The Price of Success. Naplesnews.com reports that "Marco company sues for 'XM' rights." Via The Trademark Blog.

Sounds Like the Right Outcome. The Trademark Blog reports that "9th Cir: Playmakers v. Playmakers - Injunction Denied." I'm sure Sujal will be happy to know that. (c:

More Criticism of INDUCE Act. Wired reports in "Copyright Bill to Kill Tech?"

Congress May OK ClearPlay Technology. The AP reports that "Device Lets Parents Cut Smut From DVDs." Reuters has this report. If only Congress were this concerned with all content consumers' fair use rights...

Siva Vaidhyanathan on the INDUCE Act Hearings. Salon has his report in "Is your computer a loaded gun?"

Does This Mean They're Going to Hell? The Register reports that "God violates Intel trademark." From the article:

That said divine being did violate the trademark of the INTEL CORPORATION (hereafter referred to as the "plaintiff") in the promotion of an earthy place of worship in the name of his co-defendant JESUS CHRIST (hereafter referred to as the "Son of God") and did thereby undermine said trademark and its association with the promotion of high-quality silicon chips.

Via The Trademark Blog.

I Wonder if They're as Good as Krispy Kreme's? Newsday reports that "Krispy Kreme accuses Entenmann's of trademark infringement." Via the new The Blawg Channel.

Another One to Bite the Dust. The AP reports on the latest P2P casualty in "IMesh to Pay Music Industry in Settlement."

No New Information. The AP reports on the latest Disney copyright dispute in "'Lion Sleeps' lawsuit awaits Disney response."

A New Music Business Model, Barbie in a Blender, and More Bag and Baggage has this month's installment of IP Meme.

Make that Trademark Infringement. BoingBoing reports on a recent trademark infringement case filed by Miller in "Mullets. Copyright. Beer."

More on Lindows Settlement. Reuters reports in "Lindows Settles with Microsoft, Sets IPO Terms." The AP has this report.

This Could Get Interesting. The AP reports that "Advocacy groups challenge Fox News slogan."

Is the Second Circuit the Best Place to Set Up a P2P? Wired reports on a New York-based P2P company in "P2P Company Not Going Anywhere."

An End to the LINDOWS Dispute. The Trademark Blog reports that "The MS To Purchase LINDOWS name and LINDOWS.COM Domain Name."

A New Take on Code is Law. LawMeme applies the concepts of Lon Fuller's book, The Morality of Law to software in "The Morality of Software."

Disney in Court Again. Reuters reports that "Marvel Sues Disney Over Cartoon Series Profits."

Court Denies Injunction Against MasterCard. Law.com reports in "No Trademark Violation Found in Dispute Over 'Smart Cards'."

Musical Copyright Battle Across the Pond. BoingBoing reports on the debate surrounding a recent UK copyright decision in "Musicologist wins copyright battle over 300-year-old works."

Not Even One Quote from the Anti-Extension Camp? Reuters reports on efforts to extend the copyright duration in Europe in "European Copyright Clock Ticking on Elvis Hits."

You Didn't Think it Would be Easy? The AP reports that "Tough road for patent-busters."

Investors Beware. Reuters reports that "Suit Against Napster Backers OK."

Why Deal With the Nasty Taste if You Don't Even Get a Caffeine Jolt? Reuters reports that "Decaf coffee brews ownership controversy." From the article: "In an industry which the International Coffee Organization, ICO, estimated in 2002 generated some $70 billion in global retail sales, the stakes are high as Ethiopia challenges Brazil over the ownership of plants collected from the East African country's forests." (Wonder how much hate mail I'll get for denigrating the taste of coffee?)

Have they Actually Offered Goods and Services Under the Mark SHIRE? BoingBoing reports that "Tolkien estate claims trademark for 'shire'."

Another Round of P2P Suits in Canada? The Globe and Mail reports that "Canadian music industry files music-swapping appeal."

A Bad Sign for Patent Protection in China? LawMeme reports that "China Revokes Viagra Patent."

More on the Boston DMCA Case. C-Net reports that "StorageTek wins copyright injunction."

