Dumb Starbucks On Friday, February 7, an interesting coffee shop opened in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. Dumb Starbucks looked exactly like a regular Starbucks, but with the word “Dumb” cleverly (note the editorial use of sarcasm here) thrown around – the menu included “Dumb Iced Coffee,” “Dumb Caramel Frappucino,” you get the idea. After a weekend’s worth of highly caffeinated speculation (see, I can make dumb jokes, too), the proprietor revealed himself as Nathan Fielder, comedian and star of the Comedy Central show Nathan For You. So, can anyone just open their own “Dumb” version of a…
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Keep it Legal Blog
Trademark Challenge for Facebook’s Paper App?
February 11, 2014
Trademark Challenge for Facebook’s Paper App? Facebook recently launched a new application named Paper. The app integrates your Facebook feed with a news reader. The goal, of course, is to get people to spend more time reading and being exposed to ads on Facebook and its related applications. However, it may come as no surprise that someone else had already thought to name their application “Paper” – FiftyThree, Inc., a San Francisco-based startup, has a popular illustration app with that name. We all know the rules of Rock, Paper, Scissors, but what about Paper v. Paper?
Tarantino v. Gawker
February 4, 2014
Tarantino v. Gawker In what is perhaps the greatest example of a film auteur facing off against a journalistic outpost since Orson Welles battled William Randolph Hearst, Quentin Tarantino has sued Gawker for contributory copyright infringement due to Gawker’s linking to and publicizing Tarantino’s leaked screenplay for Hateful Eight.
Candy Crush Trademark Saga
January 28, 2014
Candy Crush Trademark Saga There has been a lot of chatter in my little corner of the Internet lately regarding a United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) application for the mark CANDY in relation to the popular Candy Crush Saga series of mobile games. Some articles, like this one, have taken a, let’s say, over-the-top tone with respect to this issue. Let’s try to figure out what’s really going on.
