Intellectual Property

Who done it, with what, and where? Was it A) Microsoft, inside their security deficient, sub-standard browser with an over-hyped search engine? Was it B) Apple at its elitist developer conference with an exploding iPhone app? Was it C) Google in a YouTube video with a poison drop of lonelygirl15‘s …

I read an interesting piece today about Sarah Palin’s use of social media and her problems with cybersquatting. She not only failed to obtain her name on Twitter, but will need to find a new handle now that she is no longer Governor of Alaska. Thinking only in the short …

News has circulated that Twitter has filed for a trademark for the word “tweet”. The company’s blog, however, makes it clear that it will not go after sincere, legitimate applications and services that use the name. For those domain owners and businesses that have domain names with the word “tweet” …

Talk Show host and celebrity Jay Leno has scored a victory over an individual from Wisconsin who registered the domain name, weeknightswithjayleno.com. Garrison Hintz claims that he registered the domain name with the intention of creating a fan site about Jay Leno; however, the site has instead served as an …

American real estate company RE/MAX is suing Cristine Rosa Lefkowit, a realtor specializing in luxury sales, for cybersquatting and trademark infringement. It claims that she registered more than 50 domains in bad faith, including remaxbrazil.com and remaxfrance.com. Lefkowitz said she registered the domains many years ago with the hope of …

Not to be deterred by a little litigation and jail time, the founders of The Pirate Bay plan to launch a new video sharing site. The new potential YouTube competitor will feature videos without copyright restrictions, the company claims. YouTube has long been the subject of copyright disputes with numerous …

When Kevin Watson bought the domain gail.com for his wife, Gail, back in 1996, I don’t think either of the two ever imagined how much the gift would end up being worth. If you use Gmail, at one point or another you may have misspelled gmail.com and ended up at …

In an effort to secure domain names that match the names of his children, Tiger Woods has been filing domain disputes with the National Arbitration Forum. In order to make a case, the award-winning Golfer argued that the names are confusingly similar to the trademark “Tiger Woods”. The arbitrator refused …

Though it is currently unclear what Pizza Hut’s future plans are, it has started using the name “The Hut” in its marketing. Some media reports indicate that the entire chain’s name will change, while other news sources are saying the new brand will be used on a limited basis. Either …

Domain name disputes rarely involve government entities, but in this case, the State of Florida recently filed a complaint with the WIPO to gain control over four domains: myfla.org, myfl.org, myfolrida.com and myforida.com. The state claims the names are confusingly similar to myflorida.com, the trademarked name of Florida’s official web …