It's a Crazy Intellectual Property World

It's a Crazy Intellectual Property World From Apple trying to register a trademark of "App Store" to Apple suing someone for selling white iPhone kits, to CBS being the subject of a lawsuit for copyright infringement; it is a crazy intellectual property world. Do not wade through the waters of intellectual property alone - let's go through some of the difficult stories. Apple's "Appstore" Trademark I do not believe that Apple will be able to either register "Appstore" or "App Store" as a trademark or successfully win its lawsuit for trademark infringement against Amazon.com. This is because many people for years have been using "app" as a shortened form for the word "application." To me, "app" is a generic term and "store" is a generic term used for "a store in which one buys applications." As the story says, "the threshold that businesses must cross in order to avoid being deemed to use a generic term" will be decided in these cases. " CBS and CNET are sued A coalition of artists have sued CBS and CNET for wilfully facilitating copyright infringement. According to the suit, CBS and CNET received advertising revenue when users of the Limewire peer-to-peer downloading system downloaded unauthorized copies of work. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2384913,00.asp Do not forget my speaking engagement: I will be speaking on June 2, 2011 at 6:00 PM to the Executives Club of New Jersey. The topic is Trademark, Copyright and Advertising Law Thoughts for Small-to-Medium Business. It will be jam-packed with thoughts and ideas. Please come. RSVP by clicking this link: http://bit.ly/mN4Nd6

Apple II Apple has filed suit against a small company run by a teen that sells conversion kits to make your iPhone 4 white. To me, it seems more of an issue of trade dress than trademark infringement, though the website's name does use iPhone.

I hope you will be able to come out to see me speak!

I hope you will be able to come out to see me speak!

Executives Club of New Jersey I will be speaking on June 2, 2011 at 6:00 PM to the Executives Club of New Jersey. The topic is Trademark, Copyright and Advertising Law Thoughts for Small-to-Medium Business. It will be jam-packed with thoughts and ideas. Please come. RSVP by clicking this link: http://www.meetup.com/ExecutivesClubNJ/events/17542263/

Hangover II/Tattoo I am sure many of you heard of the conflict between the producers and creators of "The Hangover Part II" and the tattoo artist that designed Mike Tyson's infamous facial tattoo. The artist has sued the producers and creators for copyright infringement. The first question is if a tattoo deserves a copyright. This will probably come down to the medium upon which the design is fixed. I am sure no injunction will be given, though, and we can all go to the movies this weekend. http://bit.ly/lQd9RW

Sweepstakes Have you noticed the proliferation of sweepstakes and contests? I picked up a Nesquick bottle with a sweepstakes. I received an e-mail from the New York Islanders about a sweepstakes. What other companies are holding sweepstakes? http://fb.me/Xi3heVwY

Continuing to visit and update

Just as in the last update, I have been out visiting companies. This time, it was to Toy Fair 2011. I met with many interesting businesses of many different sizes. I also tried out many new toys - all were different. (And I did

I truly am excited about small business continuing to develop and innovate.

The development means that there are more ideas coming to fruition and that means more trademarks and copyrights to protect. It also means more advertising to be vetted. It is important to not forget these components to any business, especially in one where intellectual property and advertising is the business.

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Trademark infringement is high in China - not because of counterfeiting (which is a different issue) - but because of a lack of knowledge of the trademark process. I see it often in the United States, too.

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I am reminded that I spoke to someone recently who asked about a trademark registration. He said that he budgeted for placing the advertisement with a radio station. So, now, his company's trademark and advertisement were out in the ether, in use, but not vetted by an attorney. How does the company know that the mark does not infringe others or if the advertisement passes truthfulness, not misleading, and federal regulations?

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Ford sues Ferrari for trademark infringement, as Ferrari planned to call its newest race car the F150. Ferrari backed off and proposes the use of "Ferrari F150 Italia" instead.

What I like here is the idea that more words in a trademark means that two marks that could be similar really are different: the target markets are different, the goods (while in the same industry) are different, and the marks themselves are different enough so that both can exist.

