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One for the Little Guy! Community Church Defeats Adidas in Trademark Dispute
As reported by The Fashion Law, Adidas has been trying to register “Adizero,” the name of a line of sneakers, with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) since 2009. Unfortunately for Adidas, the Chicago-based Christian Faith and Fellowship Church had already trademarked “Add a Zero,” a phrase the church uses on its merchandise, namely […]
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Legal Drama at the 2016 World Chess Championship
The last time the World Chess Championship was held in the U.S., O.J. Simpson was just a month away from being acquitted of murder. Twenty-one years later, the 2016 World Chess Championship, currently underway in New York, has gotten off to a rocky start. According to Reuters, on October 31st, organizers of the World Chess […]
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Tidal Claims Exclusive Streaming Rights to Prince Catalogue
On Nov. 2 Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) won the bidding war to become “worldwide publishing administrator” for the entire Prince catalogue. Unfortunately, for streaming purposes, it may have to license those publishing rights exclusively to Tidal. According to Billboard, on Nov. 11, Jay Z’s entertainment company, Roc Nation, filed paperwork in a Minnesota district […]
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European Songwriters Pressure US to Change Copyright Exception
When the owner of a public space plays recorded music, she must obtain a license for the public performance of the copyrighted musical work. American copyright laws require the owner to only obtain one license for the song copyright, whereas in other countries, owners are required to obtain an additional license for the recording copyright, […]
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No More Secrets For The NFL?
The past few months have not treated the NFL very well. The League recently posted record low ratings for Monday Night Football and Sunday Night Football ratings have sunk to a 5-year low. Despite this ratings slump, the NFL’s most recent problem is of even more economic significance. On October 24th, Justice Jeffrey Oing of the […]
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Costume Copyright Case Haunts the Supreme Court on Halloween
On Halloween this past Monday, costumes were not only on the minds of trick-or-treaters and partygoers, but also of the eight Supreme Court Justices, who heard a copyright case concerning cheerleader costumes. According to the Wall Street Journal, Varsity Brands Inc., the country’s leading cheerleader uniform maker, is suing smaller manufacturer Star Athletica for copyright […]
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Is “Uptown Funk” the new “Blurred Lines”?
Minneapolis college funk band, Collage, has sued Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars for copyright infringement over the 2014 hit song “Uptown Funk.” According to Pitchfork, the complaint claims the track is a “strikingly and/or substantially similar copy” of a Collage song entitled “Young Girls” the band wrote in 1983. The alleged similar elements include the […]
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Trademark Issue on Hold in the Nation’s Capital
According to Forbes, the well-publicized legal battle over the emblem for the NFL’s Washington Redskins has been put on hold. Recently, a federal appeals court delayed the case involving the legality of the team’s trademarked mascot and its controversial “Redskins” name. After unsuccessfully petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case, the professional football […]
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Trouble in the Twittersphere
Twitter shareholder Jim Porter filed a shareholder derivative lawsuit in California federal court this week against a slew of Twitter executives. According to Fortune, the complaint claims that the defendants concealed the truth about Twitter’s slow user growth in order to inflate the stock price and sell their personal stock holdings “for hundreds of millions […]
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Musicians Fight for Legal Reform in a Changing Industry
As the year draws to an end and music fans start to speculate on which artists will and should be honoured with Grammy nominations, the Recording Academy, the organization in charge of the Grammy Awards, will undoubtedly garner a lot of attention for its always controversial choices. However, most fans are unaware of the Academy’s […]
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No Grammys For Frank Ocean This Year
As reported by Billboard, Frank Ocean will not be winning any Grammy Awards this year. Despite being released prior to September 30, 2016, the 2017 Grammy eligibility cutoff date, neither Blonde nor the visual album version, Endless, were even submitted for consideration. Whether this was an intentional decision or an oversight is still unclear. One possibility […]
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Cox v. NASCAR: Frivolous Action, or Fight Against Racial Discrimination?
Hailing from the Great Peach State, Terrance Cox III filed suit against NASCAR, its parent company and eighteen of its race teams. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York on September 16, 2016, alleges that Mr. Cox’s, “attempts to make NASCAR more racially diverse were rebuffed by the sanctioning body.” According to […]