Florida Intellectual Property Legal Questions

US trademark law is all about consumer confusion. If the other brewery is still functioning and some of your consumers believe there is a relationship between you and the other brewery, that confusion could restrict your ability to register your trademark. Even if you registered the trademark, the courts may still view you as the junior user (second user) in some geographies within the US and prevent you from enforcing your trademark against this other brewery (who would be the senior user). It is also possible the other brewery could revive their abandoned registration. Without having all the facts at hand (and analysis of those facts would take more time than should be expected for free information) it is hard to suggest how to proceed. ... Read More

Why did he do it? If it was done maliciously, this could fall under Florida Identity Theft laws. California recently used similar laws to take down a revenge porn site. See: http://archive.flsenate.gov/Statutes/Index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0800-0899%2f0817%2fSections%2f0817.568.html Otherwise, she may want to rely on "right of publicity laws", such as: http://rightofpublicity.com/statutes/florida I am not admitted in Florida and I cannot analyze her situation relative to Florida state law.The next step is to contact an attorney in Florida who would be willing to represent her on either or both of these issues. Good luck, Todd... Read More

Here is a Wikipedia discussion of this question. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idea-expression_divide It is difficult to give a more personalized opinion without having more details and this space is not conducive to sharing the details needed to offer a more personalized opinion. Good luck, Todd... Read More

You appear to be asking, whether or not you can use a trademark for your product, where that trademark is similar to a trademark owned by someone else.  The answer will depend upon whether the trademark you want to use is available for your intended use, for the particular product in association with which you will use the trademark.   Generally, the standard is as follows: is your use of mark confusingly similar, to the extent that consumers will confuse the source of your goods, as being the owner (or licensee) of the other trademark. To make this determination, a comparative analysis of your product and the other owner's product is required.  Research would also be required to make sure there are no conflicting marks in use and/or registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office.  Neither I nor the USPTO recommends doing this on your own without legal assistance, as trademark law is complex and not straight forward.   Here are some links with articles that you may find helpful: Click here for article about Trademark Registration, why it is best to consult with an Attorney and how they can help you.   Click here for ten (10) additional helpful articles about Trademarks.   Best, Michelle L. Grenier, Esq. Trademark Lawyer Grenier Law Offices, PC   Feel free to contact me  by Clicking Here:  Contact Michelle L. Grenier, Trademark Lawyer     ... Read More

Without knowing the facts of the matter, a proper answer cannot be given. The burden is on the plaintiff to prove its case and if you truly did not do what you have been accused of doing, the plaintiff will be unable to prove its case and if you can establish that the plaintiff had no basis for filing of the lawsuit, the potential for you to have penalties assessed against the plaintiff would exist.... Read More

The federal government and many states have adopted aggressive seizure policies that allow them to confiscate property that was used in the commission of a crime. In many cases, such property is the vehicle in which contraband is being transported. There are usually very limited time windows during which recovery of the property can be sought.... Read More

The answer is "it depends." It is possible that some of your members have entered into exclusive arrangements with a competitor. If you solicited these members to violate their duties of exclusivity to a competitor, you may have engaged in a common-law tort. Otherwise, it is difficult to imagine how you would owe the competitor any duty.... Read More

As a general matter, you need to have permission to use a person's name, portrait, likeness or picture for commercial purposes. It is not clear what the nature is of your book, but it does not appear to be "hard" news. Most commercial publishers will insist on permissions under such circumstances. Regarding quoting from personal interviews, that should be acceptable without permission.... Read More

Your question shows the distinction between the rights in a copyrighted work and the rights to the physical object that embodies a copyrighted work. When you purchase an item that embodies a copyrighted work, such as your photograph or a CD or a book or a painting, you own the physical object but you haven't bought the copyright in the underlying work. You are free to sell the physical object; however, as noted, you can't make copies because the right to make copies belongs to the owner of the copyright in the underlying work. ... Read More

Fair-use questions are always extremely fact-dependent and difficult to answer. As you know, there are a number of statutory factors, no one of which is by itself dispositive. The facts that you are using the poster for criticism and that your use does not deprive the copyright owner of the economic opportunity to sell copies of the poster should be extremely important to this determination. However, you are using the whole of the poster -- not merely some extract from it -- which is a factor that weighs against you. In these circumstances, your publisher may insist that you obtain permissions. Such permissions are liberally granted and not difficult to obtain. It is impossible to state definitively, from the facts that you have posited, that this use would be deemed "fair."... Read More

The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d), is meant to prevent the use of confusingly similar domain names with a bad faith intent to profit from that use.  If your prior use of the domain name was in connection with the bona fide offering of goods or services, you might have had a solid defense.   However, it seems that was not the case.  Among other things, it's unclear who owns domain "Y" from your description, so a detailed answer is difficult to render.  As a rule of thumb, if you are using your domain name in bad faith (which might include not using it at all), and it is confusingly similar to someone's trademark, you might have a problem.... Read More

Yes, you can register the copyright in any work of "authorship". There is no "completion" or "final version" requirement. So long as your "work in progress" has enough creativity to constitute a work of "authorship," by registering the copyright you will be able to enforce that copyright against anyone who makes a substantial copy, or a derivative work, of your "work in progress." If you are unsure whether your work has enough creativity to be eligible for copyright protection, you should consult an IP attorney.... Read More

Unfortunately, there is no copyright protection for handbags or any designs for dresses, shoes, belts or other useful articles.  Therefore, a person loaning a fashion product, whether it is apparel or an accessory, to The Nate Berkus Show cannot sue the Show for copyright infringement for displaying their product.  However, there is trademark protection for trademarks that are used on articles of clothing and accessories.  An example is the trademark of 4 C's for Coach leather goods, the interlocking C's for Chanel, the interlocking LV for Louis Vuitton, and the polo player and horse for Ralph Lauren clothing and accessories.  If your handbag had your trademark displayed as part of the handbag display, then you may be able to make a claim for trademark infringement.  In the future, one way to make sure your name and brand are credited is to have a signed contract requiring the television show, photo spread or magazine to credit you as a condition of you loaning the handbag product to the television show, magazine or other place where it will be displayed. This answer is intended to give general information about copyright and trademark law and is not intended to give specific legal advice.  I am an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Ohio and I am not licensed to practice law in the State of Florida.  Please consult an attorney licensed in your state for specific legal advice... Read More