California’s own Tesla Motors made headlines across the nation recently when it announced its decision to “open source” its patented technology in an effort to make electric cars more widely available within a shorter time frame. The company promised not to initiate patent lawsuits against others who used their designs in good faith.
Patent office cancels controversial Redskins trademark
After a year of heightened controversy over the Washington Redskins name and logo, the football team suffered a blow to its intellectual property rights recently when its trademark registration was canceled by the U.S. Patent Office.
Beastie Boys win copyright infringement lawsuit
Many companies use popular music in their promotional videos and advertisements. Using a well-know artist's or band's music is a common technique to promote your own brand, but if you use a band's music in your ads without their permission, you could find yourself in legal trouble.
Use of movie posters leads to copyright lawsuit against Spike Lee
Well-known Hollywood director Spike Lee and his production company have been named in a copyright infringement lawsuit over the use of a designer's posters being used to promote the film "Oldboy" without his permission. According to the lawsuit, the designer created the movie posters for the film and offered them to the defendants. However, they never paid him for the posters, which was a condition of using the movie posters.
