Alt Legal IP News – Issue #96
Hannah Samendinger | July 10, 2018
IP Abroad
– The European Union rejected a proposed update to their copyright laws that had recently garnered attention for potentially being meme-ending. This is considered a win for tech giants that pushed back hard against the changes.
– A New Zealand court found that Kim Dotcom, a “file sharing mogul,” is eligible for extradition to the United States on copyright charges.
– Is the taste of cheese protectable by copyright? An opinion on July 25th will hold the answer.
A Little Cultish
– Bootleg Grateful Dead merch has become a mainstay in the fan culture, or, for those of you hipper than me, a “legitimate style flex.” So far the band’s stance towards the fan creations has been unsurprisingly relaxed.
– An app that allowed users to play a game of Sabacc, a card game that resulted in Hans Solo winning the Millennium Falcon, violated Disney’s copyrights.
– What is the legality of couture?
– Marvel may own the current X-men trademark registrations, but within the MarvelUniverse, they belong to Kitty Pryde.
Greenery
– Disparate environments, hybrid species, and patents have quietly made China a cannabis superpower.
– The FDA approved its first cannabis drug. What is next?
– Scientists are working on mapping the cannabis genome, but will this open the doors for big pharma to broadly patent certain strains?
– Canada has legalized cannabis, so what is next for cannabis trademark protection?
Odds and Ends
– The ABA Journal has compiled examples of the art and craftiness of cease and desist letters.
– If you have seen a trailer for The Purge, a 2020 campaign slogan might look familiar. The trademark applications (#1, #2) for the slogan are currently suspended. An applicant for a similar mark, which has an outstanding office action, seemingly filed his application to block liberal applicants.
– The Federal Circuit found that TTAB erred in determining the genericness of Coca-Cola’s ZERO trademark registrations.
– A YouTuber was surprised when YouTube sent him a copyright infringement notice that cited his own song.