ABA CLE: "Copyright Trolls Are Never in Fashion: Strategies for Fighting Meritless Infringement Lawsuits" (5/24, 12-1:30 pm EDT)
Posted by Charles Colman
The American Bar Association has an exciting CLE coming up -- at least, it's exciting to me (though, to be fair, I'm speaking on the panel.) Here's the main registration page for the event, entitled "Copyright Trolls Are Never in Fashion: Copyright Infringement Suits and Strategies for Fighting Back."
For your convenience, I've compiled the relevant information here:
Logistics:
Friday, May 24, 2013
12 pm (EDT) to 1:30 pm
1.5 CLE credits in approved states
Format: Live webinar/teleconference
Program description:
Let's sit down for a second and see where we're at...
Posted by Charles Colman
Although the LAW OF FASHION LinkedIn group is active as ever, you've probably noticed that this blog has been pretty quiet lately. That's because this writer, one Charles Colman, has been hunkered down for the past few weeks, putting the finishing touches on his single-volume treatise, Fashion and Copyright, for LexisNexis-Matthew Bender. (You might recall my saying something about a book for Oxford University Press. Yes, this started off as that project... then this happened.)
Charles Colman's webcast CLE, "Copyright Protection in Fashion," [now available for viewing in Lawline.com archive]
Posted by Charles Colman
This writer, one Charles E. Colman, is excited to be giving a 1.5 hour-ish CLE on copyright protection for fashion design under U.S. law TOMORROW, 3/28/13, at 10 A.M. (NYC). The course agenda and registration information are posted on Lawline's website.
[UPDATE (4/3/13): The video of the CLE has been edited and reposted on the Lawline website. Disclaimer: The occasional stock photos of courtrooms, fashion design studios, etc., were added without my knowledge; please disregard...]
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Legislative resources can be found here ("laws passed in the United States [from 1783 to 1976] relating to copyright") and here ("full text of all versions of the Copyright Act of the United States from the 1909 Act to the present").
GUEST POST: "What makes a fashion design 'obvious'?" by Sarah Burstein (Associate Professor, U. of Oklahoma College of Law)
Posted by Sarah Burstein
[Ed. LAW OF FASHION is delighted to welcome back one of the most insightful (and most #interactive!) scholars working in the area of design patent law, Professor Sarah Burstein. Note: Some of the hyperlinks in the post have been added by LOF.]
Design patents are the intellectual-property regime du jour for fashion designs. But it’s not clear how some of the new design patents for clothes will fare if challenged in court. A recent case about canine couture may, however, provide some clues...
Decision Of The Day (actually decided weeks ago): Lululemon's large-scale wave design on garments deemed "merely ornamental"
Posted by Charles Colman
In re Lululemon Athletica Canada Inc., Serial No. 77455710 (T.T.A.B. Jan. 11, 2013) (precedential)
Key excerpts from full TTAB decision (embedded below; hyperlinks and emphasis mine):
"Lululemon Athletica Canada Inc., applicant herein ('applicant'), seeks registration on the Principal Register of the design shown [above] for 'hooded sweat shirts; jackets; coats,' in International Class 25....
Trademark law's "aesthetic functionality" doctrine, one year later (or "The belated release of my LANDSLIDE magazine article")
Posted by Charles Colman
LAW OF FASHION has discussed trademark law's "aesthetic functionality" doctrine in the past; after all, one could hardly cover the "fashion law case of the decade" without mentioning this defense. But until now, LOF hasn't been able to post this writer's in-depth article for the Nov./Dec. 2011 issue of the American Bar Association's LANDSLIDE magazine, "A Red-Leather Year for Aesthetic Functionality." As more than a year has passed since the article was published, LOF thought it might be time to ask the powers that be for permission to post the article here, and they kindly obliged...
