Tag Archives: Unfair Competition

Can We Give State Cannabis Trademarks Some Teeth While Waiting for a Federal Solution?

Cannabis trademarks. By now, most IP lawyers know two things about them.

First, even though cannabis is legal in an increasing number of states (9 allow recreational use; 29 allow medical use), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is refusing applications to federally register cannabis trademarks, no matter the home state of the applicant, until the substance gets reclassified by or removed from the Controlled Substances Act (which doesn’t seem to be on the immediate horizon).… More

The London Omnibus And its Impact on U.S. Trademark Law

Omnibus Photo by DaveIf you are traveling to London in August (as I am right now), you don’t have to go far before you start soaking in this great city’s contribution to trademark law. In fact, the very first thing many tourists encounter when they arrive in London – the Paddington Station taxi stand – had a significant impact on U.S. trademark jurisprudence over a hundred years before the Lanham Act.… More

Authorship Credit for Scholarly and Creative Works: The Elusive American Attribution Right

creditWhat if were to tell you that I jointly authored this article with a colleague, but that I’m not going to give her any credit or attribution because I don’t feel like it? Can she sue me for copyright infringement? No, because we are joint authors, so I have as much a right to publish this article as she does. If we lived in Europe, my colleague might have relied on her inherent right of attribution,… More

Ninth Circuit Knocks Down Unfair Competition Case against Yelp!

YelpFor those few of you who don’t know already, Yelp! (“Yelp”) is a wildly popular website where people can share their reviews, opinions, experiences, and ratings of businesses across the country.  This service is invaluable when investigating new restaurants, dog walkers, dry cleaners, etc.  However, it is important to take the reviews with a grain of salt because, no matter how great a store is,… More