I Guess They Were Bound to Make a Few Enemies. The LA Times reports that "Suzuki, Consumer Reports Settle Case."

Judgment in Tony Twist Case. The AP reports that "Tony Twist wins battle over name." The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch has this report.

Larry on outFOXed Documentary. You can read Larry's take on the IP issues involved here.

I Thought There Was Already Case Law Finding this to be Fair Use. If not, it seems like copyright protection has been strengthened beyond that of patent protection. BoingBoing has this post about a recent DMCA ruling.

For the History Buffs. The Illustrated Story of Copyright.

I'm Shocked, Shocked... The Trademark Blog's take on the Googles.com opposition.

If You Do Business in the EU, Pay Attention. The Guardian reports that "Software patents are back on the European agenda and the stakes are high" in "Patently unfair."

Ugh. The AP reports that "Patriot Act Wins House Vote."

Challenging Conventional Wisdom. Wired reports on a recent experiment with using P2P services for publicity purposes in "Winwood: Roll With P2P, Baby."

Lessig Weighs in On INDUCE Act. Lessig has this to say.

Disney in the News. Reuters reports that "Disney Settles Patent Suit with OpenTV."

Six Years Seems to Raise a Latches Issue. Reuters reports that "Google Trademarks Targeted by Kids' Site Googles."

Fed Circuit Rejects Rehearing on Written Disclosure Requirement. Law.com reports in "COX-2 Patent Ruling Leaves Bitter Taste."

Am I the Only One Who Thinks This Sets a Bad Precedent? I don't even want to think of how many American journalists are likely breaking the law of China and other authoritarian regimes by posting news stories critical of their leadership... The Age reports on U.S. efforts to extradite an Australian national in "Alleged software pirate back in jail."

New York Times Weighs in On Recent Wiretap Decision. The New York Times reports in "You've Got Mail (and Court Says Others Can Read It)."

More On Debate Over Texas Slogan. The LA Times has this.

Heavy Hitters Come Out Against INDUCE Act. InternetNews.com reports that "P2P Bill Induces Tech Group to Action."

This Quote Says it All: "Not only does it rip us off, but it's not even as good." E!Online Reports in "Wayans' 'White Chicks' Rip-Off?"

How About Interviewing a Trademark Lawyer? The Louisville Courier-Journal reports on a key word dispute in "Web ad for lawyer linked to competitor spurs dispute."

Mark Your Calendars. C-Net reports that "Kazaa copyright trial set for November."

More on Federal Wiretap Case. Wired has this analysis.

More on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" Copyright Dispute. Reuters reports that "Disney Says It's Not Liable in Lion Song Dispute."

Happy Fourth of July.

Another IP Blawg. Check out Chris Rush Cohen, via Bag and Baggage.

Moore Responds to Filesharing of F9/11. BoingBoing reports here.

Tail Wagging the Dog? Reuters reports that "Groups Urge Bush Action on Copyright Piracy."

Poetic Justice? Reuters reports on the latest Disney fracas in "A Flap Over 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'."

Copyright Flap Over Moore Film. E!Online reports in "Playing 'Fahrenheit'?"

The Headline Says it All. From BoingBoing, "Porno patents."

Apparently You Can Prohibit a Hacker from Accessing the Internet, but Not a Child Molester. Law.com reports that "Computer Ban for Pedophile Is Too Broad, Says Calif. Court."

More on the INDUCE Act. The Boston Globe reports in "For geeks, it's a big misunderstanding."

I Think They Meant First Circuit Court of Appeals... since I doubt Massachusetts state courts are in the business of interpreting federal criminal statutes. Wired reports that "E-Mail Snooping Ruled Permissible." (Which may be overstating it a bit. They ruled it wasn't criminal, but my guess is that the customers may have a claim for breach of the service agreement.) The AP has this report.

Naming it After the Employee in Question Probably Doesn't Help Google's Claim it was Independently Developed... Wired reports on the social networking service wars in "Lawsuit: Google Stole Orkut Code." Reuters has this report.

