Trademark Law

Gone are the days when intellectual property was consigned only to the scientific inventors, artists, and advertising agencies of the world. Now, over thirty years have passed since the public was introduced to the world wide web, and the internet has permanently changed societal, cultural, commercial, and legal norms. Computer software and technology falls squarely under the vast umbrella of U.S. intellectual property (IP) law, but those laws affect far more than software developers and tech companies. Most businesses encounter numerous intellectual property concerns every day, and, yet many remain unaware of the benefits and pitfalls they face. Here are […]

In recent years, the Supreme Court has taken a keen interest in harmonizing intellectual property and the free speech protections of the First Amendment.[1] In 2023, the Court held that artist Andy Warhol’s unauthorized use of a photograph of Prince to create a silk screen portrait of the artist was not a protected fair use under the Copyright Act.[2] In the copyright context, fair use carves out a line of demarcation between an author’s right to monopolize his creative expressions and free speech by allowing others to engage in non-infringing uses like critiques, commentary, new reporting, teaching, and research.[3] Fair […]