The New York Times frequently publishes stories about intellectual property. Even though there is a small percentage of lawyers that practice and are experts in this field, the impact of intellectual property is increasing in the economies and markets. This past Sunday (March, 17th, 2019) the NYT printed and posted online this article about the perils of trademarking recipes and generic names, in this case, an herbal drink called Fire Cider. Fire Cider is a…
A bill, expected to be formally approved mid-March by the European Union (EU), is causing concern with big internet platforms because it makes companies liable for copyright violations. The bill is called Article 13 of the EU Copyright Directive and could make services such as YouTube, Facebook and Google responsible if their users upload copyright-protected movies, music, etc. Additionally, Article 13 will allow news publishers to negotiate licenses with aggregators such Alphabet Inc. The regulation,…
As many of 362,000 individuals could be affected by the implementation of a law passed by Congress in 2015 which allows the Department of State to deny or revoke US passports for those who owe $51,000 dollars or more to the Internal Revenue Service or IRS. The law went into effect in February 2019 and the U.S. Department of State is in the process of sending the names of the debtors to the IRS in…
Both Brands and trademarks are important concepts in the business world, not only for big companies but for small business, entrepreneurs and start-ups. However, sometimes people do not understand the difference between them and use them interchangeably, blurring the meaning of both concepts. Let’s start setting them apart: First of all, brand or branding are marketing terms while trademarks is a legal term belonging to the field of intellectual property law. Branding is the creation…
Is this entrapment? The media has recently reported on the efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in creating a fake University to lure international students who depend on student visas to remain in the USA. More than a hundred students and some recruiters were detained Jan 30th by immigration authorities in connection with the enrollment in the University of Farmington, a fake university which had a website, social media and occupied a small office…
How solid are internet and domain names as trademarks? Learn the basics on intellectual property and the web.
