Lady Gaga Sues Over Lady Gaga Trademark
By Alison Parker
Reviewed by Jennifer Williams
Lady Gaga has made it clear time and time again that she will stop at nothing to protect her trademark and image. The pop singer recently filed a lawsuit against Excite Worldwide LLC over its frivolous trademark application. The Nevada-based jewelry and cosmetics company filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to score the rights to use the name “Lady Gaga” and “Lady Gaga LG” for one of their product lines. Her lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Jessica Alba Sues the Belly Bandit
By Maria Cheung
Reviewed by Jennifer Williams
Jessica Alba has sued Camden Companies, the maker of the popular Belly Bandits, a weight-loss garment that helps new mothers shed the post-baby weight. Alba is seeking more than one million dollars in damages from the company for using her name, image, likeness and photograph on its website to sell their products without her permission.
According to the lawsuit, Alba’s attorneys initially served Camden with a cease and desist letter in September, but the company did not comply with Alba’s request to take down the materials at issue. Alba’s attorneys claim the company has “prominently featured and posted a photograph of Alba and listed her name under the ‘Celebrity Testimonials’ section of their website.” The company “has knowingly and intentionally misappropriated and used” her to endorse their “post-pregnancy clothing and accessories,” Alba’s lawyers continued to state. The lawsuit filed on October 11, 2011, alleges that the company features a fictitious testimonial from her on their website and has a product that it claims is, “Jessica Alba’s #2 Secret for a Fast Post Pregnancy Slimdown!”
The Hermès Family’s New Plan
By Maria Cheung
Reviewed by Jennifer Williams
Hermès International’s family shareholders continue to win important victories in their battle against Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (“LVMH”) and other minority shareholders, after French authorities approved the Hermès family’s plan to group their shares without having to buy out minority shareholders. In January, the French market regulator, Autorité des Marchés Financiers (“A.M.F.”), ruled on the legality of the Hermès family’s plan to place more than 50 percent of the company’s shares in a new holding company. Since then, despite multiple appeals, AMF continues to rule in the Hermès family’s favor.
Were Reebok’s EasyTones An Easy Scam?
By Alison Parker
Reviewed by Jennifer Williams
There’s a fit girl on TV and she’s telling you that you can get fit too–but not by using workout DVDs or going on some crazy diet. All you have to do is wear a pair of Reebok shoes. This girl starts talking science and numbers to prove how legit these shoes are, and she is really convincing. So you go out and buy a pair of Reebok EasyTone sneakers and hit the pavement. Depending on the results from your experience, you may be relieved to know that you can now get a refund from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Reebok and the FTC entered into a $25 million settlement agreement over the EasyTone shoes back in September.
Occupy Wall Street? How about Occupy NBA
By Ari Rada
Reviewed by Kyu Hee Chu
112 days ago the former Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between NBA owners and NBA players expired resulting in the possible termination of the entire 2011-2012 NBA season. A similar situation happened back in 1999 when the NBA owners and the NBA players had difficulty compromising on a labor agreement which caused the typical 82 game season to be reduced down to 50 games because of the delay. The NBA owners and NBA players association (NBAPA) have been negotiating and mediating for the past 112 days regarding what the new labor agreement will be for the next seven to ten years. In other words, the owners and players are negotiating on how to split revenues generated by the NBA and how much the players can get paid over the next seven to ten years (longer than the average career of an NBA player). The delay in reaching a new CBA has already resulted in David Stern (NBA commissioner) to cancel the first two weeks of the NBA season, which was originally scheduled to start on November 1st.
DVD Copying Software Pulled Off Shelves
By Maria Cheung
Reviewed by Jennifer Williams
Real Networks, the company that manufactures RealDVD, a DVD copying software, has agreed to pay $ 4.5 million and to permanently stop selling the software as part of its settlement deal with six major Hollywood film studios. The lawsuit began in 2008, when the film studios sued Real Networks and accused the company of selling software that essentially helped consumers steal the content of various DVDs by enabling the public to copy the DVDs. The studios probably sued the company for contributory infringement because Real Networks was distributing a device that could materially contribute to the infringement and the company probably had knowledge that the device could be used in an infringing way.
What’s What With Confidentiality and Non-Competition Agreements?
By Alison Parker
Reviewed by Jennifer Williams
At times, when entering into a business relationship with another party, a contract may require you to disclose certain information you wish to keep secret. A Confidentiality Agreement, also known as a Non-Disclosure Agreement, is a way for you to protect yourself. These binding agreements explicitly lay out terms that ensure you preserve all of your valuable ideas, data, business models, and so forth, from unauthorized third parties when doing business. Depending on the situation, one or both parties may divulge confidential information. Generally speaking, the following should be clearly laid out in your agreement:
The Playboy Club: Doomed from the Start
By Maria Cheung
Reviewed by Jennifer Williams
The fate of NBC’s The Playboy Club may have been set in stone before the pilot even aired. The network pulled the controversial show off the air after only three episodes, although the cast and crew shot a total of seven episodes. The cancellation is no surprise and was expected months before the show premiered. The drama attempted to attract a wide audience on a network with many content restrictions. The show premiered to low ratings and then dropped for each of its three telecasts with the last night attracting only 3.4 million viewers and a 1.2 rating in the adult demographic.
Appropriation Art: Fair Use or Unfair Copying?
By Jaiana Casanova
Reviewed by Kyu Hee Chu
Is there such a thing as truly original art? Most people believe that there really isn’t! This is because every artist is influenced by something in his surroundings, which the artist generally borrows, copies or even uses when working on a piece of art.
However, some artists have taken this even further by really using other artists’ creations or just mere everyday things for their new creations. This is known as appropriation art. This type of art refers to the more or less direct “taking over” into a work of art a real object or even an existing work of art.[1] The purpose of the “taking over” is to give the audience the opportunity to recognize the original work, and also to see such work from another perspective and with a different meaning or message than that of the original work.
The Many Hats of Sherlock Holmes
Reviewed by Kyu Hee Chu
What do Tony Shalhoub (an OCD-driven detective on Monk), James Roday (a “supernatural” detective on Psych), and Hugh Laurie (an inductive reasoning-driven doctor on House) all have in common? Well, a lot, actually. For starters, the three white males all star in shows with titles that are short and sweet. Interestingly, they also all play similar character-roles—the unconventional problem-solver—on USA Network’s current television lineup. Yet, the three characters were “conceived” by three different creators (Andy Breckman, Steve Franks, and David Shore, respectively). Can any one of these writers secure a copyright for this so-called ‘character-type’?
