Carroll Shelby Licensing v. Halicki et al.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably owned a car with character, or even several cars with character, at some time in your life. A used Volkswagen Jetta with a replacement alternator that was
Latest from Cokato Copyright Attorney: The Law Blog of Thomas James
Photographers’ Rights
Romanova v. Amilus, Inc., No. 23-828 (2nd Cir., May 23, 2025)
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a trial judge’s dismissal of a photographer’s copyright infringement complaint, holding that because “fair use” was not clearly established on the face
Court of Appeals Affirms Registration Refusal for AI-Generated Output
In 2019, Stephen Thaler developed an AI system he called The Creativity Machine. He generated output he called A Recent Entrance to Paradise. When he applied to register a copyright claim in the output, he listed the machine as the
Copyrights in AI-Generated Content
Fair Use Decision in Thomson Reuters v. Ross
A court has handed down the first known ruling (to me, anyway) on “fair use” in the wave of copyright infringement lawsuits against AI companies that are pending in federal courts. The ruling came in Thomas Reuters v. Ross. Thomas
Top Copyright Cases of 2024
Warner Chappell Music Inc. v. Nealy
The Copyright Act imposes a three-year period of limitations for copyright infringement claims. There has been a split in the circuits about whether this means that damages could be claimed only for infringement occurring
New Trademark Fees Coming
The USPTO has announced that trademark fees in the United States will be undergoing significant increases on January 18, 2025. Here is a summary of the changes.
Application Fees
You will no longer enjoy a discounted fee for filing a
The New Copyright Circumvention Rules
In 1998, Congress enacted the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). In addition to establishing the notice-and-take-down regimen with which website and blog owners are (or should be) familiar, the DMCA made it unlawful to “circumvent a technological measure that effectively
Joint Custody and Equal Shared Parenting Laws
Yes, this is off-topic. It is, however, the reason I haven’t been posting to this blog lately. In addition to finishing out some cases, I have been working on developing this 90-minute program for the past few months.
In what
Can We Talk Here? – Trademark Speech Rights
In recent years, the United States Supreme Court has been grappling with the thorny question of how the First Amendment applies to trademarks. In this blog post, attorney Thomas B. James attempts a reconciliation of recent pronouncements.
The Slants (Matal