By Collin Conerton

Throughout the world, the patent granting process has long been used as a primary way for countries to promote and encourage innovation among its citizens.  Countries see patents as powerful tools that drive advancement because they encourage inventors to quickly and accurately disclose their idea in the hopes of exploiting their invention for profit, as well as allowing other individuals and business to see and benefit from this new development. Hence, it should come as no surprise countries are constantly re-evaluating their patent granting process to ensure that they have the most effective process. Continue reading →

By Parker Howell

The man recently convicted in Washington State of killing “Seattle’s Dog Whisperer” Mark Stover apparently hopes that a juror’s tweets during the trial could constitute reversible error, the Seattle Weekly reports. Nineteen-year-old juror Caleb Chase reportedly tweeted some 20 times (via @chasecaleb) during the trial of Michiel Oakes, despite the judge’s typical admonishment against jurors discussing the case with non-jurors. Continue reading →

By JLTA Staff Writer

The Sixth Circuit recently affirmed a lower court’s holding that the mark “Texas Toast” on packages of croutons was generic and thus not protectable under trademark law. T. Marzetti Co. v. Roskam Baking Co., No. 10-3784, 2012 WL 1889310 (6th Cir. May 25, 2012). Continue reading →

Photo credit: jsdart of Flickr

By Daniel Shickich

Citing the powers granted in Amendments 19, 24 and 26, Democratic Representative John Lewis and cosponsors House Democratic whip Steny H. Hoyer, Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn, Representative John Conyers, and Representative Robert Brady introduced a new bill into the U.S. House of Representatives that aims at improving voter access to the ballot box in part by moving voting registration online. Continue reading →

Photo credit: evsmitty of Flickr

By Colin Conerton

After over a decade and a half, deceased American rapper Tupac Shakur is still making noise, but this time, not by way of music charts, but in the realm of intellectual property law. This past April at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Tupac made his posthumous debut on stage via a hologram like image during Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s festival performance. The Coachella audience (I was there), and people across the world were amazed to see a resurrected Tupac on stage interacting with the crowd seamlessly along with the two living legends beside him. Soon thereafter, music industry execs began eyeing the potential of this technology applied to other deceased artists such as John Lennon, Michael Jackson, and Jimmy Hendrix. According to Nick Smith, the president of AV Concepts—the company behind the Tupac hologram—“[y]ou can take [the artists’] likenesses and voice and . . . take people that haven’t done concerts before or perform music they haven’t sung and digitally recreate it.” Thus, it would seem, the possibilities are endless for truly unique uses of holographic artists in both a commercial and non-commercial setting. Continue reading →