Lindsay Lohan was not pleased with the alleged use of her likeness by Rockstar Games as an avatar in its Grand Theft Auto V video game. In her lawsuit against the game company, Lohan claimed that: (1) an avatar named “Lacey Jonas” that appears in the video game so resembled her that the avatar qualified

Michael C. Cannata and Frank M. Misiti have published an article in USLAW Magazine entitled,” Parental Advisory®? The Future of Trademark Registrations Post Tam.”

Click here to read the article.

All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from USLAW.org.

Effective April 1, 2018, employers in New Jersey will no longer be able to use an employment contract to obtain rights to an employee’s inventions. Exceptions included in the legislation are whether the inventions (a) relate “to the employer’s business or actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development,” or (b) result “from any work performed

Businesses must give careful consideration to ensuring that their trade dress is not functional.  A determination of functionality is fatal to any claim that a product contains a protectable trade dress.  In Schutte Bagclosures, Inc. v. Kwik Lok Corp., 699 F. Appx. 93 (2d Cir. 2017), the Second Circuit recently underscored the importance of functionality

Nancy Del Pizzo’s article, “Minimizing Legal Risks When Using the Word ‘Organic’,” appeared in the July/August issue of Nutrition Industry Executive.

The article details the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s requirements for the use of the word “organic” as well as what is considered false and misleading advertising for organic products.

To read the article, click

It has been a long road for Simon Tam and his bandmates in the rock group “The Slants.”  Back in November 2011, Tam filed a trademark application for THE SLANTS for use in connection with “entertainment in the nature of live performances by a musical band.”  In doing so, Tam hoped to reclaim the otherwise

Nancy A. Del Pizzo published her article, “Using Open Source Code for Development of ‘Proprietary’ Software,” in the May 10, 2017, issue of Westlaw Journal, Intellectual Property, Litigation News and Analysis.

To read the article, Click Here.

Like The Dude from The Big Lebowski, the “Hotel California,” located on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico, is likely no longer a fan of The Eagles.  Earlier this month, the iconic classic rock band filed suit against the hotel in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California seeking to take it to

Michael Cannata was interviewed for an article entitled, “Patent Trolls’ East Texas Haven Threatened in Supreme Court,” which discusses the TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The case raises the question of whether it is appropriate to resolve a patent infringement claim in Marshall, Texas, if a defendant does not maintain

Nancy Del Pizzo provided the following comment in an article published in Westlaw’s Journal of Intellectual Property regarding Mavrix Photographs LLC v. LiveJournal Inc.:

“This decision should put social media companies on notice to, at the very least, closely follow this case on remand and educate its ‘moderators’ on the DMCA, particularly its ‘red flag’ exception.”