News

Formula for the Day: Generic Term + ".com" ≠ Protectable Trademark

Thu, 08/05/2010 - 09:42 | by Administrator

The 9th Circuit released its decision in Advertise.com v. AOL Advertisiing, in which it held that AOL’s trademark “Advertising.com” was generic, that simply adding “.com” to the generic term “Advertising” did not make it distinctive, and reversed the district court’s injunction forbidding Advertise.com’s use of that domain name.  You can find the 9th Circuit's opinion here. Read more »

Great Resources for GC's on Social Media Policies

Fri, 07/30/2010 - 16:07 | by Administrator

In an earlier post, I discussed the need for General Counsel to consider the need for corporate social media policies.  I've just found some terrific resources.  Several websites collect and track the on-line social media policies of various companies, including: Read more »

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FTC Hates 'Free' Credit Reports

Fri, 07/30/2010 - 13:16 | by Administrator

Straight from the FTC's website:

FTC Warns Websites That Offer 'Free' Credit Reports: Disclose Federally Mandated Free Reports or Face Prosecution Read more »

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Aggressively fighting Litigation Costs - A Business Prenup?

Thu, 07/29/2010 - 16:01 | by Administrator

The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (the "CPR") has come up with a really interesting approach to fighting commercial litigation costs.  After apparently a lot of hard work, they have proposed a Model Litigation Civil Prenup to put in all commercial contracts.  Essentially, it limits by agreement the amount of discovery and discovery fights parties litigating a commercial contract may engage in. Read more »

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Can copiers be a potential security hazard?

Wed, 07/28/2010 - 12:13 | by Administrator

Just something for you GCs and private law firm attorneys out there to think about.  Most digital copiers use hard drives. Ever wonder what might be on those hard drives when it comes time to trade in or sell your copiers?


A few states are starting to pay attention to the issue.  It would seem to me that regardless of what states or bar associations end up doing, a good practice would be to remove hard drives and either wipe them, or possibly even physically destroy them.

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Could breaking out of jail now be legal?

Tue, 07/27/2010 - 14:05 | by Administrator

..... or stuff that you never knew the Librarian of Congress ever did.


Here's something I didn't know (don't say it - yeah, I should've known).  But when Congress passed the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (which, among other things, prohibited the circumvention of copyright protection mechanisms), it also granted the Copyright Office the power to exempt certain classes of copyrighted works from the prohibition.  Read more »

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Social Media Policies - Thoughts for GCs

Mon, 07/19/2010 - 13:51 | by Administrator

With the explosion of social media, compounded by potential access to it from workplace computers, GCs now have to worry about e-harassment.  Not many clear rules or guidelines exist at the present because many of the cases involving social media harassment are still working their way through the courts. Read more »

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Direct Marketing Association Sues Colorado Over Internet Sales Tax Law

Fri, 07/09/2010 - 16:54 | by Administrator

Per the DMA's press release, it has "filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Colorado challenging the constitutionality of a new Colorado notice and reporting law (HB 1193) that requires out-of-state retailers to turn over to the Department of Revenue (DOR) confidential purchasing history information regarding their Colorado customers, and even certain customers in other states."  For more information, you can find the press release here and a copy of the DMA Complaint Read more »

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9th Circuit Decision Allows Use of Trademarks in Domain Names

Fri, 07/09/2010 - 16:54 | by Administrator

The 9th Circuit yesterday released a decision on the use of another's trademarked term in a domain name.  The opinion is styled Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. v. Tabari, No. 07-55344 (9th Cir. July 8, 2010). 


For more information and analysis, click here.


 

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FTC Publishes FAQ on its Revised Endorsement Guides

Fri, 07/09/2010 - 16:53 | by Administrator

Last fall, the FTC published Revised Endorsement Guides setting out the rules for "advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial ads in line with the FTC Act."  See FTC Press Release with link to the text of the Revised Endorsement Guides here.

The FTC apparently received a lot of questions regarding the Guides, so it recently published a FAQ to the Guides, which can be found here.

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