I found it really upsetting that Momofuku would come down on a woman-owned small business after trademarking a common name for an internationally widespread condiment. In the article, she says the public outcry hasn't led to actual sales so I got her sambal chili crunch and rendang curry paste. (Her legal bills are pretty extreme.) Wish her the best. ❤️
By the way, don't be confused between #Copyright and #Trademark. These two are totally different.
Let's use Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
While the earliest versions of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse are now in the #PublicDomain it does not mean you can freely create and sell your own merchandise with them on it. That falls under Trademark.
Copyright covers works of art like the character, the stories, literary works, music. In the Mickey and Minnie Mouse case, the images and stories, and the character art itself, are now in the Public Domain.
However, using these characters as in a merchandise like mugs and t-shirts is not under Copyright, it is under Trademark. Disney still holds the Trademark rights for these characters.
You can draw Mickey and Minnie. You can create new stories for them. Not only that, but you can write a new literary work, say a novel or a children's book or a film, based on the earliest versions of these characters. Just not anything that falls under Trademark.
If you are going to do something that you think might fall under Trademark law, the best course of action is to ask #Disney. If they say it doesn't fall under Trademark law, then keep that reply, as it is your proof they gave you permission. Otherwise, try to negotiate if you really need it.
So, again, Copyright (and in this case Public Domain) is totally different from Trademark. Many countries choose to call these two as #IntellectualPropertyRights. While it is correct (and confusing), they are different and there is no overlap between them. They have completely separate uses/coverage.
#IANAL and #TINLA, however, it doesn't mean you can't study Copyright and Trademark laws.
For the #PublicDomain, time stopped in 1998, when the #SonnyBonoCopyrightAct froze copyright expirations for 20 years. In 2019, time started again, with a massive crop of works from 1923 returning to the public domain, free for all to use and adapt:
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
Between #trademark claims and later copyrighted elements of Mickey's design, Mickey's status will be too complex to understand. That's totally wrong.
Jenkins illustrates the relationship between these three elements in (what else) a Mickey-shaped Venn diagram. Topline: you can use all the elements of Mickey that are present in Steamboat Willie, along with some elements that were added later, provided that you make it clear that your work isn't affiliated with Disney.
Weds 11/1 - "Trump Too Small," SBF Closing Arguments, DJTJ to Testify, and New Bar Exam Catches on
In today's episode we have #SCOTUS taking up “Trump Too Small” #trademark claim, #SBF case heads to closing arguments, DJTJ to testify in his father’s trial, and the NextGen bar exam gains traction kind of.
OpenAI now tries to hide that ChatGPT was trained on copyrighted books, including J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series
#ChatGPT attempts to avoid responding to user prompts with exact phrasing from copyrighted works, according to a group of AI scientists working for the research arm of ByteDance - owner of TikTok
Certainly not a fan (more like lesser of evils) regarding Meta and Microsoft, but I would like them to take legal action against Musk's new X.
Since high school in the 1980s I have been fan of the Los Angeles based punk band "X" and it would be some kind of wonderful if they could find a way to sue Musk and X the corporation also ;-)
Canada’s major telecom company wants to trademark #Pantone 301 as “Bell Blue”
As ridiculous as it seems, colours have just recently been allowed to be trademarked in #Canada, so the company is just embracing its rights — even if the public relations upside (and likely legal) is non-existent
The #Firefish word #trademark is registered for NICE classes 9, 41, 42, i.e. computer software and services etc., for the whole of the European Union (and I believe for the UK too, not checked). Server admins in those jurisdictions, you may want to avoid domains containing the word or at least get legal advice before deploying a server with such a domain - this could potentially be costly otherwise.
Off-White Lands U.S. Registration for "FOR WALKING" Trademark ( www.thefashionlaw.com )
Off-White has an interesting new trademark registration in its arsenal for “FOR WALKING” … for use on footwear.