Color as a Trademark In a few previous blog posts, I’ve discussed the concept of color as a trademark. I looked at why the pink color of Pepto-Bismol was not able to be used as a trademark – because it was determined to be a functional feature of the product (it was in my blog post about the shape of Hershey bars), and, more recently, I looked at a case in which Rawlings was trying to protect the color gold in connection with baseball gloves as a trademark. Rawlings, of course, is famous for their Gold Glove awards. Since this…
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Keep it Legal Blog
NLRB Invalidates Costco’s Social Media Policy
October 24, 2012
NLRB Invalidates Costco’s Social Media Policy A recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board may pose significant challenges to Costco and other employers, large and small, who want to manage their employees’ social media communications.
Sprouts v. Sprouts: Regional Trademark Disputes
October 16, 2012
Sprouts v. Sprouts: Regional Trademark Disputes Many of my Southern California-area readers will be familiar with the Sprouts Farmers Market chain of grocery stores. San Diego’s Boney family originally operated several stores as “Boney’s.” Following the death of founder Henry Boney, the names were changed to “Henry’s.” Recently, stores in the Southern California region saw another name change, this time to “Sprouts Farmers Market.” This is because of a merger between the Henry’s stores and the Arizona-based Sprouts Farmers Market chain (which, confusingly, was also founded by the Boney family). The merged company is now owned by a hedge fund….
Tetris Case: Video Game Copyright
October 10, 2012
Video Game Copyright Recently, the owners of Tetris sued the creators of a similar game, Mino, for copyright infringement. In a fairly simple game like Tetris, which elements can be protected under copyright law?
