A recent case involving two online providers of maternity clothing, Ingrid & Isabel, Inc. v. Baby Be Mine, LLC, gave rise to this question: are you allowed to copy the look & feel of a competitor’s website if you don’t directly copy elements protected by copyright and trademark, such as wording and logos? To answer this question, the court had to explore the concept of trade dress, a subset of trademark law.
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Archives: Trademarks
Can Graffiti be Protected by Copyright and Trademark Law?
October 28, 2014
As part of a trend, a recent lawsuit alleged that fashion designer Roberto Cavalli infringed the legal rights of artists Revok, Reyes and Steel when he used images from one of their graffiti murals on clothing and related goods under his Just Cavalli brand. Who owns the rights to graffiti images?
The Perils of Naked Licensing
October 14, 2014
It’s hard to believe that after 3+ years of blogging, I haven’t had a chance to talk about naked licensing. Well, a Michigan court just gave me that chance in the case of Movie Mania Metro, Inc. v. GZ DVD’s Inc., Hazim Jarbo, and Sandra A. Zielke. OK, so what is naked licensing?
Can a Delinquent Corporation Own a Trademark?
October 7, 2014
A dispute between darts associations led to an interesting recent court ruling concerning whether a delinquent corporation can own a trademark. The case is Southern California Darts Association v. Zaffina in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
