Trademarks


Updates to the Media Page

  We’ve recently added over two dozen new posts to the Media page. Most have to do with SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, introduced a few weeks ago in Congress to cheers from the entertainment industry and jeers from Silicon Valley. The bill would make it easier–too easy–for copyright and trademark holders to turn [...]

Five simple fixes for the Protect IP Act

For CNET this morning, I offer five crucial corrections to the Protect IP Act, which was passed out of committee in the Senate back in May. Yesterday, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, co-chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus, told a Silicon Valley audience that the House was working on its own version and would introduce it in [...]

Updates to the Media Page

We’ve added about a dozen new posts to the Media Page on my website, reflecting a sampling of articles, media quotes, and radio appearances from the last few months. These include several pieces for CNET News.com and Forbes, as well as links to appearances on NPR’s “Science Friday” (debating Sen. Al Franken on privacy law) [...]

More on Protect IP Act – the Surprisngly Free Podcast

I’m pleased to be the guest this week on Jerry Brito’s “Surprisingly Free” podcast for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Jerry and I talk about enforcing copyright and trademark law online, and in particular the dangers of the recently-introduced Protect IP Act.  Protect IP tries to solve the problem of foreign websites selling [...]

What the Protect IP Act says about the current state of the Internet content wars

I’ve written two articles on the Protect IP Act of 2011, introduced last week by Sen. Leahy (D-Vt.). For CNET, I look at some of the key differences, better and worse, between Protect IP and its predecessor last year, known as COICA. On Forbes this morning, I have a long meditation on what Protect IP [...]

Congress’s Tech Agenda: Something Old, Something Older

I reported for CNET yesterday on highlights from the State of The Net 2011 conference, sponsored by the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus.  Though I didn’t attend last year’s event, I suspect much of the conversation hasn’t changed. For an event that took place nearly a month after the FCC’s “final” vote on [...]

Domain Name Seizures and the Limits of Civil Forfeiture

I was quoted this morning in Sara Jerome’s story for The Hill on the weekend seizures of domain names the government believes are selling black market, counterfeit, or copyright infringing goods. The seizures take place in the context of an on-going investigation where prosecutors make purchases from the sites and then determine that the goods [...]

After the deluge, more deluge

If I ever had any hope of “keeping up” with developments in the regulation of information technology—or even the nine specific areas I explored in The Laws of Disruption—that hope was lost long ago.  The last few months I haven’t even been able to keep up just sorting the piles of printouts of stories I’ve [...]

Viacom v. YouTube: The Principle of Least Cost Avoidance

I’m late to the party, but I wanted to say a few things about the District Court’s decision in the Viacom v. YouTube case this week and.  This will be a four-part post, covering: 1.  The holding 2.  The economic principle behind it 3.  The next steps in the case 4.  A review of the [...]

EBay Wins Important Victory Against Tiffany

As the Wall Street Journal is already reporting, today eBay sustained an important win in its long-running dispute with Tiffany over counterfeit goods sold through its marketplace.  (The full opinion is available here.) I wrote about this case as my leading example of the legal problems that appear at the border between physical life and [...]