Dunkin' Donuts has the "Best Coffee in America"? Not so fast...

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office recently refused registration of the application filed by Dunkin' Donuts for "BEST COFFEE IN AMERICA".  Now, I love Dunkin' Donuts as much as the next good New Englander, but this comes as no surprise. Common laudatory phrases and other slogans that are descriptive of the alleged merit of a product are generally not registrable. Slogans such as "Best Car in America", "The Greatest Bar", "America's Best Popcorn" and "Best Restaurant in Town" have been deemed to be "trade puffery". The Trademark Board has taken a strong stand against the registration of self-laudatory marks and had held that that such slogans should be available to all competitors. Simply put, under U.S. trademark law, Starbucks is allowed to tout that it too has the "Best Coffee in America".

Misleading post regarding Facebook Privacy settings and Copyright usereappears

Misleading post regarding Facebook Privacy settings and Copyright use reappears   http://wapo.st/V9fpy7. In order to truly effect privacy control, be sure to read the terms of use (including privacy statement) of Facebook and adjust you personal privacy settings in Facebook accordingly.  With regard to copyright protection of your posts, you will be limited to the terms of use to which you have agreed in order to have a Facebook account.  Again, refer to Facebook's terms of use to see what copyright rights you retain and what rights you have giving to Facebook.  Similar issues of privacy and copyright exist for all social media, e,g, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Goggle+, etc.  Therefore, the rule of thumb is to read your social media's privacy statement and terms of use so that you know how to best protect your privacy and your copyright content.

Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, David Kappos will step down in January 2013

Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, David Kappos, will step down in January 2013.  He was appointed to this post by President Obama in early 2009.

 

Courts and Congress grapple with privacy issues of smartphone content and data

Courts and Congress grapple with privacy issues of smartphone content and data

This New York Times article highlights how courts and legislators (state and federal) are attempting to reach a balance between privacy of personal data and law enforcement in the context of smartphone information, data and use.

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Coming soon, a go to resource for popular technology and the law which is relevant to it.