Keywording and Trademarks Paper
By Zohar Efroni • November 23, 2006 at 6:28 am
I've just posted a new SSRN working paper on keywording advertising in search engines. Comments are welcome. Read more » about Keywording and Trademarks Paper
A healthy copyright system must balance the need to provide strong economic incentives through exclusive rights with the need to protect important public interests like free speech and expression. Fair use is foundational to that balance. It's role is to prevent copyright from stifling the creativity it is supposed to foster, and from imposing other burdens that would inhibit rather than promote the creation and spread of knowledge and learning.
The Fair Use Project (FUP) was founded in 2006 to provide legal support to a range of projects designed to clarify, and extend, the boundaries of fair use in order to enhance creative freedom and protect important public rights. It is the only organization in the country dedicated specifically to providing free and comprehensive legal representation to authors, filmmakers, artists, musicians and other content creators who face unmerited copyright claims, or other improper restrictions on their expressive interests. The FUP has litigated important cases across the country, and in the Supreme Court of the United States, and worked with scores of filmmakers and other content creators to secure the unimpeded release of their work.
By Zohar Efroni • November 23, 2006 at 6:28 am
I've just posted a new SSRN working paper on keywording advertising in search engines. Comments are welcome. Read more » about Keywording and Trademarks Paper
By Colette Vogele • November 22, 2006 at 9:16 pm
We have a new site here at CIS and it's tripped out with a number of cool features. I'm going to play with the tagging and will do my best to figure out how drupal works. So far, so good.
In the two days since the site launched there have been a number of things I've wanted to post about. I was unable to log in to the site due to some special "features", eh hem, but that's all fixed now... So, without further ado, here are a few things I wanted to jot down: Read more » about New site, just in time to play around.
By Stefan Bechtold • November 22, 2006 at 2:28 pm
In May 2007, the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, in collaboration with Stanford's Center for Internet and Society, will hold a "Workshop on Commons Theory for Young Scholars". Larry Lessig and Tim Wu will provide feedback to presentations by young scholars (doctoral students, post-docs and assistant professors). Read more » about Workshop on Commons Theory for Young Scholars
By Jennifer Granick • November 22, 2006 at 1:16 pm
Today, the Copyright Office issued new rules allowing people to circumvent technological protection measures on their cell phones in order to be able to switch carriers and use the phone on a different network.
Background: Read more » about Victory in Anti-Circumvention Proceedings
"As Stacey Dogan noted in her recent review of Bob Bone’s Taking the Confusion Out of “Likelihood of Confusion”: Toward a More Sensible Approach to Trademark Infringement, trademark law is at a bit of a crossroads. Scholars increasingly question basic tenets of trademark law and seek explanations for our blinkered theories of trademarks. Among recent attempts at comprehensive trademark law frameworks, some are good, some great, some … not."
Read full Jotwell article. Read more » about Of Trademarks and Brands
The Fair Use Project filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge in AP v. Meltwater. Read more » about AP v. Meltwater Amicus Brief
Sarah Morris is a well-known multimedia artist and filmmaker. In 2007, she debuted her "Origami" series, 24 paintings in which she reworked, redesigned, and reshaped origami crease patterns on canvas. Several origami artists sued Morris for copyright infringement, arguing Morris had unduly appropriated their allegedly copyrightable origami crease patterns in developing the "Origami" series. The Fair Use Project teamed up with attorneys Bob Clarida and Donn Zaretsky to defend Morris. We briefed the fair use issues on summary judgment. Read more » about Lang v. Morris
Meltwater News ("Meltwater") is a search engine and research tool that allows users to search for and obtain information about news items that have been made publicly available on the Internet. Read more » about Associated Press v. Meltwater
We filed an amicus brief in the Second Circuit on behalf of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts urging the appeals court to reverse a district court decision that ignored established fair use principles that many artists rely upon in creating their work. Read more » about Cariou v. Prince
The FUP filed this suit on behalf of a University of Denver conductor and others, challenging Congress’s restoration of copyright to works that had entered the public domain. Read more » about Golan v. Holder
Chris Sprigman, professor of law at the University of Virginia, co-author of The Knockoff Economy: How Imitation Sparks Innovation,and CIS Affiliate Scholar discusses what Apple's latest victory against Samsung means for technological innovation in the future. Read more » about Apple vs. Samsung
Kal Raustiala and Chris Sprigman, continuing their excellent blogging (soon to be in book form) about markets succeeding in absence of intellectual property, have taken a look at the question of whether or not different brands of marijuana can be covered by trademark. With the increasing legality of medical marijuana, it's not uncommon for different strands to get their own brands. However, as the two note, plant varieties cannot be trademarked, but you can build a brand on top of one. Read more » about Can You Trademark Your Pot?
The current crop of cases are an important opportunity for an appellate standard, said Julie Ahrens, an attorney and associate director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford Law School. Ahrens filed an amicus brief supporting Electronic Arts in the Hart case on behalf of three nonprofit organizations, including the Digital Media Law Project, and 10 individual law professors. "We're looking for a clear, predictable rule that limits the application of publicity rights and protects free speech rights," Ahrens said.
Read the full story at the original publication link below. Read more » about Publicity rights up in the air
CIS Affiliate Scholar David Levine will be speaking on a panel at UNC about online privacy. Read more » about Searching for a Middle Ground: Can We Stop Online Piracy While Still Protecting Speech?
Copyright Law and Fair Use with Daniel Nazer, CIS Resident Fellow Read more » about Transformation, Copyright, and the Right of Publicity in the Digital Age
Join us for an evening conversation with CIS Executive Director of the Fair Use Project Anthony Falzone and Congressman Darrell Issa where they will discuss topics about SOPA, PIPA and internet freedom. Read more » about SOPA, PIPA and Internet Freedom Where Do We Go From Here?
Watch a screening of Documentary Film Program participant, Our Summer in Tehran. Read more » about Screening of Our Summer In Tehran
March 7, 2012
In her talk, based on her forthcoming book from Yale Press, Contrabrand: Art, Advertising and Property in the Age of Corporate Identity, Sonia Katyal will discuss the intersection of art, commercial speech, and trademark law within the First Amendment, and will show how the law has shifted in response to the constitutional challenges the branding movement has created. In her talk, Katyal will focus on the "antibranding" movement in popular art and culture, which she defines to include the expressive activities of artists and activists who direct their energies towards challenging corporate branding. The greatest threat to cultural and artistic freedom, she argues, stems not from the pervasive power of the government, but instead from the powerful reach of corporate branding over artistic and consumer response. Read more » about Sonia Katyal - Contrabrand: Art, Advertising and Property in the Age of Corporate Identity (Video)
March 1, 2012
STLR Symposium 2012 - Co-Hosted by the Center for Internet and Society Read more » about PROTECT IP/SOPA - 2012 STLR Symposium - First Amendent Challenges in the Digital Age (Audio)
March 1, 2012
STLR Symposium 2012 - Co-Hosted by the Center for Internet and Society
Moderator: Declan McCullagh, Chief Political Correspondent, CNET
Panelists:
Corynne McSherry, Intellectual Property Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation;
Mike Masnick, Editor, Techdirt Blog;
Betsy Zedek, Senior Counsel, Content Protection, Fox Group Legal
A.J. Thomas, Partner, Jenner & Block Read more » about PROTECT IP/SOPA - 2012 STLR Symposium - First Amendent Challenges in the Digital Age (Video)
February 29, 2012
STLR Symposium 2012 - Co-Hosted by the Center for Internet and Society