Intellectual Property and Open Movements (IP&OM)

Issues and developments related to Intellectual Property (e.g. Copyright, Fair Use, Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets) and Open Movements (e.g. Open Access, Open Data, Open Educational Resources (OER)), examined in the "Intellectual Property and Open Movements" and "Ethics of Data, Information, and Emerging Technologies" graduate courses I teach at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. -- Kip Currier, PhD, JD

Showing posts with label no copyright or trademark protection for people's names under UK law. Show all posts

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Boy named after Wayne Rooney not allowed personalised Easter egg due to 'copyright law'; Express.co.uk, 4/14/14

Sarah Ann Harris, Express.co.uk; Boy named after Wayne Rooney not allowed personalised Easter egg due to 'copyright law' :

"A LITTLE boy named after England striker Wayne Rooney was told he could not have his name written on an Easter egg because of "copyright issues".
Staff at a branch of Thorntons in Bury, Greater Manchester, refused to ice three-year-old Rooney's name on a chocolate egg in case it broke copyright laws, said the child's angry mother, Jo-anne Scholes.
She said instead, as a compromise, staff agreed to put her son's full name, Rooney Scholes, on the egg, bought by a family friend on Saturday...
There is no copyright or trademark protection for people's names under UK law."