JOBS Act Legalizes Crowdfunding for Startups The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (aka JOBS Act) was signed into law by President Obama on April 5, 2012 with overwhelming bipartisan support. The Act is intended to encourage funding for small businesses by making it easier for certain small businesses to comply with securities regulations (or bypass certain regulations entirely.) Title III of the Act, known as Crowdfunding, amends Section 4 of the Securities Act to create a new exemption for offerings of “crowdfunded” securities. It will exempt issuers from the requirements of Section 5 of the Act when they offer and…
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Battleship v. American Battleship
May 24, 2012
Battleship v. American Battleship Universal has had several problems with its recent wannabe blockbuster Battleship. The main problem is that it was a box-office bomb. Despite the fact that movie fans have been able to see this coming from miles away, Universal also decided to pick a fight with an obscure movie studio, Global Asylum, over an allegedly similar movie. To be fair, Global Asylum has been asking for this fight for a long time. Read on for the story of Battleship v. American Battleship.
Hershey Bars and Functional Trademarks
May 16, 2012
When looking at this photo, does any famous product come to mind? If you guessed Hershey’s chocolate bar, then you envisioned exactly what Hershey Chocolate & Confectionery Corporation is hoping to protect via trademark law. In 2009, Hershey filed a trademark application seeking to register the following trademark, which is described by Hershey as “a configuration of a candy bar that consists of twelve equally-sized recessed rectangular panels arranged in a four panel by three panel format with each panel having its own raised border within a large rectangle.” However, the Trademark Office Examining Attorney who reviewed Hershey’s application denied registration…
Six One Nine Vodka 619 Beer: A Positive Negotiation
May 9, 2012
Six One Nine Vodka and 619 Beer Last July, I wrote about Anheuser-Busch InBev’s application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register 619 (a San Diego area code) as a trademark for beer, along with similar applications for thirteen other U.S. area codes. To date, A-B has not launched 619 Beer, and their trademark application is still classified as “Intent-to-Use.” Around the same time, a friend of mine, Nick Apostolopoulous, mentioned his intention to launch a San Diego-based vodka company using the name Six One Nine Vodka. I informed him about the A-B issue, and he expressed some…
