By Mark McKenna In the name of not being left out of the interesting discussion about Snoop Dogg’s trademark lawsuit against Gary Barbera (not to be confused with Hannah Barbara, of Flintstones fame), I thought I would put in my…

By John Ottaviani Eric and I have been debating the claims in the 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg cases, and whether there can be trademark like protection for “speech patterns.” Not surprisingly, as one who likes “non-traditional” trademarks, I am…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

By John Ottaviani Dell Computers has contributed to the growing body of cases finding that “browse-wrap” contracts (terms and conditions posted on a website that do not necessarily require one to click on an “I agree” or “I accept” button)…

No surprise, but Gov. Murkowski signed SB 140 into law yesterday, enacting the most problematic anti-adware law to date. In signing the law, the governor said: “By signing this bill, I am sending a strong message that we will not…