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Articles by Trademark Bully
You Don't Own What You've Bought: Peloton Treadmill Edition
from the everything-costs-money dept We've written so many stories about how you don't own what you've bought any more due to software controls, DRM, and ridiculous contracts, and it keeps getting worse. The latest such example involves Peloton, which is most known for its extremely expensive stationary bikes with video screens, so that you can take classes (usually on a monthly subscription). I will admit that I don't quite understand the attraction to them, but so many people swear by them.
Peloton Is Having A Rough Week: Product Safety Recalls And News Of Customer Data Exposure
from the spinning-in-circles dept Peloton is, as they say, having a rough week. While the company has been something of a pop culture darling for several years, it also got a nice boost from this lovely COVID-19 pandemic we've all been suffering through for more than a year now. Still, no company gets through its full lifecycle unscathed and this week has been a week I'm certain the Peloton folks would love to forget.
Taylor Swift, Evermore Theme Park Dispute Escalates As Swift's Team Countersues
from the swift-response dept In early February, we discussed an extremely dumb lawsuit brought by a theme park in Utah called Evermore against Taylor Swift, who recently released an album called Evermore. The whole thing is buckets of stupid, with the Evermore theme park claiming that because it released a couple of songs on Apple Music, this somehow puts them in the same marketplace as Taylor Swift.
Monster Energy Goes After Autobody Shop Because Of It's 'M' Logo And Use Of Green Color
from the monster-mash dept For regular readers of Techdirt, Monster Energy is one of those companies that need only appear in the headline of a post before the reader knows that said post will be about some ridiculous trademark bullying Monster is doing. The company has a reputation for being about as belligerent on trademark matters as it could possibly be, lobbing lawsuits and trademark oppositions as though the company lawyers had literally nothing else to do with their time.
FyreTV Porn Service Asks 11th Circuit Panel To Resurrect Dumb Trademark Suit Against Amazon Over FireTV
from the burning-sensation dept Somehow we missed covering this in 2019, but in those much more innocent times the company behind FyreTV, which bills itself as a service that is "the Netflix of porn", sued Amazon over its Fire TV product. The claim by FyreTV's Wreal LLC ownership was that the public would be confused into thinking that Amazon was somehow behind its pornographic offerings, or that some affiliation between the two entities was in place.
Reminder: Just A Few Days Left Before Our '230 Matters' Conversation With Section 230 Authors Ron Wyden & Chris Cox
from the don't-miss-it dept Get your tickets for Section 230 Matters before February 23rd » There are just a few days left until Tuesday, February 23rd, and our Section 230 Matters event, celebrating Section 230, including a discussion with the two coauthors of the law, Chris Cox and Senator Ron Wyden. The event starts at 12:30pm PT. We're using a cool virtual events platform called Remo that will allow for networking/conversation prior to the panel.
Stat Of The Week: What ATL Readers Want To Know
As the Above the Law Non-Event gets underway with a focus on practice management software, what related topics are foremost on the minds of small firm lawyers and solos? According to “intent data” compiled by Bombora, an Above the Law marketing partner, these lawyers likely have AFAs on the brain. Bombora is the largest B2B data cooperative — an arrangement where numerous publishers pool anonymized user data to determine areas of interest for varied user groups and companies.
Worst-Case Scenario
Olga V. Mack is the CEO of Parley Pro, a next-generation contract management company that has pioneered online negotiation technology. Olga embraces legal innovation and had dedicated her career to improving and shaping the future of law. She is convinced that the legal profession will emerge even stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive than before by embracing technology.
How Oregon's Top Wildlife Official Got Sued Over His State's Hunting App
from the can-you-patent-following-state-laws? dept What if you could get a patent on a new government program? Then, you could ask for the government to pay you royalties just for running that program. Nice work, if you can get it.
Freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn Schools Pope On First Amendment
Weirdly, this is relevant.(TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images) It’s been quite a morning for the Congressional brain trust, with dueling tweets from GOP freshmen Reps. Madison Cawthorn and Lauren Boebert ‘splaining to the Real Murikans about CONSTITUTION, HOW DOES IT GO. First off, the 25-year-old wunderkind from North Carolina would like a word with the Pope on employment practices at the Holy See. This doesn’t sound legal… One shouldn’t be forced against their will to be vaccinated.
Biglaw Partner Survives Texas Snowpocalypse Thanks To A Little Help From His Friends
The water is gushing down, my wife runs out in the front and, lo and behold, some of our neighbors are testing out how to open up the covers so that you can turn the water valves off. They come running over, towels in hand, to sop up the water, move furniture, because it flooded our den and then it seeped down, flooded into our garage. But within 45 minutes we had all the water picked up all because of some terrific neighbors.
Law School Very Disappointed In Students Speaking Out AGAINST Designated Hate Group
This may come as a shock to some people, but it’s actually fairly easy not to invite members of recognized hate groups to your events. There are representatives espousing a range of standpoints and opinions out there that somehow manage to capture an ideological spectrum that falls short of advocating for human rights abuses against people based on their identity. Wild, right? It’s a memo that someone should forward to the William & Mary Law School Christian Legal Society.
FCC Pressured To Let Libraries Bridge Broadband Access During The Pandemic
from the little-things dept Fri, Feb 19th 2021 12:08pm — Karl Bode An estimated 42 million Americans lack access to broadband, nearly double official FCC estimates. That's kind of a problem during a pandemic when your education, employment, family connection, healthcare and very survival depend on being tethered to the internet.
