A Troll’s Refuge
Everyone is familiar with the phenomenon that is trolling and the ubiquitous troll face. Equally as familiar in the public conscious is the concept of the “patent troll,” a term that has been affirmed...
Category: JIPEL Blog 2015 – 2016
Comedian John Oliver Rides ‘Drumpf’ Wave to the USPTO
Donald Trump isn’t the only one filing trademarks in the hopes of capturing this election cycle’s headlines. Comedian and “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver recently amassed a great deal of news coverage and...
Fashion Copyright and the Muddling of the Useful Articles Doctrine
“The law in this area is a mess—and it has been for a long time.” Such was the dissent’s blunt assessment of the state of copyright law as applied to garment design in Varsity...
Finding the Balance Between the Media Protection and the People’s Privacy
Invasion of privacy in United States is divided into three big categories; (1) Publicly disclosing private facts; (2) Depicting a person in a false light; and (3) commercial exploitation of a person’s name or...
The Companies Behind the #WTFU
If you follow vloggers like Nostalgia Critic or Honest Trailers, you might be familiar with the hashtag #WTFU. No, it’s not an acronym for a rude phrase—it stands for “Where is The Fair Use?”...
U.S. v. Apple: National Security v. Individual Privacy
Are computer programs predominantly expressive conduct like a book, or just functional devices like machines? Do computer programs deserve the First Amendment protection of free speech? These are crucial issues that have arisen in...
Set-Top Boxing: The Proposed FCC Regulations That Could Shake Up TV Access
On February 18, the FCC voted 3-2 in favor of adopting a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) in the matter of “Expanding Consumers’ Video Navigation Choices; Commercial Availability of Navigation Devices.” The NPRM is...
Rethinking Enhanced Damages: Stryker Oral Arguments
Last week the Supreme Court heard argument in Stryker Corp., et al. v. Zimmer, Inc., et al., docket no. 14-1520, which was the first time this term that the Court has considered a patent...
Copyright: The Right Move?
Whether it is General Zod, The Eradicator, or Lex Luther, no force has ever been able to defeat Superman. But over the past seventy years, there has been a force so powerful and extensive...
Copyright of Meme-Saturated, Appropriation Culture
In November 2015, a Twitter user by the name of @updog7 scanned and posted every page of Josh Ostrovsky’s (@thefatjewish) book, Money Pizza Respect, on Twitter. Updog7 does not appear to be affiliated with Ostrovsky,...