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Free speech roundup

Walter Olson — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:11:10 +0000

Berkeley: “Police chief sends sergeant to reporter’s home after midnight to demand article revision” [Poynter] In 1932, a New York Congressman convened a hearing to blast theater critics for harming the welfare of Broadway shows [Philip Scranton, Bloomberg]
“Blasphemy and free speech” [Paul Marshall, Hillsdale "Imprimis," PDF] “Egyptian Christian Imprisoned for 6 Years for Insulting Mohammed” [Volokh]
What is it about Montana and election free speech these days? [Volokh] Judge denies Ron Paul campaign request to unmask source of anti-Huntsman video [Paul Alan Levy, earlier] “Eliot Spitzer Bucks Liberal Orthodoxy: ‘Citizens United Was Correct’” [TheDC] If you rely on the NY Times for what you know about Citizens United, you’re probably misinformed [Wendy Kaminer, Atlantic]
“In which Ben Bagdikian, alleged scourge of media monopolies, frets at the possibility of more TV channels” [BBC via Jesse Walker]
Guernsey as a haven for libel tourism? [Annie Machon] “Someday I will commission a study of the relationship between defamation lawsuit threats and illiteracy.” [@Popehat on Gawker item]
“Key Techdirt SOPA/PIPA Post Censored By Bogus DMCA Takedown Notice” [Mike Masnick]
Overly aggressive trademark lawyers? “Their mothers love them too, in a prone-to-sudden-weeping sort of way.” [Popehat; earlier on Louis Vuitton v. Penn Law case]

Tags: Bay Area, broadcasters, campaign regulation, Eliot Spitzer, free speech, libel slander and defamation, Montana, police, trademarks

Free speech roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Penn Law to Louis Vuitton: zip that nastygram

Walter Olson — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:20:35 +0000

A student organization at Penn Law created a poster for a fashion-law event playing off the well-known design of luggage-and-handbag purveyor Louis Vuitton. Lawyers for the luxury firm fired off a cease-and-desist letter, but the Penn law department declined to comply, a stance that Eugene Volokh finds persuasive: ” I think the use of the marks can’t qualify as dilution, is unlikely to confuse, and is likely to be a fair use in any event.” Another view: Ron Coleman (dilution a possibility).

Tags: law schools, nastygrams, trademarks

Penn Law to Louis Vuitton: zip that nastygram is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Komen breast cancer charity

Walter Olson — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:40:20 +0000

On the trademark-assertiveness front, as readers of this site know, they’ve been no strangers to controversy. Perhaps as a gesture of goodwill toward critics they’d consider calling off the lawsuit threats against other legitimate charities that attempt to use the color pink?

Tags: trademarks

Komen breast cancer charity is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Village Voice To Stop Suing Over ‘Best Of’ Lists”

Walter Olson — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:53:54 +0000

“The Village Voice is giving up on a scheme to force rivals to pay for permission to use the phrase ‘best of.’” [Paid Content]

Tags: publishers, trademarks

“Village Voice To Stop Suing Over ‘Best Of’ Lists” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“The saddest trademark case of 2011″

Walter Olson — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 05:33:44 +0000

Eric Goldman is not a fan of the parties’ handling of Fancaster v. Comcast, Inc., in which two companies are battling over noncompeting uses of a business name that neither has been able to turn into much of a success. That hasn’t kept them from shoveling a lot of money at lawyers over three and a half years.

Tags: trademarks

“The saddest trademark case of 2011″ is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“SOPA: An Architecture for Censorship”

Walter Olson — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:09:53 +0000

The proposed law is being promoted as a way of blocking piratical “rogue” sites, but once it’s up and working, and internet providers have begun automatically blocking sites from a list continually updated by the government, it won’t stop with copyright and trademark infringers. Extending the interdiction to other sorts of sites will be a relatively simple and straightforward matter:

With the legal framework in place, expanding it to cover other conduct — obscenity, defamation, “unfair competition,” patent infringement, publication of classified information, advocacy in support of terror groups — would be a matter of adding a few words to those paragraphs.

How long before a sentimental Congress yields to demands to block suicide- or anorexia-promotion sites, or perhaps those accused of glorifying the taking of illegal drugs or profiting from depictions of animal cruelty? [Julian Sanchez, Cato, more; earlier] More: Stephen DeMaura and David Segal, Roll Call (potential use against political candidates), Bill Wilson (ALG), The Hill, Stanford Law Review, “Don’t Break the Internet”.

Tags: copyright, free speech, online speech, trademarks

“SOPA: An Architecture for Censorship” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Chick-Fil-A vs. “Eat More Kale,” cont’d

Walter Olson — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:33:56 +0000

Paul Alan Levy finds it hard to sympathize with either side of the much-noted trademark dispute, and notes that before the restaurant chain sicced its lawyers on him, Vermont t-shirt silk-screener Bo Muller-Moore had himself sought to trademark the “Kale” version of the slogan: “why should Muller-Moore be able to prevent other members of the public from making T-shirts with the same slogan?” [CL&P, earlier]

Tags: trademarks

Chick-Fil-A vs. “Eat More Kale,” cont’d is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Chick-fil-A Is Worried You Can’t Tell Kale From ‘Chikin’”

Walter Olson — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 05:37:08 +0000

The slogan “Eat More Kale” gets a Vermont t-shirt silk-screener in trouble with the fast-food chain. [Gothamist]

Tags: restaurants, trademarks

“Chick-fil-A Is Worried You Can’t Tell Kale From ‘Chikin’” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Update: “Kellogg Settles ‘Toucan Sam’ Dispute With Archaeologists”

Walter Olson — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:56:00 +0000

A happy ending (kinda) to the cease-and-desist battle that began when the giant food company decided the toucan on the Maya Archaeology Initiative’s logo was too reminiscent of its Froot Loops mascot. [Kevin Underhill/Forbes via Musing Minds, earlier]

Tags: trademarks

Update: “Kellogg Settles ‘Toucan Sam’ Dispute With Archaeologists” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Notre Dame to Kansas high school: drop that fighting leprechaun logo

Walter Olson — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:47:52 +0000

“Chapman High School, whose athletics teams have been known as the Fighting Irish since 1967, has been formally asked by the University of Notre Dame to change its leprechaun logo due to the college’s trademark on the image.” [Yardbarker]

Tags: football, trademarks

Notre Dame to Kansas high school: drop that fighting leprechaun logo is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system