I'm Confused. How exactly does securing a registration for the mark WHITEHOUSE for use in connection with adult subject matter aid one in selling the domain name whitehouse.com to a third party if you make absence of sexual content a condition of the sale? The AP doesn't really answer that question in "Pornography site strips political references." And I have definite questions about whether Mr. Parisi actually has a bona fide intent to use the mark WHITEHOUSE with all of the goods and services listed in his 18 trademark applications.

News From Up North. The AP reports that "ISPs Win Canadian Music Downloading Case." Reuters has this report.

Is Your Client on the List? Wired reports that "EFF Publishes Patent Hit List."

Still More on the Barbie Case. Reuters reports that "Artist Hails Court Win Over Barbie Parody."

COPA, COPA Cabana. CNN reports that "High court bars Internet porn law enforcement." Reuters has this report, the AP reports here. Balkin has his analysis here.

But How Does it Taste? The AP reports on the long-running dispute regarding the Budweiser trademark in "Czech Brewer Favored in 'Budweiser' Fight."

The Sixth Circuit Isn't Exactly a Hotbed of Trademark Litigation. But their website is pretty. The Trademark Blog reports on a recent Sixth Circuit trademark decision.

Ouch. The Trademark Blog covers the judge's award of over $1.5 million in attorneys' fees in the Mattel case. The New York Times reports in "Judge Says Artist Can Make Fun of Barbie."

Busy Bees. Reuters reports on the passage of two recent bills in "Senate Passes Toughened Copyright Laws." Wired has this report.

How Long Do You Think it Took Them to Come Up With That Name? The AP reports on the new PIRATE Act in "Senate OKs Fines for Illegal Downloading."

Is it Just Me? The Trademark Blog had a link to this recent Second Circuit decision dealing with common law copyright issues, but I can't seem to get past the first page of the .pdf. Not sure if it's just me, or a problem with the file on the Second Circuit website. In any event, the case is Capitol Records, Inc v. Naxos America, Inc., 03-7859 (2d Cir. June 18, 2004). Update: I received this very helpful response from someone at Foley: "I had trouble opening another opinion, and it turned out to be that the 2nd Cir webmaster uses a nonstandard port (81) and my firewall blocked it. Once I adjusted the firewall (or, actually, my IT guy did it), no further problems." Thanks! If only the IT guys at my firm trusted us enough to actually let us modify our settings. (You haven't seen dummy-proof until you've seen the restrictions on our system.)

More on the Senate P2P Bill. Wired reports that "File-Trading Bill Stokes Fury."

Ninth Circuit Considers Interesting Jurisdiction Questions. Law.com reports that "9th Circuit Snaps at Gator's Argument."

Fourth Circuit Reaffirms Broad ISP Safe-Harbor. Howard repor0ts on a recent ruling of the Fourth Circuit here. In it, the court extends the holding of Religious Technology Center v. Netcom On-Line Communications Services, Inc., 907 F. Supp. 1361 (N.D. Cal. 1995), to find no ISP liability for passive hosting of copyrighted photographs, even if the ISP fails to qualify under the safe-harbor provisions of the DMCA.

More Reason to Register Your Domains Early. BBC News reports that "Rooney sparks net names scramble."

Is Microsoft the New IBM? Once upon a time, IBM was recognized as one of the most prolific patent shops around. Looks like Microsoft is giving IBM a run for its money. C-Net reports on the latest Microsoft patent.

Boucher Finds Powerful Allies. C-Net reports that "Tech heavies support challenge to copyright law." Check out the Boucher interview here.

One of the Downsides of the Expense of Litigation... is that parties don't have an incentive to contest claims like these, since settling even a frivolous claim is often cheaper than pursuing legal vindication. Good to see Wendy being quoted, even though they got her name wrong. Of course, Jason Schultz arguably takes his claim too far, since U.S. (and presumably UK) copyright law does provide for separate copyrights in sound recordings.

Does the RIAA Really Need Congress' Help? Reuters reports that "Senate Bill Targets Internet Song-Swapping." Hatch's "Think of the Children" angle has to be a first... C-Net has reports here and here. Lessig weighs in here.

Are There Really That Many More File Sharers in St. Lois Than in New Jersey? The AP reports that "Hundreds More Sued Over Music File Swaps." Reuters has this report, while C-Net reports here.

