copyright
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Do Ethnic Slurs Mean a New Trial?
The National Law Journal is reporting (free subscription required) that four organizations – the Anti-Defamation League, the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans, the Iranian Americans Jewish Federation and the Iranian American Bar Association – filed an amicus brief in the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, asking the court to grant a new… Continue reading
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Leibovitz Postcard Anyone?
News stories are reporting that renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz has used – well, something – as collateral for a $24 million loan that is due in September. The New York Times reports it this way: On July 29, Ms. Leibovitz was sued in State Supreme Court for nonpayment by a company that had lent her… Continue reading
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Stitch in Time
Changes of ownership of intellectual property rights are sometimes done in a series of transactions all executed at generally the same time. For example, when acquiring assets, they might first be assigned to an acquisition company, the acquisition company merged into the purchaser, the seller dissolved, and the purchasing company’s name changed to the name… Continue reading
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MGA Now Has Moxie
Never resisting the urge to be defiant, MGA Entertainment announced that it has a new line of dolls called “Moxie Girlz.” mox⋅ie /ˈmɒksi–noun Slang.1. vigor; verve; pep.2. courage and aggressiveness; nerve.3. skill; know-how. Provocative name for a provocative event. You be the judge whether they infringe the copyright in Bratz. (Moxie Girlz) (Bratz) © 2009… Continue reading
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Smart Money in Movies
The Netflix Prize is a million dollar award for “substantially improve the accuracy of predictions about how much someone is going to love a movie based on their movie preferences.” It’s now being reported that a team has met the requirements for winning the million dollars, but for a waiting period of 30 days allowing… Continue reading
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Small Comfort for MGA Entertainment
At least the insurance company is coughing up something on the advertising injury clause. Not sure how much, “terms of the settlement were filed under seal so Mattel does not obtain ‘any strategic advantage through information obtained from the settlement agreement – including, but not limited to, information regarding the funding of MGA’s defense.’” (the… Continue reading
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Who Was Opportunity Knocking For?
Opportunity Knocks, Inc. d/b/a Cartoonmaps.com makes cartoon maps. Beginning in 2006, Brandon and Bridgette Maxwell paid over $35,000 for Opportunity Knocks to help them create graphical city maps for Cheyenne, Wyoming, Crested Butte, Colorado and Telluride, Colorado. Bridgette Maxwell quit her job to focus on the graphic map business. In 2008, Opportunity Knocks found that… Continue reading
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“KILL BRATZ”
It’s still hot and heavy in the Bratz litigation. There are these enticing entries on the district court docket: 05/18/2009 5510 PHASE 2 DISCOVERY MATTER – ORDER NO. 34 filed by Special Master Robert C O’Brien Regarding Motion to Compel Production of Hard Drives from Computers Used by Isaac Larian after February 27, 2008 (O’Brien,… Continue reading
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Cut Your Losses
The Exclusive Rights blog reports on a case from the Supreme Court of Indiana, where one company hired another to design and host its web site. An often-told story; the hiring company stopped paying the bills and the designing company shut down the web site, then sued on the bill. In response, the defendant counterclaimed… Continue reading
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MGA Smackdown
MGA Entertainment has asked for, and was granted, an expedited hearing for a stay of the injunction pending its appeal to the Ninth Circuit. The hearing will be May 18. In expected fashion, MGA couldn’t pass up an opportunity for a smackdown in its press release: Mattel’s iteration of the brand will necessarily bear little… Continue reading
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