Thursday, June 20, 2002

Franklin Mint Prevails Over Princess Diana Fund
Princess Diana did not effectively protect the exploitation of her likeness in the U.S. during her lifetime, and her successor in interest, the Princess Diana Fund, failed in the lower court level against the Franklin Mint, which had been making Diana merchandise pretty much from the day of her wedding to Charles.  This Ninth Circuit decision affirms the lower court, and includes an interesting discussion of the post-mortem right of publicity in California, trademark fair use, and the awarding of attorneys fees. 4:55:22 PM

Trademark Applications Way Down
My practice is doing fine but this is still depressing.  Interesting discussion of the types of names people are selecting these days. 11:12:53 AM

Mouse v. Mouse
This article regarding Disney possibly opposing the Genessee District Libary Book Mouse isn't as meaningful if you can't see the actual mouse. 11:02:57 AM

Ambush Marketing at the World Cup
50 Chinese fans enter the World Cup stadium in Kwangju, South Korea, and security is alerted.  Preparations are made to intercept them and then averted at the last second.  Why?  Because they were all wearing hats bearing the trademark SAMSUNG, and Samsung is not an official sponsor of the World Cup.  "They're walking billboards now" laments FIFA's lawyer.  This from page B1 of today's Wall Street Journal. 10:55:59 AM

© Copyright 2004 Martin Schwimmer.