Multiple American microbreweries have entered into trademark infringement disputes. With so many breweries now operating across the country, there have been numerous instances of similar brands and company names. In one case, two breweries had the same name but in different languages. Zwei Bruder means “two brothers” in German, which upset Two Brothers Brewing Company in Illinois.
Two weeks ago, we wrote about the new Game of Thrones episodes leaking onlineand the controversy surrounding it. Several users of Twitter’s Periscope service uploaded the episodes, which Twitter quickly removed. However, questions surrounding the case and others like it have yet to be answered. Are websites or people uploading the stolen content to websites liable for damages?
A trademark dispute is being fought between Twentieth Century Fox and Empire Distribution. Empire Distribution is a San Francisco-based record label. Fox has asked a judge to allow the network to continue using Empire as the title of its new television series. Empire Distribution claims that the title of the show has caused confusion about the artists
The first four episodes of the new season of Game of Thrones leaked online last weekend. In the first 18 hours, over 1 million people had downloaded the leaked episodes. Game of Thrones is HBO’s most popular television series, with last season’s finale drawing more than 7 million viewers. It did not take long for the pirated episodes to
Various companies are in legal trouble for selling mixtapes to the family and friends of inmates in correctional facilities. Universal Music has decided to crack down on this industry, which market mixtapes as “care packages.” Many well-known artists such as James Brown and Eminem have been mentioned in the complaint sent to a California federal
A.V.E.L.A., Inc. and Fleischer Studios, Inc. are in a major legal battle over a well-known cartoon character from the 1930s and 1940s. Namely, Betty Boop. Despite being 70 years removed from her glory days, she still commands enough interest to attract lawsuits over trademark infringement. Fleischer Studios, which was created in the 1970s by the family
Hothead’s game app Kill Shot is beating Glu Mobile’s game app, Deer Hunter, by eight spots in a list of Apple’s top-grossing games for the iTunes App Store. However, Hothead could lose to Glu Mobile in a copyright and trade dress infringement lawsuit. The argument by Glu Mobile is that the games are identical, except that Kill Shot
The U.S. government has taken bold measures to crack down on the distribution of counterfeit apps. Illegally distributing counterfeit apps is clearly copyright infringement. On Monday, March 24, the two men responsible for AppBucket pled guilty to conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. AppBucket was a popular website that sold counterfeit Android apps at low prices.
Though Getty Images rarely sues those who use their photographs without permission, it still qualifies as copyright infringement to use their stock photos found elsewhere on the internet. Previously, Getty was known for sending settlement demand letters to individuals and organizations using their photographs without any preemptive cease-and-desist letters. The letters would ask for incredibly
According to San Francisco Weekly, the popular and controversial A&E show, Duck Dynasty, has stamped its brand on a host of consumer items, from camouflage Segways to a family Christmas album, “Duck the Halls.” Recently, the Duck Dynasty brand has collaborated with the St. Helena-based Trinchero Family Estates on the Duck Commander wine series featuring
