Under 15 U.S.C. §1065, subject to certain criteria, a registered mark that has been in continuous use for five consecutive years after the date of registration and is still in use shall be deemed incontestable. Incontestable status is not available for marks where (1) there has been a final decision adverse to the registrant’s claim of ownership or right to register the mark; (2) there is a pending TTAB or court action involving the mark; or (3) the mark is generic.
Scott Hervey Presents to Association of Corporate Counsel
Weintraub partner Scott Hervey presented a program on August 19, 2010 to the Association of Corporate Counsel on boilerplate language in IP transactions.
Boilerplate – those standard legal clauses appearing at the end of the agreement. These clauses are often overlooked when reviewing an agreement because they are supposed to be "standard," and in drafting they are often cut from a previous agreement and copied into a new one. This is a mistake. Boilerplate is important and should be given as much scrutiny as the rest of the contract. Although this presentation will focus certain boilerplate language in IP transactions, most of the clauses discussed can be found in any type of transaction.
World of Warcraft® Computer Game Maker Scores Big In Battle Against Infringers
On August 10, 2010, the United States District Court for the Central District of California granted Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., the publisher of the online computer game World of Warcraft, $88.5 million in a copyright-infringement case against a Georgia resident. The game publisher filed suit in federal court in Los Angeles in October 2009 against Alyson Reeves of Savannah, Georgia, and five unidentified defendants.
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Social Networking Websites – Just How Private Are they?
By: Audrey Millemann and Etan Zaitsu
The federal Stored Communications Act (SCA) of 1986 was established in an attempt to give Fourth Amendment-type privacy protections to people for their Internet communications. In other words, Congress sought to protect people’s Internet privacy from warrantless intrusion.
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Anonymous Online Video and Blog Posters Beware
By: Jeffrey Pietsch and Etan Zaitsu, second year law student at McGeorge School of Law
Thinking of running a smear campaign against a business competitor? Thinking of posting disparaging content about someone anonymously online? Think again. According to a decision made by the Ninth Circuit on July 12, 2010, anonymous online postings may not qualify as protected speech under the First Amendment.
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