Back on June 19, a unanimous Supreme Court struck down a law prohibiting the registering of “disparaging” trademarks, in a case dealing with an Asian-American band called “The Slants.” The ruling also ended the appeal filed by the Washington Redskins which had been denied a trademark for their name under the same provision. The Court […]
In a case that presents a crossfire of First Amendment and intellectual property issues, the Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday in a case involving an Asian-American band that calls itself “the Slants.” The Slants had been denied a trademark for their name by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) under a Federal law that […]
Having waged literally thousands of battles against Getty Images’ copyright trolling program I was not surprised to see that they engaged a French law firm to attack US authors for alleged defamation in France. That’s what happened to a client of mine recently who has a blog that exposes, challenges and criticizes Getty Images’demand letter […]
The Media Law Committee of the American Bar Association commissioned a study to analyze GOP Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump’s history of using lawsuits to stifle criticism. The study was commissioned after Trump issued a series of declarations that he was going to sue several news outlets critical of him. The study was done by […]
BREAKING NEWS: If you are stupid enough to upload a video to YouTube in which you threaten to shoot specific police officers (whom you name and who are scheduled to testify in your upcoming criminal trial) you might be labeled a terrorist! At least that’s what an Appellate Court in Pennsylvania told Rashee Beasley last […]
Emily Fanelli hired a company called Mr. Sandless to refinish the floors in her Staten Island home for a fee of $695. Fanelli wasn’t happy with the finished product, or the “corrective actions” the company took after she complained. So she did what many other disgruntled consumers have done before – she complained online. She […]
We’ve all been there – you get a speeding ticket you feel you didn’t deserve (basically every speeding ticket ever written to me) and you just wish you could tell the Traffic Agency to “F*ck Off” as you mosey up to the window to pay your fine. Well, three years ago, Willian Barboza, who was […]
“Why can’t they do something to stop the naked women in Times Square?” my mother asked me on the phone the other day. “What do you want them to do?” I asked just for kicks. “Lock them up of course – since when was it alright to walk around in the street flapping your boobs […]
As if we haven’t had enough news lately about a sexist, overblown, billionaire named Donald, along comes Donald Sterling back into the news. Sterling, you may recall, is the 80 year old disgraced former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team. He went from “owner” to “former owner” last year after a tape of […]
Copyright 2009-2018 Oscar Michelen.