By Miles McDonald Did you know that you could own virtually anything as a trademark? From letters and numbers to sounds and colors, U.S trademark law under the Lanham Act[1] allows ownership of almost anything. In the world of American Football, Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman and current Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson are…

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By Rachel Bamberger Trademarks are necessary to help consumers distinguish between the different brands and the packaging of competing companies.  Given the diverse range of formulas for dog food, trademarks are vital to ensuring names and packaging stand out among competitors.[1] Section 37 of the Lanham Act states that “in any action involving a registered…

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By: Nicole Maxwell The rise of social media and technology is causing creators — and judges — to examine old-standing copyright laws more closely. Although Congress has not amended the Copyright Act since 1976, courts are enforcing the exact language of the statute even more than before.[1] In May 2023, the Supreme Court held that…

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By: Gustav Gulmert According to the Environmental Working Group, over fifty percent of Americans consider their tap water as unsafe.[1]Instead, people turn to water pitcher filters for their drinking water at home, the gym, and work.[2] Zero Technologies, LLC (“Zero”) and Brita sell high-performance gravity-fed water pitcher filters approved by the NSF Foundation, a standards-setting…

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By: Vincent Alfieri Universal Music Group has recently filed a lawsuit against Anthropic PBC, an Amazon backed startup, alleging that the company’s Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) chatbot infringes on the lyrics from multiple copyrighted songs.[1]  Universal’s complaint contains numerous side-by-side comparisons of the chatbot’s generated lyrics and the lyrics from copyrighted works.[2] When directed by a…

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By: Bethanie Ramsey On December 28, 2018, Nirvana, LLC[1](hereinafter “Nirvana”) filed a copyright and trademark claim against Marc Jacobs International (hereinafter “Jacobs”).[2]  Nirvana alleges that Jacobs used a smiley face on pieces of his Bootleg Redux Grunge collection that was “virtually identical” to the trademarked smiley face logo used on Nirvana merchandise.[3] In 1991, Kurt Cobain,…

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By: Monica Carranza  The Second Circuit, which encompasses the U.S. Southern District Court of New York (“S.D.N.Y.”), is a popular location for impactful lawsuits.[1] In April 2017, a trademark suit was brought against Brooklyn legend Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter’s brand Roc Nation, LLC (“Roc Nation”) by Iconix Brand Group, Inc., (“Iconix”) the company to which he sold his…

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