Moments before former President Donald Trump took to the stage at a Montana rally this August, Celine Dion’s 1997 hit, “My Heart Will Go On,” blasted over the speakers while a clip appeared onscreen. It took less than 24 hours for the five-time Grammy winner’s team and Sony Music Entertainment…
In the cutthroat arena of business, where ideas spark revolutions, the protection of intellectual property (IP) is not just a legal formality—it’s a survival strategy. Imagine a world where your groundbreaking ideas, painstakingly nurtured, are snatched and claimed by others. This isn’t just a hypothetical scenario; it’s a real threat…
Yesterday, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced a joint study on IP issues related to NFTs. This follows a Congressional request by senators Leahy and Tillis that the Offices explore these issues. Today, the Offices will publish a Notice of Inquiry (unpublished version…
We’ve written extensively on the still somewhat recent arrival of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as both a potential revenue stream, caveat-filled investment destination and pop culture marker of the moment. Back in 2018, we wrote about the Los Angeles Dodgers giving away digital bobbleheads to fans, who could redeem a private…
In today’s News of Note, we explore ransomware-as-a-service profits, the continued untangling of IP issues with NFTs, the prospect of scented virtual reality experiences, the development of a humanoid robot, and much more. Hackers use source code revealed in Conti ransomware leak to target Russian organizations. (Lawrence Abrams, Bleeping Computer)…
For years, website owners have leveraged the federal Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (CFAA) as a tool to combat unauthorized scraping of data and other content from their websites. Due to a circuit court split on the interpretation of the CFAA’s “exceeds authorized access” provision, there has long been a…
Carolyn Toto recently joined host Joel Simon on his Industry Insights podcast continue the discussion of non-fungible tokens, related IP ownership issues and more. Joel Simon: Our discussion today is part of a series on non-fungible tokens, known as NFTs. We will take a look at some specific issues that are somewhat…
On November 24, 2020, Dave Chappelle posted his “Unforgiven” stand-up set to Instagram and publicly called out Viacom and Comedy Central over the streaming rights and revenues from his early-2000s hit, Chappelle’s Show. As we previously explained, rather than litigating what seemed to be Viacom-friendly contract language, Chappelle was taking…
Just before Thanksgiving, Dave Chappelle posted to his Instagram account an 18-minute stand-up set titled “Unforgiven.” As expected, Chappelle’s fans ate it up, and the original video has been viewed more than six million times in the two weeks since its posting. Chappelle opens the set sharing stories and lessons…
Many companies are increasingly looking to the federal government during COVID-19 for liquidity or other financial assistance. Colleague Drew Schulte recently spoke with host Joel Simon on Pillsbury’s Industry Insights podcast and highlighted a variety of strategies available to companies with intellectual property assets (and particularly patents or patentable assets)…