Amazon has just announced Project Zero to potentially assist brand owners in combatting counterfeit goods by removing products likely to be fake from the online retailer’s platform. Project Zero would allow brand owners to designate product listings for removal, instead of undergoing Amazon’s prior reporting and removal process, which required brand owners to report counterfeit
Embed at Your Own Risk, Says a New York Federal Court: Embedding Copyrighted Images on Your Website and Social Media May Lead to Charges of Copyright Infringement
Does your business or publication link or embed copyrighted content on your website or social media? If you routinely do the latter, a recent decision in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York suggests that the tide is turning to the former.
Although this holding is merely persuasive outside of the Southern District of New York, there is a possibility that other districts could adopt the same reasoning, finding businesses liable for violating a copyright holder’s right of display by embedding content from third-party servers.Continue Reading Embed at Your Own Risk, Says a New York Federal Court: Embedding Copyrighted Images on Your Website and Social Media May Lead to Charges of Copyright Infringement
Tiffany Setting the Standard
Tiffany & Co., a world-renowned jeweler and specialty retailer, successfully won a judgment that Costco was appropriating its Tiffany® trademark. Federal Judge Laura T. Swain ordered Costco to pay Tiffany & Co. $19.4 million for trademark infringement and trademark counterfeiting under the Lanham Act, as well as unfair competition under New York state law, in the latest round in a long-running legal battle over the sale of engagement rings bearing the mark “Tiffany” as a standalone term. The decision reaffirms the strength of the Tiffany® trademark and will likely have a drastic effect on the way Costco and other wholesalers conduct business.
The world-famous Tiffany® mark has been used in commerce in the United States since 1868. In 1886, Tiffany & Co. introduced an engagement ring that highlights the diamonds by lifting the stone off the band. This famous ring was named the Tiffany®. This six-prong configuration has been called the “Tiffany setting” by other jewelers.Continue Reading Tiffany Setting the Standard
Golden Rules: Counterfeits and the Olympics
Demand for Olympic merchandise in the United States is resurrected every 4 years by the fervor of the televised Games. Officially, authorized and licensed gear is readily available in stores and on the Internet; however, every iteration of the Games brings with it a flood of counterfeit Olympic goods as well. The broadcasting of this year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro has, as expected, beckoned all sorts of counterfeit Olympic items to the U.S. market. From t-shirts illegally emblazoned with “Team USA”, to phony gold medals inscribed with the Olympic Rings. This blog post explores the laws that protect consumers and Olympics rights-holders in the United States from counterfeit Olympic goods.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1127, a counterfeit is an article that includes unauthorized use of a logo, name, or other trademark that is “identical with, or substantially indistinguishable from” a registered trademark. The widely recognizable signs, symbols, and words affiliated with the Olympics, Paralympics, and Pan-American games are all registered trademarks. This includes, but is not limited to, the torch, the five interlocking rings, and the words “Team USA.”Continue Reading Golden Rules: Counterfeits and the Olympics