As the Wall Street Journal put it in a May 21 story, “It took almost no imagination to pretend that the nameless Rutgers University quarterback in the popular EA Sports NCAA Football videogame was Ryan Hart.” The Rutgers quarterback in the video game exhibited virtually every one of his traits with the exception of his
The Los Angeles Times reported on May 21 that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo sent a “pro forma” letter to Rich Soil, the clothing line launched by NBA star Lamar Odom and designer Jonathan Garcia. According to the Associated Press, Cuomo warned that the logo on one of the brand’s T-shirts could be in violation
Last November, we discussed a Forbes column authored by Eric Goldman in which the Director of the High Tech Law Institute and Associate Professor at Santa Clara University School of Law noted that “there have been countless trademark lawsuitsover competitive keyword advertising” during the last dozen years, but most trademark infringement lawsuits fail. On May 14, Goldman wrote
In November 2011, the US International Trade Commission ruled that Nintendo Co. did not infringe on two patents owned by Dublin, Ohio-based Motiva LLC in making its Wii video game system. On May 13, the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington DC affirmed that decision, allowing Nintendo to continue importing the Wii into
The multiplayer online video game World of Tanks broke its own Guinness World Record for Most Players Online Simultaneously on one MMO Server in April 2012 when more than 305,000 players were on a European server. At the end of last year, the game had 45 million registered players worldwide. The popularity inevitably led to imitators, but
In February, we discussed the patent infringement case involving Vernon Hugh Bowman, a 75-year-old Indiana farmer who bought agriculture giant Monsanto’s genetically modified soybeans that were intended for animal feed from a grain elevator, planted the seeds and saved some seeds for later plantings. Monsanto requires farmers to buy a new batch every season and claimed Bowman
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction after being published in 1960. More than 30 million copies of the novel have been sold in the half-century since, as it has been translated into over 40 languages and the book is required reading at schools across the country. The Associated Press
The British computer and video game magazine Edge reported on May 1 that the Japanese restaurant group Monteroza has filed a claim against Nintendo Co., Ltd. alleging trademark infringement. Monteroza claims that the Wii U WaraWara trademark, used as part of the “WaraWara Plaza” screen that players initially see when turning on the console, is too
Internet memes take many forms, but whether they are images, videos or phrases, it is important to understand that memes are also subject to copyright protection. “Keyboard Cat” is a 1984 video of a cat named “Fatso” in a blue shirt that appears to be playing an electronic keyboard that was uploaded to YouTube in
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Madden NFL, the Electronic Arts, Inc. (EA) game, has sold more than 100 million copies and grossed over $4 billion in sales. The next annual release will be the 25th anniversary edition of the football game. Robin Antonick developed a prototype for a football game on the old Apple II operating
