The Law Office of Michael N. Cohen, PC offers domain name escrow services. Most parties prefer the use of an experienced domain name attorney for the transfer of an important domain name to reduce the likelihood of fraud. Please visit our website for more information regarding our domain name escrow service. Los Angeles Trademark Lawyer...
Continue readingThe Law Office of Michael N. Cohen, P.C. is proud to annouce that it was ranked amoung the top trademark firms in the United States in the April 2009 edition of Intellectual Property Today Magazine. Intellectual Property Today Magazine is a promenient monthly publication focused on legal issues in patent, trademark and copyright law. Los Angeles Trademark Lawyer...
Continue readingIs this about the power of candy or the power of domain name real estate? It was reported that Candy.com was sold by the Florida based G&J Holdings for $3,000,000 to Melville Candy Company of Massachusetts. This is the same company runned by Rick Schwartz who sold iReport.com to CNN for $750,000. After the sale of toys.com sold earlier this year for $5,100,000, the candy.com sale is the second largest domain name purchase for 2009. Hopefully Schwartz had his domain name attorney draft a solid domain name sale agreement so that there are no disputes regarding the transaction. Los Angeles Trademark Lawyer...
Continue readingThe fate of business method patents may be decided very soon since the US Supreme Court has decided to take on Bilski v. Doll. The case will set a significant precedent that will impact the validity of business method and even software patents. The Supreme Court will review the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s decision of Bilski which upheld a rejection of a patent application of a method for managing risk in commodities trading. As of now, there is much debate as to the patentability of business methods and software, like in the Bilski case. Typically the issue...
Continue readingGoogle came out victorious in a cybersquatting case against the owner of googblog.com. Just who owned googblog.com? A 17-year-old boy named Herit Shah from Gujarat, India. Google filed the dispute through the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”), claiming that googblog.com is confusingly similar to Google’s trademarks. Further, Google uses ‘GOOG’ as their NASDAQ financial stock ticker since 2004. Google claims trademark rights to the term ‘Google’ as far back as 1997. Google’s domain name dispute lawyer got Shah to admit “I was in a bad faith that i can legally keep the domain googblog.com but when i kept myself in the place...
Continue readingIt turns out President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court was a partner at a firm that handled intellectual property litigation. In fact she ruled on an important copyright case, Tasini vs. New York Times, while she served as a federal judge for the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York. However, the case was later reversed by the appellate court and was then appealed again by the U.S. Supreme Court, in New York Times Co v. Tasini 533 U.S. 483 (2001). The case involved a claim of copyright infringement brought by freelance journalists against the New...
Continue readingA common scenario for established or new companies occurs when its primary domain name has been seized by a cybersquattor. For example, imagine your company name and trademark is “Sizaroma.” You were able to register www.sizaroma.com but later www.sizaroma.net, www.sizaromas.com, and www.sizaaromas.com were registered by someone else, probably a guy in China who in bad faith, has no intention of ever using domains. Or worse, he later puts up a competing website in bad faith with similar goods and services feeding off the goodwill that you have worked so hard to create. That my friends is a cybersquatter. So what...
Continue readingCertain things can be trademarked while other things cannot. Some of the “not” things are certain words or designs that are deemed to be immoral or scandalous under Section (2) of the Lanham Act. For example, remember when Damon Wayans tried to trademark “Nigga” for clothing? That got shut down by the examiner at the USPTO under Section (2). In a recent 27-page decision, the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board (“TTAB” or “Board”) refused registration of the mark PUSSY NATURAL ENERGY in connection with energy drinks on the basis of it being scandalous. Applicant’s attorney of course argued the predictable, that the...
Continue readingAmerican Apparel has had its share of lawsuits. More recently with Woody Allen after American Apparel posted billboards of Allen without his permission. Now, American Apparel is on the offense against an opposing attorney in an employment litigation. Keith Fink has a reputation as an aggressive employment attorney, typically suing celebrities and others in the entertainment industry. One of Fink’s notable cases is against blogger queen Perez Hilton over the PerezRevenge domain name trademark litigation. Fink represents a former employee of America Apparel that is suing the company’s CEO Dov Charney for sexual harassment. As a preemptive attack, American Apparel has taken...
Continue readingLegalzoom, the legal self-filing service is facing a hefty lawsuit from a Los Angeles attorney Kent Seton, whose speciality is in forming non-profit corporations. Seton sued Legalzoom on February 5, 2009 in Los Angeles Superior Court for breach of contract and misappropriation. The complaint alleges that Seton and Legalzoom entered into a joint venture in which customers of legalzoom would fill out forms on the Legalzoom website, and those forms would be sent to Seton to finalize the formation of a nonprofit entity. The complaint further alleges that Legalzoom stopped sending Seton the forms and stopped sharing any profits earned, yet...
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