IP P®OSPE©TIVE

In 2001, I saw Lebron James play in high school, and I remember telling myself, "that is the next Michael Jordan."  Of course, I meant this from a basketball standpoint, but you can't refer to Michael Jordan without refering to his brand.  MJ's brand is one of the most prolific in sports, and its longevity continues to impress.  It turned out that Lebron lived up to my basketball potential billing.  The brand of Lebron James has not disappointed either.   He recently partnered with McDonald's, ... Read More

As a lawyer, it is generally not my job to come up with a price to be paid for a license to use a client's trademark. Sure, I might be given some ballpark figures by the client and set out to negotiate based on these figures, but I don't come up with these ballpark figures. I could if it was asked of me, but it is usually left to the client to figure out what it thinks its brand is worth for the ... Read More

I'd like to first thank all of the faithful IP Prospective readers over the last 12 months.  IP Prospective will celebrate its first birthday next month! 2009 has been quite a year - for good and for bad. The financial market was consumed by a somber mood for most of the year, with just enough shining moments near the end of the year to lead U.S. consumers and investors into 2010 with an optimistic vibe. The intellectual property market did what most expected ... Read More

Chicago-Kent Law School, a member institution of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), will offer the first multidisciplinary Masters program in Intellectual Property Management and Markets in the United States. The IAM blog first broke the news to me, as Joff Wild wrote last week that Ron Laurie, long time advocate of and expert on the CIPO movement, apprised him of the new offering.  I had caught wind of such an interdisciplinary program in the works at an institution in the UC system ... Read More

In October the FTC published in the Federal Register new guidelines for the use of testimonials and endorsements in advertising.  These guidelines were revised, and on December 1 the FTC adopted them.  The guidelines have sweeping implications on internet advertising, including blogs, where testimonials have become a cheap and prominent method of advertising.  Among the new guidelines that advertisers and endorsers must follow include the following: Endorser testimonials must be honest and based on experience, opinion, or belief. Endorsements may not be presented out ... Read More

As a blogger myself, unknown legal risks involved in providing content on the internet are always a concern. The growth in internet marketing, social networking, and other uses of the internet for business and collaboration has provoked an new need for legal protection from unwanted or unwise uses of these mediums. For instance, a blogger may control his or her own blog content, but what about the unsolicited comments? Can harrassment, derogatory language, or other unwanted uses of the comments section subject ... Read More

This post will be a break from the usual report or opinion regarding the IP market. I have encountered a rarely used but potentially case-changing doctrine in trademark law with a lot of bite - should it ever be adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court, or codified.  I thought the issue could use some exposure. This piece will read a little bit more like a law review article (I apologize), but bear with me - this is important and interesting stuff! Fair ... Read More

Recently I had a conversation with two other attorneys that reinvigorated an interest in this topic: Whether the government could take intellectual property whenever it deemed appropriate, use it for a public purpose, and pay the previous owner just compensation. In other words, could IP become subject to the government's eminent domain powers (or limitation on its powers, however you decide to view the 5th Amendment), similar to real and other personal property? I had spent a long time mulling over this ... Read More

When a company deceives the consuming public, or exercises anti-competitive business practices in order to gain market share, we usually punish them. This is why a Washington attorney, in March of 2007, sued Solo Cup, and then Gillette, for claiming their products were protected by patents when in fact they were not. The story of Matthew Pequignot is not new. He found an archived legal hole that allows any citizen to sue on behalf of the government if they can prove that ... Read More

Every appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court elicits a whirlwind of scrutiny. While the current nomination of the 2nd Circuit's Judge Sonia Sotomayor has proved to be just another high school debate competition on civil rights issues for political activists and politicians, it has also proved to be unique in the fact that it brings, for the first time in a long time, considerable experience in intellectual property law to the highest court in the U.S. The 2nd Circuit is no stranger ... Read More