Links 19/2/2021: Linux on Mars and Tumbleweed Gets Newest KDE Frameworks
Links 19/2/2021: Linux on Mars and Tumbleweed Gets Newest KDE Frameworks Posted in News Roundup at 3:02 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Linux Has Landed On Mars NASA has landed a new rover called Perseverance on Mars. It has it’s own miniature helicopter named Ingenuity that can take off, navigate, and land on Mars without human intervention. Ingenuity runs a custom Linux-based operating system, Linux has now reached Mars.
The Am Law Top 10’s Share Of COVID-Related Civil Litigation
COVID-19 changed 2020 for everyone. It led to many unanticipated consequences for lawyers as thousands upon thousands of lawsuits have been filed related to the virus. This post looks at a sample of decisions involving lawyers from the 2019 Am Law Top 10 firms based on gross revenue’s participation in such lawsuits.
North Dakota's New Anti-230 Bill Would Let Nazis Sue You For Reporting Their Content To Twitter
from the i-just-can't-even dept Earlier this month, we wrote about how various Republicans in state legislatures were introducing blatantly unconstitutional bills that tried to do away with Section 230 and which all attempted to block the ability of websites to do any content moderation.
Top Biglaw Firm Offers Associates 100 Billables Hours For Diversity & Inclusion Work
Biglaw firms across the country are implementing all manner of initiatives to bring attention to the importance of diversity and inclusion among their ranks. We’ve previously acknowledged Dorsey & Whitney, Hogan Lovells, Reed Smith, Cooley, and Baker McKenzie as firms where approved diversity and inclusion-related work will be billable for attorneys and will count toward bonus thresholds.
Lawyer Fired For Attending Capitol Insurrection Gets Fired Again In Bizarre Twist To An Already Bizarre Story
Paul Davis (Image via Twitter) Oh, goody, Paul Davis is back in the news. So, what’s the latest happening with the former in-house counsel for Goosehead Insurance turned Capitol insurrectionist? No, he hasn’t been arrested for his role in the riots of January 6th, but you aren’t alone if that’s immediately where your mind went. It seems Davis has been fired. Again.
Oxford University Study Shows Small Correlation Between Playing Video Games And 'Well Being'
from the well-i'll-be dept For the first few decades after video games became a serious medium of entertainment among the public, they were also blamed for all manner of ills. Violence in children was chief among the concerns, of course, but so too were claims that video games made kids anti-social, apathetic, and fat slobs stuck in their parents' basements.
To Clerk, Or Not To Clerk?
An important question for law students and recently barred lawyers is whether or not to apply for a clerkship. My advice? It depends. Here are some questions you can answer to help you decide. If you’d like to discuss your specific circumstances and whether or not it makes sense for you to apply to or accept an offer to clerk, feel free to reach out to me or any of my Lateral Link colleagues.
Our Country Is Failing Its Asian American Senior Citizens - We Must Step Up To Protect Them
“Yeah, my intuition is telling me there’ll be better days / I sit in silence and find whenever I meditate / My fears alleviate, my tears evaporate / My faith don’t deviate, ideas don’t have a date / But see I’m growing and getting stronger with every breath.” — J. Cole The nightmare scenario is here. Another week in the pandemic, and another series of vicious attacks on unsuspecting Asian American senior citizens. Another broken hip, a half-dozen more stitches, trolley assaults, and subway attacks.
Peloton Seeks To Invalidate ‘Spinning’ Trademark Held By Trademark Bully
Back in 2010, we discussed that the at-the-time “spin class” craze in the fitness world was encountering the fact that one company, Mad Dogg Athletics, held a trademark on the term “spinning” for use in the fitness industry. Mad Dogg had taken to going around the world and threatening anyone else using the term with trademark infringement as a result.
New Bill Tries To Ban Community Broadband. During A Pandemic.
from the you're-not-helping dept Fri, Feb 19th 2021 6:27am — Karl Bode Having covered telecom for twenty years, I've found there's a good shortcut to determining if somebody's really serious about fixing US broadband issues: can they admit that (1) monopolies exist, and (2) that this results in a lack of competition. The data is indisputable on this point.
Peloton Seeks To Invalidate 'Spinning' Trademark Held By Trademark Bully
from the spin-cycle dept Back in 2010, we discussed that the at-the-time "spin class" craze in the fitness world was encountering the fact that one company, Mad Dogg Athletics, held a trademark on the term "spinning" for use in the fitness industry. Mad Dogg had taken to going around the world and threatening anyone else using the term with trademark infringement as a result.
Clare Locke stories at Techdirt.
from the free-speech-hypocrites dept Earlier this year, we wrote a story about the boutique law firm Clare Locke that appeared to specialize in intimidating news orgs with legal threats to try to get them to kill stories. One of the firm's partner, Elizabeth Locke, flat out says that she thinks there's too much press freedom: "...
Peter Thiel's Plan To Destroy Gawker Went Way Beyond Hogan's Case
from the this-was-not-a-one-off dept At this point, I've written a bunch of stories about Peter Thiel and his (largely successful) plans to bring down Gawker with lawsuits. I've made it clear why I think this is a bad thing -- and I've learned that many Techdirt readers disagree with me on that (though I appear to have won a few people over to my point of view after a bunch of discussions on this).
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