearing up for a boom.” First, the background.  Federal and state securities laws govern the sales – including the solicitation of sales – of securities, affecting all efforts [...]