30 April

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Jay-Z Copyright Infringement Case with Dwayne Walker

Posted by Michael

Back in 2012, Dwayne Walker filed a lawsuit against Jay-Z for breach of contract and copyright infringement for failure to pay royalties, claiming that he designed the iconic logo for Roc-A-Fella records, Jay-Z’s record company and is owed $7,000,000. The lawsuit, Dwayne D. Walker, Jr. v. Shawn Carter (“Jay-Z”) et al, case no. 12-cv-05384(ALC)(RLE), was filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York in 2012. The Plaintiff’s alleges that that “Jay Z, Dame Dash, and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, all agreed to pay Walker $3,500 for the design of the Roc-A-Fella logo. However, Dwayne Walker stipulated in...

24 April

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Copyright Aereo Oral Arguments in US Supreme Court

Posted by Michael

in Copyright

This week, The U.S. Supreme Court began the oral argument stage for ABC Inc. v. Aereo, No. 13-461, a case with colossal ramifications on copyright law. ABC is joined by CBS, Disney, Fox, Comcast’s NBC Universal, and the federal government. The Aereo Company, based in Long Island, NY is an internet alternative to watching television. Aereo charges its subscribers a monthly fee to watch television stations over the internet, without the company having a license to do so, or paying retransmission fees to local affiliates.The case turns on a part of the copyright law that requires copyright owners’ permission for...

15 April

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Apple Seeks $2.2 Billion in Damages from Samsung

Posted by Michael

in Patent

The 2nd trial between Apple and Samsung is 5 days in, Apple is seeking $2.2 billion in damages from Samsung for alleged infringements of 5 of Apple’s patents. Apple filed Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd et al in the California Northern District Court on February 20, 2012, and to make things interesting Samsung filed a counterclaim, alleging that two patents have been infringed on by Apple. Samsung is seeking $6 million, a fraction in comparison. The two tech heavyweights have been at each other's throats for years, and by July 2012 had over 50 lawsuits against each other...

03 April

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Trademark Opposition of Deadmou5 vs. Disney

Posted by Michael

in Trademark

At the end of March, The Trademark Trial and Appeals Board granted Disney a 90 day extension to file an opposition against a pending trademark sought by Ronica Holdings, Limited, on behalf of the popular EDM artist, Joel Zimmerman, known as “Deadmou5” (pronounced “Dead Mouse”).The pending trademark, shown below (Serial No. 85972976) features a smiling black and white mouse head with big ears, similar to the Mickey Mouse silhouette, also shown below. It is likely that Disney and Zimmerman’s representatives are trying to hash this out during the 90 day period.In one scenario, Disney may seek to block the trademark...

28 February

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Congrats to Bambooee on Shark Tank!

Posted by Michael

in Patent

We are proud to announce our client, Noam Krasniansky, will appear on Shark Tank tonight at 9pm PST to work out a deal with the Sharks regarding his product Bambooee. Congrats Noam!...

28 February

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Top Gun Copyright Infringement on Twitter

Posted by Michael

in Copyright

Paramount Pictures is not happy about the way a Twitter user is sharing one of its movies. The Twitter user @555hz attempted to show the entire film “Top Gun” on Twitter through tweets of the film as frame-by-frame clips and images.The Twitter user posted content from the film every half hour, generating over 1,500 tweets in one month. The user has gained a following of over 6,900 other Twitter users. The handle “@555hz” is suggested to reference the number of frames per second at which the film was being “shown” on Twitter. According to this calculation, the film could be...

06 February

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Law Clerk Position Available

Posted by Michael

in Trademark

We have a law clerk opening for a 3rd year law student or recent graduate pending bar results. Must have taken trademark law and preferably other IP courses in law school. Please send cover letter and resume to info@cohenip.com. No phone calls please....

17 January

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Amazing Innovator from Sierra Leone

Posted by Michael

in Patent

Great story about a young innovator from the African country of Sierra Leone, creating important tools to help his community with limited resources. He lands an invitation from MIT to foster his abilities.http://youtu.be/XOLOLrUBRBY...

27 December

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Patent Innovation Act of 2013 Has Passed

Posted by Michael

in Patent

Here is some great insight into some potential issues with the recently passed Innovation Act of 2013.http://www.todaysengineer.org/2013/Dec/HR-3309.asp...

15 November

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Super Soaker Settlement $73 Million

Posted by Michael

in Litigation, Patent

The power of creating an incredible invention and having good counsel can be seen in a recent arbitration settlement in which the inventor of the Super Soaker, Lonnie Johnson Ph.D, was awarded $72.9 million in royalties against Hasbro. Although Johnson has over 80 patents, many of which we are sure relate to the Super Soaker or variations of it, Johnson was able to obtain this mammoth settlement based on a breach of contract of a more ambiguous nature rather than on any specific intellectual property. Namely, in a 1996 agreement, Hasbro agreed to pay Johnson royalties of 2 percent for...

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