Evidentiary Issues With Emojis
[I did an interview for a student research project on emojis as evidence, which I’m sharing here.] Tell us a little bit about yourself! What do you work with today? What’s your background and how did you get the role…
Are Individual Emoji Depictions Copyrightable? Yes…Well, Sometimes…It Depends…
Though it might surprise you, copyright can protect individual emoji depictions. However, determining when they are copyrightable is a subtle art. This summer, the Copyright Review Board issued an interesting decision about the registrability of emojis. Though it won’t be the…
My Declaration Identifying Emoji Co. GmbH as a Possible Trademark Troll
There are dozens of federal lawsuits captioned “Emoji Company GmbH v. The Individuals, Corporations, Limited Liability Companies, Partnerships, and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule A Hereto.” Last month, in one of them, I filed a declaration stating that “Emojico appears…
A Roundup of German Caselaw Regarding Emojis and Emoticons (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Dr. Matthias Pendl, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law Introduction Emoji are a worldwide phenomenon in modern communication, and so unsurprisingly emoji cases are popping up in Germany as well. Although the number of published…
Emoji Version Variations Help Identify Fabricated Evidence–Rossbach v. Montefiore Medical
Rossbach worked at Montefiore Medical Center. She claims her supervisor sexually harassed her and then the center retaliated against her. This screenshot is the evidentiary centerpiece of her claim: The last line is the court’s: “This image is a fabrication.”…
School Can’t Discipline Student For Off-Campus Snapchat Messages–Mahanoy School District v. BL
A high school cheerleader, Brandi Levy (referred to as B.L. in the opinion), was disappointed about being placed on the JV squad instead of the varsity squad, as well as developments regarding her softball team. From the local convenience store,…
Depiction of Michigan as Hands Doesn’t Preclude Similar Depictions–High Five v. MFB
High Five Threads sells t-shirts and tchotchkes. It claims copyright and trademark protection for a depiction of upper and lower Michigan as two hands (left-most image below). People routinely depict lower Michigan as a hand, and apparently others envision the…
Emoji Law Year-in-Review for 2020
Some emoji law highlights from 2020: * My caselaw tally shows 132 cases referencing emojis or emoticons in 2020, a 25% increase from 2019. This year, I noticed that emojis are showing up in more murder cases–10 in 2020, compared…
My California Young Lawyers Association Interview About Emojis
[In August, I did an interview with Skyler Gray that ran in the California Young Lawyers Association newsletter.] How did an intersection of emojis and the law begin? Were there legal issues concerning the original punctuation emojis, such as “:)”…
Copyright Owner Claims Ownership Over Depicting Emoji Symbols in Multiple Colors–Cub Club v. Apple
[Reminder: our country is falling apart. Focus on that until the election, then revisit this post.] My Emojis and the Law paper argued that: (1) the diversity of emoji depictions (sometimes called fragmentation) creates potential misunderstandings that cause a host…