In the draft of its new “Compendium,” the U.S. Copyright Office has stated that it will not register works created by animals. The “human authorship” requirement isn’t new, but the specific example of “[a] photograph taken by a monkey” is:…
It’s not looking so good for the monkey.
The application calls it "Seating Device Comprising a Forward-Foldable Backrest," but I like my name better. The inventor describes the alleged motivation thusly (my annotations below): [T]o increase the number of cabin seats [and thus profit], the space allotted to…
The Sun-Times reports today that the Chicago Cubs are suing five people who have allegedly been posing as a Cubs mascot near Wrigley Field, engaging in "mascot-like activities" and trying to charge people for photos. They take turns doing this—I didn't…
Looks like it's safe to go back to using the symbol for pi on t-shirts, at least for now. Someone whose initials are P.I. managed to get the symbol (followed by a period) registered as a trademark, and where there's…
Here's a good example of that proposition: Design patent D697,706 was, for some reason, issued last week to someone in Brooklyn. It claims only the ornamental design of the handle, not the umbrella part or the whole creepy assemblage. Ridiculous patents…
When used in connection with the sale of pork rinds. Why, is that term used in some other very public way in association with a good or service of which you were thinking? Surely not. The Washington Post reports that the U.S….
O'SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judge: We must decide whether the shape of a hookah water container is entitled to copyright protection. That is (minus the footnote explaining what a "hookah" is) the first paragraph of today's decision by the U.S….
That's the title of a seminar being offered at MIT on Jan. 22, according to this announcement I saw on Twitter. It sounds really interesting, but I also wanted to mention it here because of the awesome graphic (by Libby…
Having trouble hiding from something you'd like to kill? Maybe you've considered covering yourself in plant life. Good idea, assuming you're outdoors. But depending on how you're doing that, you may be infringing. Improbable Research notes that Patent No. 8,359,664,…