This One Raises Interesting Questions About Contributory Trademark Infringement. Reuters reports that "Tiffany Sues eBay, Says Fake Items Sold on Web Site."

More on the Alternate Harry. Salon reports on "Harry Potter: The digital remix." (Subscription or day pass required.)

Looks Like He Won't Let This One Go... Seems a little late in the game for this. The AP reports in "Bradbury: Change 'Fahrenheit' title."

Boucher Finds Co-Sponsors. Wired reports that "DMCA Foes Find Allies in House."

More on the Pop-up Wars. Click Z reports that "Claria Fires Back at L.L. Bean Suits Against Advertisers." Via The Trademark Blog.

Robinson in Hot Water Over "Soul in the Bowl" Trademark. The AP reports that "Chef sues Smokey Robinson over slogan."

SCO in the News Again. C-Net reports that "Mixed rulings advance two SCO cases," and "Revenue tumbles for Linux foe SCO."

More Patent News. C-Net reports that "Microsoft file patent faces exam."

Have You Ever Tried to Copy Songs off the Radio? The RIAA: Protecting the world from digital copies of songs with inane DJ voice-overs... "RIAA Moves In on Digital Radio."

So Which One Do You Want to See Go? Here's your chance to Enter the Patent Busting Contest over at EFF.

My Brain Hurts. Interesting discussion of copyright in the digital arena. (Note: Link is to an application called Monolith, which "munges" together two arbitrarily-selected binary files.) Via BoingBoing.

Something's Fishy... According to this press release, Lite Breeze Inc., a San Diego company, has sued Britney Spears for trademark infringement. According to Lite Breeze, Spears' recent CD, "In the Zone," infringes Lite Breeze's trademark rights in its mark IN THE ZONE. Lite Breeze, "a San Diego based corporation specializing in athletic clothing and sporting team uniforms," claims that it uses the mark IN THE ZONE in connection with the promotion of "musical and live sporting event entertainment." However, a look at the PTO records shows that, while Lite Breeze owns a registration for the mark IN THE ZONE for use with "sportswear, namely shorts, T-shirts, tanktops, sweatshirts and sweatpants," the trademark application filed by Lite Breeze on January 15, 2004 for IN THE ZONE for "Phonograph records featuring music; pre-recorded audio cassettes and compact disc featuring music; pre-corded video tapes featuring music performances; magnetically encoded phone cards" and "Entertainment services in the nature of live performances by a musical artist," was based on intent-to-use. Spears' album was released on November 18, 2003. In addition, several companies have registrations for IN THE ZONE for goods and services much more closely related to those claimed by Lite Breeze than Spears' album. For example, Rehage Entertainment, Inc. owns a registration for IN THE ZONE for "sports festival services, namely, conducting a flag football festival." Lifetime Products, Inc. owns a registration for IN THE ZONE for "portable basketball standard with a weight-bearing base ballast." Not to mention the fact that Fox Sports has used the mark IN THE ZONE since 1996 for, among other things, "entertainment services in the nature of production and distribution of television programs." Looks like a frivolous suit to me.

It's Spreading. C-Net reports that "Music industry preps more lawsuits."

Sounds Like Microsoft is Keeping its Patent Counsel Busy. C-Net reports that "Microsoft checks off patent win."

Sampling Pioneers Speak Out. BoingBoing reports in "Public Enemy's history of copyright in hip hop."

Looks Like More Legal Troubles Ahead for Apple. Steve Jobs just can't catch a break. BoingBoing has the details in "Real 'Walkman' settles with Sony."

Testing the Waters of Fair Use. The New York Times reports on an "alternative" soundtrack for the first Harry Potter film in "Hijacking Harry Potter, Quidditch Broom and All." Good to see JZ still offering insightful media comments.

Interesting Look Inside WIPO Treaty Negotiations The folks over at EFF (and UDP) have this report on the 11th Meeting of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. Background here.

This is a New One. An interesting use of the copyright laws in "Defendants go on the offensive."

Don't Mess with My BlackBerry. The New York Times reports on oral arguments scheduled for today before the Federal Circuit in "Contest Over BlackBerry Patent."