Traveleing and visiting

It is always a pleasure to visit new companies and see what new innovations are being made.

At Kravitz & Verna LLC, we do emphasize the need for companies to comply with federal regulations from different agencies in advertising. As our world grows more complex, so do regulations and so do the needs of companies to comply with advertising regulations. (As an aside, did you know California now has its own anti-spam statute, apart from the federal CANSPAM statute?)

It was with pleasure, then, that Robin and I visited the offices of CMPLY, whose website is cmp.ly, which is a start-up out of New York, helping companies follow federal compliance regulations and trying to make it easy. While no solution is black-and-white and every advertising situation has its own shades of grey, the conversations we had about advertising regulations schemes in today's world, full of social media and microsites were most enlightening and fulfilling.

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That said, I am looking forward to going to Toy Fair this year. It starts next week. I will be going there, and I hope to see anyone on this list in the toy industry at the convention. Let me know where you will be if you will be there. Just send me e-mail at averna@kravitzverna.com.

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Here is an interesting story about the federal government asking for the power to veto domain names. What troubles me here is the clash of "Security" versus the freedom of speech. This is a story to keep an eye on - especially if the federal government wishes to block any particular domain names.

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We should not be surprised, but Zynga, makes of the Farmville and Cityville games on Facebook, are enforcing trademark rights against anyone who uses "ville" in a similar use. We need to keep an eye out to see if Zynga is going to expand this use.

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I like meeting with someone at the very beginning of a project. This means I can lay out all the intellectual property issues at the beginning. What copyright issues are there? What trademark issues are there? I like developing the intellectual property plan at the beginning to reduce risk as much as possible.

Teleseminar - Trademark & More 101

On Saturday, January 22 at 12:00 PM Eastern, I will be hosting a teleseminar with Diane Kennedy, CPA on Trademarks & More 101.

Visit http://www.dianesseminars.com/ to sign up for this teleseminar. Yes, you can listen and participate from the comfort of your own home at your own phone.

Listen to what a trademark is, how they are registered, and how trademark law can affect your business.

Diane Kennedy, CPA, will be talking about tax consequences for your business.

We look forward to having you join us - virtually.

Sign up at http://www.dianesseminars.com/ to get the phone number to call in.

Advertising Law for Small Business

One question I find myself answering is why I merged my practice with Robin Kravitz' practice. This is simple: to offer my clients more services. Protecting intellectual property is only one aspect to a business. The business needs to use its intellectual property in order to have customers and bring customers back.

This is why we will be speaking about advertising law issues in another free seminar.

Come and join us at North Jersey Federal Credit Union for the second seminar in a series of four presented by Kravitz & Verna LLC. We will discuss Advertising Law for Small Businesses on December 1, 2010 at 5:30 PM.

North Jersey Federal Credit Union
711 Union Blvd
Totowa, NJ 07512 US

We will watch commercials from various eras and review print ads and discuss the following topics:

• How advertising is affected by the various areas of law
  
• Truthfulness and claims
  
• Creation, Production, Placement and what agreements are needed with agencies
  
• Best business practices
  

Please RSVP to Anthony Verna by replying to this e-mail or James Giffin at jgiffin@njfcu.org.

Do not forget our seminar - free - Trademarks for Business

This is a reminder that the Kravitz & Verna LLC seminar series startTake a look at the first of this series here:
http://events.linkedin.com/Trademarks-Small-Business/pub/458307

Our first seminar is on Trademarks for Small Business. It will take place at North Jersey Federal Credit Union.

North Jersey Federal Credit Union is located at 711 Union Blvd., in Totowa, NJ.

We will start at 5:30 PM.

Topics covered:

• What is a trademark?

• Why do I need to register a trademark?

• What is the registration process like?

• What common mistakes are made in trademark applications?

• How can I enforce trademarks?

• How are trademarks assets?

To RSVP, just reply to this e-mail or send James Giffin at NJFCU an e-mail at jgiffin@njfcu.org and say that you are going.

I look forward to seeing you there.