Not a lot of time to blog these days but this Slate piece from Michael Kinsley is a must-read. Excerpt: [T]he Times believes that its First Amendment right to speak includes a right (for journalists only) not to speak when subpoenaed in a criminal investigation. Meanwhile, it cannot see how a right to speak includes […] The post Kinsley on The New York Times’ next First Amendment embarrassment appeared first on LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION ..read more

Some people, it seems.  You know what I mean. Instapundit Glenn Reynolds mentioned casually to ten or a hundred thousand of his closest friends that he was having the darndest time freeing up his INSTAPUNDIT® trademark so that it could be used — by him — as a Twitter username. Well he, with the help […] The post Insta-results appeared first on LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION ..read more

Dead horse?  You’d think so.  Copyright statutory damages, that is.  We’ve been there, and done that, right? Not according to Larry Zerner, who says the calls are still coming in: Because my firm will sometimes handle copyright infringement cases on a contingency fee basis, I often get phone calls that go something like this. Caller: I would […] The post Money for nothing appeared first on LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION ..read more

Marty Schwimmer writes about “Real Trademark Issues In Virtual Worlds.”  This is one of the edges that’s just bleeding all over the place. Originally posted 2009-10-23 14:01:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter The post Virtual trademarks, real money appeared first on LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION ..read more

I have — win, lose or draw — kept you all abreast of the progress of the various lawsuits against PissedConsumer.com (otherwise known as Opinion Corp.), the gripe site that people hate so much. Why do some people hate PissedConsumer.com?  Because they assume whatever someone writes about them in a lawsuit must be true!  This is […] The post PissedConsumer.com: Devere Group v. Opinion Corp. appeared first on LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION ..read more

Bob Ambrogi: The document-sharing site JD Supra is launching an application for Facebook today that lets its members stream their documents and professional profile information into their Facebook profiles. This means that if you contribute documents to JD Supra, you can get additional exposure by having them show up in Facebook. Sounded interesting to us!  […] The post J.D. Supra, Facebook …. and the Word appeared first on LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION ..read more

I wrote last year about Hollywood’s getting its collective nose out of joint over CleanFlicks, a service that shaves the titillating edges of popular culture so that parents and children with different standards from those of Hollywood can enjoy that institution’s estimable output without mutual embarrassment. It sounds like a copyright / creative freedom dispute; […] The post Update: Sewage Treatment appeared first on LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION ..read more

A court seems, according to this synopsis by Eric Goldman, to lay it out straight in dismissing a case brought in California against Craigslist. The claim was that the classified-ads site should be held responsible for “discriminatory” housing listings submitting submitted by third parties and posted on Craigslist with no meaningful involvement of the website […] The post Section 230 attacks get nowhere, but forests still shrink appeared first on LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION ..read more

What’s all this I hear about a trademark registration by Subway for FOOTLONG with respect to sandwiches? This is one of those other stories I just want to leave to other people.  Doesn’t agree with me. Aaron Thalwitzer ably demonstrates why I am justified in doing so in this fine post on the Tactical IP […] The post Footlong trademark thing appeared first on LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION ..read more

That’s summary judgment, or worse, against you or your client.  Last February we reported on a decision in which a federal magistrate judge ruled, unsurprisingly, that there is no “social networking privilege.” Now Walter Olson reports and links on further developments and thoughts as follows: Nowhere to hide: When your litigation opponent subpoenas your Facebook, […] The post Social networking your way to summary judgment appeared first on LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION ..read more