Louis Vuitton Malletier (LVMH) recently put a halt to an exhibition comprised of 9 luxury branded locusts. The works, created from knockoff handbags by Kyoto-based artist Mitsuhiro Okamoto, are meant as social commentary. Okamoto is miffed that the company aligns his art, entitled Batta Mon (batta, “locust” and battamon, slang for “knockoff”), with counterfeit products. [...]

In 1991, Negativland released U2. The EP mashed a rant by American Top 40 host Casey Kasem with samples of U2′s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and an accompanying kazoo. U2′s label Island Records sued Negativland alleging both copyright (unauthorized sampling) and trademark infringement (misleading cover artwork) — according to the band, [...]

On Tuesday, U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Victoria Espinel, released the Joint Strategic Plan to Combat Intellectual Property Theft. In a blog post, Espinel notes the importance of balancing enforcement and creativity via fair use, “The Obama Administration has always embraced the free flow of information, online collaboration, and fair use by average citizens, which [...]

It’s campaign season and flaps between musicians and politicians are on the rise. Early last week we noted that Talking Heads frontman David Byrne sued Florida Governor Charlie Crist for releasing an attack ad using the band’s Road to Nowhere. The Crist camp posted the commercial on the campaign website and YouTube without first obtaining [...]

I was just having a conversation about the joy of vintage NES clones and now this. The Tetris Company, LLC, licensee of various Tetris copyrights and Tetris trademark, sent Google a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice Tuesday demanding the removal of 35 games from the Android Market: Google’s facilitation of the distribution, without permission, [...]

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today agreed with the District Court’s ruling that “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye” is substantially similar to J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye.” The Court, however, vacated the District Court’s order to rehear the ‘likelihood of irreparable injury’ prior granting an injunction against publication. The [...]

It’s ladies night at the Forty Forty nightclub in Santo Domingo, R.D., but all’s not well stateside for its MLB superstar owner David Ortiz. Earlier Thursday, music mogul Jay-Z filed suit against the slugger for use of the ‘Forty Forty’ nightclub name and fortyforty.net. The complaint, filed in the New York Southern District Court, alleges [...]

Seven years after the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling in favor of Danish dance-pop group Aqua, Mattel, Inc. has appeared to license the song for a Barbie promotional video. In 1997, Aqua produced the single Barbie Girl, found here, on the album Aquarium. The single was a phenomenon, topping dance charts worldwide. Mattel, [...]