Jacob B. Sherman Law Office

Stop Online Piracy Act: SOPA what does it actually say

Jacob — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:01:39 +0000

"Stop Online Piracy Act" ('SOPA'): now who could be against such a bill, surely good citizens do not want to promote piracy. How ironic that just when dictators are falling to internet based revolutions, the United States in embroiled in a fight over this bill which opponent give labels such as 'censorship' and proponents describe as protecting American industry. Let's look at what the bill actually says.

2011 Notable Intellectual Property Changes

Jacob — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:58:15 +0000

A review of notable intellectual property law developments during 2011

TATTOO and TATUAJE trademark case: foreign equivalent doctrine

Jacob — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:27:09 +0000

Just after my last post on the Foreign Equivalents Doctrine I read on The TTABlog about a recent Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision focusing on the doctrine. I will add my take below, but have a look at The TTABlog for more details.

Doctrine of Foreign Equivalents and Trademarks

Jacob — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:00:49 +0000

Increasingly, foreign words are used on trademarks in the United States. The doctrine of foreign equivalents is used to evaluate a foreign language trademark. The doctrine allows the use of the English translation of a word to be used for trademark law analysis. It has been inconsistently applied because it is a only a guideline.