Here’s an interesting blog post a few years ago on the objections voiced by musicians against the alleged use of their songs in suspected torture cases in Guantanamo. The article discusses some of the copyright claims the artists may raise. Most recently, artists including R.E.M. and Pearl Jam have filed a freedom of information act request to determine if the songs were used. See the recent article here.
Top 10 Places for Tech Jobs…And Their Patents
U.S. News and World Report lists the Top Ten Places for Tech Jobs. The list includes: Atlanta, Boston, Houston, Huntsville, New Yok, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington. It’s an interesting list, and I thought I would do a patent search for inventors based out of these cities. Here are the results I obtained and a chart that lists the patents for each area. The West Coast is still dominant with the top three and nearly 60% of the total share of patents. The East Coast is not doing too shabby with nearly 20%. I was surprised by the relatively large share of Houston and Phoenix. It’s nice to see some other areas of the Nation gaining some traction in the high tech sector. My main question is, why didn’t the Research Triangle of the Durham North Carolina area make the list?
More Shape Trademarks
Special thanks to my friend in Athens, Ga., Marc Lazar, for pointing out additional shape trademark possibilities. I have expanded the archive of these fascinating products.
Note: The product image is followed by the issued trademark.
Bud Light’s Trademark Fiasco
I came across a recent post on an ip blog that does a nice job describing the trademark issues surrounding beer cans using university colors.
Vote For Your Favorite Shape Trademark
My research has led me to a somewhat exotic area: 3-D product shape trademarks. These are rare but powerful forms of intellectual property. They are usually reserved for product shape designs that have iconic characteristics. Their rarity suggests that the average company does not typically invest as much in product design as they should.
Here are some famous shape trademarks I have come across over the years.
Which one is your favorite? (Mine is the fish-shaped cracker)
Note: The product image is followed by the issued trademark.
Google Obtains Design Patent For Its Website
For some time now, I have noticed how Google has obtained several design patents for its website and user interface. See below.
They also recently applied for and obtained a new design patent for the layout of search results. Click here to see it.
A design patent is not your typical patent, and it only secures the aesthetic ornamental aspects of the goods.
Nothing is stopping Google from trademarking its clean, minimalist web interface. In fact, I wrote an article in The Wall Street Journal a while back on how Apple used this very strategy to obtain a shape trademark for its iPod and iPhone.
My most recent search of Google’s nearly 100 live trademarks, however, shows they have yet to learn from Apple’s trademark strategy success.
UPDATE: Please see this newer post to learn about additional ways to secure a website’s design and functionality.
Louis Vuitton Wins a $32 Million Trademark Judgment
That’s a pretty big sum for a trademark infringement case, litigated in a federal court in Northern California. What is interesting is it wasn’t levied against some knock off artists directly. Instead, the charge was contributory infringement (kind of like aiding and abetting) against web site hosts that allowed fake L.V. hand bags to be sold via the Web. This ruling will potentially have a big impact in the world of online retail. The case bears some similarity to Napster, which dealt with copyrights and online music exchanges. In the L.V. case, however, it will be much harder in the future for fake goods sellers and their web hosts to escape unnoticed. This is, in sum, a big victory for trademark owners.
The full business wire story is here.
Back to School
Attention student innovators. If you have had a revelation for a product that would make dorm life better, visit this site to enter a contest:
Just think “lava lamp”.
J.D. Salinger Wins Copyright Lawsuit
A federal judge in New York upholds J.D. Salinger’s copyright and issued an injunction to prevent a modified version of “Catcher in the Rye” from being published in the U.S. The New York Times reports the story here.
To learn more about the lawsuit click here.
To the Folks at Twitter: Use Trademarks to Monetize Your Traffic
I just read an article on a packaging blog that mentions how companies are adding their Twitter ID on product packaging. I agree with the article’s conclusion that it’s a smart marketing move that allows a company using this strategy to stay in touch with customers. Pepsi, for example, added “twitter.com/pepsiraw” to its Pepsi Raw beverage packaging.
Here’s an idea for the folks at Twitter, who have been criticized for not monetizing their customer base. Try licensing your trademarks to companies who want to add the Twitter ID to their product packaging. After all, you own the Twitter trademarks! You can license the brand name and logo for premium royalties, in my opinion.
I ran a quick search and found six live trademarks federally registered to Twitter.
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