Good news from the German antifa and related organizations scene: copyright protection.
A small group based in Germany has begun buying the Trade Mark rights to certain words and phrases - mainly abbreviations of words associated with extreme right wing groups and movements often aligned with the ideals of the original Nazis - so have them removed from the marketplace.
Companies producing these slogans will now be forced to remove them from their catalogs, from the stores and from sale, or face legal fines.
I found it really upsetting that Momofuku would come down on a woman-owned small business after trademarking a common name for an internationally widespread condiment. In the article, she says the public outcry hasn't led to actual sales so I got her sambal chili crunch and rendang curry paste. (Her legal bills are pretty extreme.) Wish her the best. ❤️
Next was a fantastic talk by @rtushnet on trademark law in a time of doctrinal shifts at Duke. Tushnet clearly articulates why and how trademark law is different from copyright law, how recent judicial shifts in the US are impacting trademark law, and considers how drunk one would have to be to mistake a bottle of Jack Daniels for a parody dog toy. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmeK6j4wrkM (9/11) #law#trademark#US
You've heard the news about 'Steamboat Willie.' For ongoing news about the growing number of resources available to you in the public domain, check out Public Domain Review—a valuable news site with extensive listings and a free newsletter.
By the way, don't be confused between #Copyright and #Trademark. These two are totally different.
Let's use Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
While the earliest versions of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse are now in the #PublicDomain it does not mean you can freely create and sell your own merchandise with them on it. That falls under Trademark.
Copyright covers works of art like the character, the stories, literary works, music. In the Mickey and Minnie Mouse case, the images and stories, and the character art itself, are now in the Public Domain.
However, using these characters as in a merchandise like mugs and t-shirts is not under Copyright, it is under Trademark. Disney still holds the Trademark rights for these characters.
You can draw Mickey and Minnie. You can create new stories for them. Not only that, but you can write a new literary work, say a novel or a children's book or a film, based on the earliest versions of these characters. Just not anything that falls under Trademark.
If you are going to do something that you think might fall under Trademark law, the best course of action is to ask #Disney. If they say it doesn't fall under Trademark law, then keep that reply, as it is your proof they gave you permission. Otherwise, try to negotiate if you really need it.
So, again, Copyright (and in this case Public Domain) is totally different from Trademark. Many countries choose to call these two as #IntellectualPropertyRights. While it is correct (and confusing), they are different and there is no overlap between them. They have completely separate uses/coverage.
#IANAL and #TINLA, however, it doesn't mean you can't study Copyright and Trademark laws.
One big difference, in the default papers it actually details the amount each defendants Statutory damages. It also seems to highlight that their previous 5 cases from 2022 hasn't apparently done anything to deter 1 named defendant.
The #law provides 3 tools: #patents#trademark and #copyright not because they add something new but because they are, ultimately, profitable.
Every other manifestations of human existence was deem economically worthless.
Yet, at least 5 of the richest corps in existences "feed" on those "worthless" manifestations of human existence as their main source of raw material to create the products they appropriate an protect with the same 3 old tools.
But the principle that "Pseudo-#IP Rules Shouldn't Block Free Speech" has the nice side effect of highlighting what's wrong with this otherwise unrelated effort:
Shady advertisers are now cloning the faces and voices of doctors to provide fake endorsements of their product on TikTok. Since TikTok makes money from this, it's unclear if they will do anything about it. An extremely convincing example and the horrified doctor's reaction is linked here: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMjwk1hkd/