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Category Archives: Intellectual property

Further on Intellectual Property

February 13, 2010 – 10:32 am

Regular commenter Lorenzo has written a very thought-provoking post on intellectual property, which I highly recommend. I looked over it and made a few lawyerly comments… for which he has provided me with far too much credit
The take-home (and very thoughtful) piece of analysis? (Lorenzo is a specialist on the role and activities [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Law | Tagged , , , , | Comments (2)

Down, Kookaburra, Down

February 5, 2010 – 7:52 am

I learn via the Hoydens that the Federal Court (oh, the stupid, it burns) has decided that Men at Work’s Down Under infringed the copyright held by the owners of Kookaburra Sits Under the Old Gum Tree. Here are a few observations from a lawyer who has handled some small IP matters.
1. IP law is rapidly [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Economics, Law | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (45)

Confidence and privacy

December 7, 2009 – 9:46 am

I went to an interesting seminar the other day on breach of confidence law. The seminar included a number of speakers and spanned Australian, UK and US law on the subject, as well as a historical consideration of the piecemeal manner in which breach of confidence law developed.
Apparently breach of confidence was a relative latecomer [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Academia, Equity, Free Speech, Law, Media, Privacy, Public Policy | Tagged , , , , | Comments (2)

Blood Elves and Blogwars

October 1, 2009 – 10:44 pm

I hadn’t come across conservative US shock jock Glenn Beck until an anonymous prankster started up a site called glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com. Beck is now suing the originator of the site, so of course I’m interested now.
Some background first. Beck doesn’t sound like he’d be my cup of tea. An article in Time magazine in July this [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Free Speech, Law, Media, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (13)

What Katy Did

September 23, 2009 – 3:25 pm

I like crazy intellectual property disputes. The latest IP battle to catch my eye concerns Katie Perry (an Australian fashion designer) and Katy Perry (an American pop singer). Katie Perry sought to trademark her name in respect of her clothing design business, but Katy Perry’s lawyers contacted IP Australia to oppose the registration of the [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Law | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

There ain’t enough room for the two of us Big Reds in this town…

February 12, 2009 – 4:47 pm

Any parent will be familiar with The Wiggles. I swore I wasn’t going to let them into my DVD player, but had to backtrack when I saw the genuine enjoyment my daughter derived from their shows. Generally, children’s entertainment makes me want to eat my own leg off just to get away from it, but [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Children, Law, Media | Tagged , , | Comments (11)

Hari Puttar update

September 24, 2008 – 10:35 am

I wrote a post earlier on the Harry Potter/Hari Puttar dispute between Warner Bros and Bollywood. Via cearta.ie, I see that the BBC reports that Warner Bros has failed in its case against the Hari Puttar filmmakers:
The makers of the blockbuster Harry Potter films said the title of the Indian movie was too similar.
The court [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Law, Popular culture | Comments (0)

Rowling wins copyright case

September 10, 2008 – 10:20 am

J.K. Rowling has succeeded at first instance in her copyright infringement case against RDR publishers and Stephen Vander Ark for their proposed Harry Potter Lexicon. I have mentioned this case earlier. Obviously the trial judge managed to get his head around the plotlines which he initially described as “gibberish”, as the judgment shows quite a [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Books, Law, Popular culture | Comments (12)

Harry Krishna?

August 26, 2008 – 9:17 pm

I’m fascinated by the Harry Potter industry. We’ve already seen Warner Bros and J.K. Rowling take on a New York librarian and lexicon author for copyright infringement. Now they are taking on the might of Bollywood… The Indian movie is called Hari Puttar – A Comedy of Terrors. The Hollywood Reporter tells us:

The case is [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Books, Law, Media, Popular culture | Comments (27)

A new way of policing “doof-doof”

June 17, 2008 – 8:20 pm

When my husband and I first moved in together, we lived in a set of terrace houses. We’d lived there about two years when new tenants moved in two doors down. The new tenants were Columbian exchange students, and I don’t think they took their studies seriously. What they did take seriously was partying hard [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in England, Fark!, Law, Media, Music, Personal liberty, Society | Comments (4)