January 17, 2015 Copyright / Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark

Universal Sues Companies for Selling Prison Mix Tape “Contraband”

On Tuesday, January 6, Universal Music Group turned its eye back toward the fight against music piracy by filing a copyright infringement lawsuit in the Central District of California against companies compiling mix tapes for prisoners.

Centric Group and its subsidiary Keefe Group, the named defendants in the suit, are companies that put together “care packages” for prison inmates. The companies have set up a website through which customers can pay the companies to put together packages for delivery to relatives in jail. One popular …

January 16, 2015 Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark / NFL / Trademark

US Gov’t Joins Fight Against “Redskins” Trademark

On Friday, January 9, the United States Department of Justice filed a notice of intervention with the Eastern District of Virginia to intervene in the lawsuit between Washington’s football team and the Native American group, who successfully petitioned to have the team’s trademarks revoked.

The lawsuit stems from a June ruling by the US Patent & Trademark Office that revoked six of the Washington football team’s trademarks as the term “Redskin” was determined to be disparaging to a substantial amount of Native Americans during the …

January 15, 2015 Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark

Football Helmet Maker Riddell Sued Rawlings for Patent Infringements

Sports equipment manufacturer Riddell filed a four-count lawsuit against Rawlings, another sporting goods maker, over five Rawlings helmet models—Tachyon, Impulse, Quantum, Momentum and Force—and shoulder pads that allegedly infringe on Riddell’s technology.

More specifically, the lawsuit involves three patents related to protective helmet designs and one related to shoulder pad design.

At the end of the 2013 season, NFL and Riddell agreed to end a deal that gave Riddell an exclusive right to put its name on the helmet’s nose bumper. For the approximately …

December 29, 2014 Music / Trademark

Benihana and Benny Hunna Battle For Naming Rights

Benihana, the self-proclaimed “leading Asian themed restaurant chain in the world” (see Notice of Opposition), has brought it’s a-game in a trademark battle with Mississippi’s hottest up and coming rapper and entertainment mogul, Benny Hunna.

Benny Hunna, born Benny Hodges, is an aspiring rapper hailing from Mississippi who filed for a trademark of his rap name with the US PTO in May 2013 to use it as the name of the entertainment empire he is currently building. His name, however, caught the ear of …

December 17, 2014 Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark

Nike Sues Three Former Top Designers After Move to Adidas

On December 8, Nike filed suit against three of its former designers after they left to work for Adidas. According to Nike’s suit, Dennis Dekovic, Marc Dolce, and Mark Miner violated their non-compete agreement and stole trade secrets from their former employer.

The lawsuit seeks more than $10 million in damages and an injunction preventing the trio from opening a new design center called Brooklyn Design Studio. Allegedly the studio is a replica of Nike’s Innovation Kitchen. Nike claims it will suffer irreparable harm and …

December 13, 2014 Copyright / Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark

Pistol Pete Lawsuit Put to Pasture

On Wednesday, December 3, 2014, Oklahoma State University and New Mexico State University defuse their duel over the classic ‘Pistol Pete’ mascot with a nominal licensing agreement.

OSU originally brought the copyright infringement lawsuit back in October, protecting its 80 year old trademark from the similar-looking classic NMSU logo. In 2005, NMSU began to phase out the classic logo in favor of a widely unaccepted, but modernized ‘Lasso Larry.’ The New Mexico State Aggies now use an updated version of a pistol-toting cowboy that avoids …

December 9, 2014 Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark / Litigation / Music / Trademark

Creedence Clearwater Mark Revisited

There’s a bad moon on the rise once again for John Fogerty. Fogerty, the former lead singer and guitarist for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Creedence Clearwater Revival, and a man who holds the distinction as being perhaps the only musician in the history of recorded music to be sued for allegedly plagiarizing his own recording in another one of his own recordings, finds himself feelin’ blue again, having been sued last week by his surviving former bandmates, Doug Clifford and Stu …

Redskins Suit Against Native Americans over Trademarks Goes Forward

A federal judge in Virginia decided to hear the Redskins’ suit against a group of Native Americans over the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s decision to cancel the Redskins trademark registrations.

In a suit brought by a Native American before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) decided in June to cancel the Redskins six trademark registrations because the name was “disparaging to Native Americans.” The team filed a federal lawsuit to overturn that decision.

Following the Redskins …

Sampling Not Palpable in “Run This Town” According to Judge

On Thursday, November 13, Jay-Z’s copyright infringement litigation load lightened up as District Judge Kaplan for the Southern District of New York filed an Order seemingly favoring Jay-Z.

This good news comes just over a week after yet another federal lawsuit was filed against Jay-Z for allegedly stealing a song, “Made in America.” In this dispute, Jay-Z is being accused of sampling the song “Hook & Sling Part 1” in his 2009 hit “Run this Town.” The Judge’s order states that after several listens, the …

Man Sues Jay Z and Kanye for Stealing “Made in America”

A musician named Joel Mac filed a copyright infringement suit in New York federal court, claiming that the hip-hop musicians Jay Z, Kanye, and Frank Ocean stole his song.

According to the complaint, Mac allegedly sold a CD containing his 2009 song titled “Made in America” to Mike Dean, one of the producers of Jay Z’s “Watch the Throne” album in 2011 outside a New York hotel where the hip-hop musicians were recording part of the album. Later, when the album was released, Mac discovered …