Author Archives: mwillee

Questions of ownership have always plagued human existence, dating back to countless wars over tracts of land that more or less continue apace today. They’re also fought in the intellectual property space now, a less bloody but sometimes equally contentious arena. And much like the aforementioned wars, they have as much to do with avariceContinue reading “Who Owns The Copyright On The Moon?”

Most of us aren’t creators in the sense that what we write or doodle will end up being seen by thousands or even millions of people, and thus we can only imagine the anguish of losing control of a creation, particularly to a distasteful group of people. 

If you look hard enough, you can find celebrities or pseudo-celebrities endorsing all sorts of products. If you have enough money to splurge on the requisite fees, stars of stage and screen and the athletic arena will pitch your wares to audiences, and the more money you have, the bigger the star will be. IContinue reading “Cannabis Company Facing Copyright Suit From Sacha Baron Cohen”

It’s hard to sell the idea of working out to people who aren’t already committed to the concept. No one is disagreeing on the benefits of looking and feeling better, but the cost of time and sweat and agony isn’t something many of us are eager to pay. How then can fitness companies sell toContinue reading “Sony Music Takes On Gymshark Over Infringement In Ads”

Combating copyright infringement on the internet must seem like an impossible task if you’re a rightsholder, whether you’re a solo creator or a major studio with a dedicated team. As it turns out, a system created for the dissemination of information and data, when turned towards copyrighted material, can spread those songs or images orContinue reading “Record Labels Take On Charter Communication Over Copyright Infringement”

We all have our gripes about social media, but the biggest for creators, who rely upon the platforms to distribute their content, is that they’re helping those companies more than they’re benefiting themselves. User engagement means advertising revenue for Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and others, and the individuals helping to drive that engagement rarely if everContinue reading “Milio Tokens:  Creating Economy for the Social Generation”

The saga of the Cleveland baseball team name change was supposed to be a counterpoint to the situation that unfolded with Washington’s football team; whereas the latter was a crushed process, Cleveland seemingly gave themselves time to do the work to find the right name, which was presumably one that both appeased fans and clearedContinue reading “Cleveland Guardians Hit Trademark Snag: The Other Cleveland Guardians”

Given how competitive various industries and markets can be and how much money is often at stake, it’s not surprising to see similar products or innovations arrive concurrently. It’s not necessarily nefarious for different parties to arrive at the same idea, particularly a good one that fills a hole in a market or provides anContinue reading “GM Alleging Trademark Infringement From Ford Over ‘Cruise’ Feature”

Another Super Bowl is in the books and we’ve heard all of the recaps regarding the players and performance, but what about the Intellecutal Property (IP)? How did the Intellecutal Property of the Big Game perform?

“Man Capturing a Photo of a Piano Player” (CC BY 2.0) by MusicOomph   If you’re in charge of composing boat loads of content on a regular basis, you understand the stress of coming up with content that is original and your own to avoid infringing on other’s copywritten or trademarked materials. As someone who has the responsibilityContinue reading “A Few of Our Favorite FREE Resources to Help You Avoid IP Infringement”