On October 17, 2016, a US federal trial court in the District of Columbia ruled that a competitor may pursue a Lanham Act claim for false advertising due to a container of black pepper. Watkins Inc. v. McCormick & Co.
Copyright Office to Decrease DMCA Agent Registration Fees by 94%
As of December 1, 2016, the U.S. Copyright Office will decrease the fee to register an agent to receive “takedown” notices under the DMCA from $105 to $6, pursuant to a new regulation. There will be additional changes, and everyone
Better Business Bureau’s New “Native Advertising” Guidance
On October 25, 2016, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) announced its release of a new section to its Code of Advertising to address The term “native advertising” describes ads where the “design style and functionality of commercial messages mimic related
The duty to disclose under the Lanham Act and New York law
On September 2, 2016, the federal trial court in Manhattan issued its opinion in Casper Sleep, Inc. v. Mitcham, relating to a mattress review website and its disclosures. Slip Op., Casper Sleep, Inc. v. Mitcham et al,
NY Court Says No Grand Theft of Stars’ Publicity Rights. What About California?
In July, the Brand Protection Blog reviewed potential “right of publicity” claims that might have been brought by celebrities whose wax “look alikes” appeared in Kanye West’s “Famous” music video. That analysis largely focused on California’s Celebrity Rights Act. A
Making us safer, through Brand Protection
What does brand protection have to do with cybersecurity? A study earlier this year demonstrates the connection.
The study reviewed domain names for 11 major industrial control system (ICS) vendors. ICS vendors provide, among other things, supervisory control and data
Social media campaigns and lobbying
GAO finds EPA violated law
On December 14, 2015, the General Accounting Office found that a portion of the Environmental Protection Agency’s social media campaign violated federal laws relating to propaganda and anti-lobbying. Because the laws also affect government contractors,
DMCA Exemption – vehicle software (Part 5 of 6)
In the sixth triennial proceeding to determine Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) exemptions, the Copyright Office adopted an exemption concerning the electronic control unit (“ECU”) software found in automobiles and agricultural vehicles. The new exemption permits owners to circumvent the
DMCA exemption for smart TVs (Part 4 of 6)
Today, in our multi-part series on DMCA exemptions, we cover a new exemption concerning “smart TVs”. In addition to the exemptions for jailbreaking devices such as smartphones and tablets that we described in Part 3, of our series, the
Gobble Inc.’s (not so) “eco-friendly” claims discontinued
California-based meal delivery service Gobble Inc. made some changes to its advertising, just in time for Thanksgiving. On November 18, 2015, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureau announced that Gobble agreed to discontinue