'Game Of Thrones' Is The Most Pirated TV Show Of The Year, Again; Huffington Post, 12/28/15

Todd Van Luling, Huffington Post; 'Game Of Thrones' Is The Most Pirated TV Show Of The Year, Again:

"The life of a pirate is traditionally full of untimely death, and 2015 was no exception. For the fourth year in a row, Internet pirates looted streams of the show where everybody dies, "Game of Thrones.""

America's Orchard? Adams County eyes fruit trademark; Hanover Sun via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12/25/15

Chris Cappella, Hanover Sun via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; America's Orchard? Adams County eyes fruit trademark:

"The way Idaho is associated with potatoes, or Napa Valley, Calif., is associated with wine, Adams County, Pa., could be associated with its own signature identity, said Marty Qually, county commissioner.

That identity could be America’s Orchard, a trademark proposed by the Adams County Office of Planning and Development for the fruit belt region in western Adams County, Mr. Qually said.

“It’s an effort to really kind of brand the fruit belt in Adams County as being something significant on a national level, which we all know it is,” he said. “We have something that is unique to the nation, so this is America’s Orchard.”...

The planning and development office started working on the trademark about a year ago, Ms. Clayton-Williams said. After research and ideas were complete, the trademark was submitted to the U.S. Trademark and Patent office in October. By mid-February, they expect to have a final decision on approval, she said.

The group anticipates the trademark being approved because they don’t believe it’s currently in use, Ms. Clayton-Williams said. As that process comes to an end, the office is looking to create a trademark branding advisory committee for local stakeholders, she said.

The goal of the committee would be to create a logo and sustainable model for the trademark, Ms. Clayton-Williams said."

Government Can't Deny Trademarks Over Offensive Names, Appeals Court Rules; NPR, 12/23/15

Eyder Peralta, NPR; Government Can't Deny Trademarks Over Offensive Names, Appeals Court Rules:

"The court ruled that their name — The Slants — is private speech and therefore protected by the First Amendment. The government, the court writes, has no business trying to regulate it by denying the band a trademark.

At issue in the case was Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, which allows the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to deny or cancel a trademark if it is "disparaging" of persons, institutions or national symbols.

In a 10-2 decision, the court decided parts of that section were unconstitutional. Conferring a trademark, the court argues, does not make the band's name government speech.

Here's the comparison the majority uses: "The PTO's processing of trademark registrations no more transforms private speech into government speech than when the government issues permits for street parades, copyright registration certificates, or, for that matter, grants medical, hunting, fishing, or drivers licenses, or records property titles, birth certificates, or articles of incorporation.""

Re-Print of Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' Unleashes Row in Germany; Reuters via New York Times, 12/23/15

Reuters via New York Times; Re-Print of Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' Unleashes Row in Germany:

"For the first time since Hitler's death, Germany is publishing the Nazi leader's political treatise "Mein Kampf", unleashing a highly charged row over whether the text is an inflammatory racist diatribe or a useful educational tool.

The 70-year copyright on the text, written by Hitler between 1924-1926 and banned by the Allies at the end of World War Two, expires at the end of the year, opening the way for a critical edition with explanatory sections and some 3,500 annotations.

In January the 2,000 page, two-volume work will go on sale after about three years of labor by scholars at Munich's Institute for Contemporary History."

Protecting Rudolph - trade marks and copyright helping commercialise Christmas songs; Lexology, 12/23/15

Marks & Clerk, Lexology; Protecting Rudolph - trade marks and copyright helping commercialise Christmas songs:

"With festive songs from years gone by playing on the radio and familiar family films returning to our television screens, many of us are ready for Christmas. It is no secret that many businesses have spent months, if not the whole year, readying themselves for the holiday season, which is one of the key events in their annual sales cycle. Indeed, it is thanks to strategic commercial planning on the part of businesses that many of these films, songs and books which we enjoy during the Christmas period make a return year after year. This strategic forethought almost always involves IP protection, including trade marks and copyright.

Some of the most memorable songs like Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” first released in 1942 and Johnny Marks’ “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer”, composed in 1949, have long histories, in which copyright and trade marks play key roles.

Copyright and trade marks are closely associated but protect different legal rights. In legal speak, copyright serves to protect original literary and artistic works from unauthorised copying; trade marks seek to guarantee the commercial origin of particular goods and services. This distinguishes those goods and services from their competitors’."