Toll Free Communication
On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Intellectual Property on Friday, June 9, 2017. Copyrights created in times past are sometimes challenged using today's laws. This year, the rights to a classic piece of vaudeville will take center stage before the U.S. Supreme Court. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's
On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Intellectual Property on Wednesday, May 31, 2017. Jillian Michaels is well known for her role as a fitness trainer for the TV show The Biggest Loser. Since her first appearance on the show in 2004, she went on to become a celebrity fitness guru. She is known for her tough but caring style as a trainer on television, but also for the numerous physical fitness DVDs, online videos, books and workout routines she has created. An astute businesswoman, by 2015, Michaels had built a successful fitness business and a highly recognizable brand. But there was [...]
By The Myers Law Group posted in Intellectual Property on Friday, March 17, 2017. A Southern California artist, Donald Wakefield, was surprised to find unauthorized knock-offs of his art years after he created and gifted his one-of-a-kind granite sculpture to a colleague's son. His original sculpture, "Untitled" (pictured on the far left), was created in 1992. Approximately sixteen (16) years after Wakefield's creation, Wakefield endeavored to investigate whether other unauthorized knock-offs of his work existed. He discovered that knock-offs of his work, and the work of other artists, were displayed throughout Orange County on properties developed by Olen Properties Corporation ("Olen") which is owned [...]
On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Intellectual Property on Thursday, March 9, 2017. Ivanka Trump's clothing and jewelry lines have been pulled from a number of retail stores in recent weeks. Other retailers - including T.J. Maxx and Marshalls - have stopped promoting her brand, choosing instead to mix her products in with other name brands in their stores. Nordstrom blames lagging sales in 2016 as its reason for dropping her designs, denying that the boycott instigated by Grab Your Wallet had anything to do with it. Other big-name retailers are still contemplating similar moves. Ivanka Trump's intellectual property woes This is [...]
On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Intellectual Property on Wednesday, February 8, 2017. President Trump's inauguration caught the eye of foodies across the country. Eyebrows were raised - not because of the sumptuous appetizers, but because of alleged food plagiarism. Copycat cake gives rise to #CakeGate The cake cut with a sword by President Trump and Vice President Pence at the Salute to Our Armed Services Ball was an exact replica of a cake created for Obama's second inauguration in 2013. The original creator, Duff Goldman, a pastry chef who starred on Food Network, immediately noticed the duplication and started a [...]
By The Myers Law Group posted in Intellectual Property on Friday, January 13, 2017. Former members of the 1960s rock group, The Turtles, brought a class action lawsuit against SiriusXM back in 2013 for playing their pre-1972 recordings without their permission. Just as the case was set to go to trial, SiriusXM decided to settle with the band and thousands of recording owners for a whopping $99 million. Pre-1972 recordings are not covered under federal copyright laws, so instead The Turtles went after royalty payments owed under state copyright laws in California, Florida, and New York. Before the suit, digital radio services did not [...]
On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Intellectual Property on Monday, November 28, 2016. China has long been depicted as a wild west for intellectual property rights. For decades it was famous as a pirate publisher and maker of knockoff products. The country has been trying to adopt a more law-based approach to IP, but problems continue to occur. The latest company caught up in this confusion is the Walt Disney Company. Disney licenses Disney Shanghai, an immense installation that opened this past June. As is customary, Disney gave the park exclusive rights to its characters. Imagine the consternation, then, when a [...]
By The Myers Law Group posted in Intellectual Property on Wednesday, October 12, 2016. Halloween 2016 is sure to bring some of the most entertaining pop culture costumes like the characters from Suicide Squad. These characters belong to DC Comics and costume companies that create and sell these type of costumes for profit must license out the intellectual property for each costume design from its respective owner. Then there are those costumes of real people like the presidential candidates, Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, and Kim Kardashian West. Whether you exercise the right or not, everyone has the right to control their name and likeness for [...]
On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Intellectual Property on Monday, August 17, 2015. When selecting the name for your new foodtruck, or for any good or service, you need to carefully consider your options. It is important to make sure that your proposed name would not fall under the "generic" or "merely descriptive" categories, thereby eliminating or hurting your chances of obtaining a trademark registration (and making it easier for the competition to 'steal' your brand). When considering a name for your foodtruck, you want to make sure it isn't generic, descriptive, or deceptively misdescriptive. For example, MEXICAN FOOD TRUCK is generic for [...]
On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Intellectual Property on Monday, August 17, 2015. Crowdfunding is a new way to help turn ideas into reality. Instead of going the traditional route of using your own money, borrowing from family or friends, taking out a bank or small business loan, or seeking investors through venture capital groups, an entrepreneur can create a page on one of the many popular crowdfunding platforms and bring interested potential investors to him/her. One of the perks of going the crowdfunding route is that your "investors" (the businesses and/or individuals who donate to your campaign) are not considered [...]
