Rappers, Car Dealer Ads, and Expansive Interpretations of Trademark Law

By Eric Goldman Broadus v. Gary Barbera Enterprises, Inc. (E.D. Pa. complaint filed Aug. 2005). Ten days ago I blogged about the rapper 50 Cent’s lawsuit against the Gary Barbera dealership for running a car ad that showed a picture…

Blizzard and Arizona Cartridge

By Mark McKenna There are several thoughtful posts on other blogs criticizing 8th and 9th Circuits’ recent decisions in Davidson & Associates (d/b/a Blizzard) v. Jung and Arizona Cartridge Remanufacturers Ass’n Inc. v. Lexmark International respectively. See here and here…

Student Sues Term Paper Website (and its Host)

Macellari v. Carroll, no. 4:05-CV-04161-JPG (S.D. Ill. complaint filed Aug. 31, 2005). Blue Macellari, a student at Duke and Johns Hopkins, has sued a term paper vendor (Rusty Carroll/R2C2, Inc.) operating three websites (doingmyhomework.com, freeforessays.com and freefortermpapers.com) for copyright infringement,…

Downloading Software onto Home Computer May Be Trespass to Chattels–Sotelo v. DirectRevenue

Sotelo v. DirectRevenue LLC, No. 05 C 2562 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 29, 2005). It was pretty obvious when the complaint was filed in March that this lawsuit warranted careful scrutiny. This initial ruling reinforces that point. This ruling is interesting…

Fair use and documentaries

By Mark McKenna Thanks to Eric for inviting me to post here. It’s my first real blogging experience, so I’m hoping it goes smoothly. Most of the press related to copyright law these days has to do with filesharing. There…

Guest Blogger Mark McKenna

I’m pleased to introduce Mark McKenna as a guest blogger. Mark is an Assistant Professor of Law at St. Louis University School of Law, where he teaches IP courses and civil procedure. Prior to becoming an academic, Mark was a…