Knowledge

16/02/16

“If you want me to Stay” As An Artist Pay Me My Royalties

After a 5 year legal battle, the Los Angeles Supreme Court has found funk icon Sly Stone is owed $5 million in back royalties by his former manager and entertainment lawyer. Sly Stone’s current lawyers claimed he had not received royalty payments for 20 years and that he was a victim of “shady accounting”. Sly...

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Passing off wins over delay

The Federal Court has recently provided some guidance on how damages will be assessed in passing off cases. Winnebago- the well-known American manufacturer of RV’s – successfully sued Australian RV manufacturer Knott Investments for passing off back in 2010. By way of a short history of the matter, back in 1978 Knott Investments, without Winnebago’s...

Can I sing Happy Birthday without being sued?

Two years later and the world can almost sing Happy Birthday without paying a large sum to Warner Chappell Inc. It was recently held that Warner does not own a valid copyright in the Happy Birthday lyrics. Warner grudgingly agreed to pay $14m to settle, but asserted that it “respectfully disagreed with the court’s decision”....

Parody is in the Eye of the Beholder

After reading our previous blog below about Louis Vuitton’s lack of success we thought it would be interesting to look at another parody case with a very different outcome. This case was between Tiffany and Costco. Costco had used the term “Tiffany” on signage for diamond engagement rings that were not made by Tiffany. Costco’s...

Copying is the Highest Form of Flattery?

Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH filed a trademark case nearly two years ago against a tote bag company called My Other Bag. My Other Bag was creating canvas totes, which featured the Louis Vuitton iconic patterned bag on the side. LVMH has recently lost its legal battle against My Other Bag. The New York...

Converse vs The World of Sneakers

Nike, Inc. (now the proud owner of Converse) recently filed lawsuits in New York against 31 retailers and rival shoe designers for infringing the trade mark for the design of their signature Chuck Taylor All Star shoes. It also brought claims before the International Trade Commission (ITC). Nike, through Converse, own a trade mark registration...

Fill in the blank: All Publicity is….Publicity?

Aldi recently tweeted a fill-in-the-blank post “I became an ALDI lover when I tasted ______ for the first time” along with the hashtags ‘tellus’ and ‘feedback’. But the social media campaign was soon deleted after it was predictably and publicly torn to shreds over the internet. The campaign was almost immediately met trolled responses such...

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