IP Law Blogger and WGC partner Scott Hervey is quoted in an August 25, 2008 AdWeek article entitled Brand Defense – Protecting Trademarks and Copyrights.  

"The courts are all over the place right now on [keyword search terms]," says Scott Hervey, trademark group chair at Weintraub Genshlea Chediak Tobin & Tobin in Sacramento, Calif. Hervey represents Hulk and Brooke Hogan on IP issues. "There hasn’t been a uniform rule yet on what is applicable, even with regard to Google."

For the complete article, please follow this link:  To AdWeek Article

By Scott Hervey

John Facenda is a football legend. His deep, baritone voice is “distinctive,” some say “legendary.” Without question, for most football fans, John Facenda was the voice of NFL Films. 

 For decades Facenda worked for NFL Films as an off camera commentator. He worked on a session by session basis under an oral agreement, receiving a per performance fee. Shortly before he died in 1984, Facenda signed a “standard release” contract with NFL Films which stated that NFL Films enjoys “the unequivocal right to use the audio and visual film sequences recorded of me, or any part of them… in perpetuity and by whatever media or manner NFL Films…sees fit, provided, however, such use does not constitute an endorsement of any product or service.” (Emphasis added.)

In 2005, NFL Films produced a 22 minute long television program entitled “The Making of Madden NFL 2006.” The program was about the soon to be released version of the highly popular video game, Madden NFL. The program featured interviews with NFL players and game producers; it contained several sequences comparing the games virtual environment with the actual NFL playing environment, and commented on the realism of the graphic quality of the video game. The program also featured audio and video clips from pervious NFL Films productions, including three sentences, lasting a total of 13 seconds, that were read by Facenda. The producers of the program modified Facenda’s audio clips to make his voice sound more like a computer.

Facenda’s estate sued NFL Films and others claiming that the use of Facenda’s voice in the program falsely implied that Facenda or his estate had agreed to endorse the video game. 

 

Continue Reading Football’s Voice of God Sues NFL Films for False Endorsement

By Sarra Ziari

On August 20, 2008, in Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., Judge Fogel of the United States District Court, N.D. California ruled that copyright owners must consider fair use before issuing takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), and issued a warning against the misuse of takedown notices by overreaching copyright owners. 

Continue Reading https://www.theiplawblog.com/2008/09/articles/copyright-law/2842/

By  Scott Cameron

United States copyright law saves for the copyright owner the exclusive right to distribute copies of his copyrighted work. That is, of course, unless an exception applies. There are many exceptions, some of which can be confusing. Among the confusing exceptions is the First Sale Doctrine. According to the First Sale Doctrine, once a copyright owner has made an authorized sale of a copyrighted product, the copyright owner no longer has any rights to that copy of the product. The First Sale Doctrine sounds simple enough so far. Enter the Ninth Circuit.

Continue Reading Are Foreign Sales “First Sales” Under Copyright Law? It Depends….

By Audrey Millemann

In Prasco, LLC v. Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp., 2008 WL 3546217 (Fed. Cir. 2008), the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has further limited the test for subject matter jurisdiction in declaratory judgment actions. The court held that the test, previously expanded by the Supreme Court in MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc., 127 S.Ct. 764 (2007), requires affirmative actions by the patent owner to establish a case or controversy satisfying Article III. 

Continue Reading Federal Circuit Further Refines Declaratory Judgment Jurisdiction