Category: Intellectual Property

How Trade Secret Theft Can Cost Companies Billions

Last week, we discussed how intellectual property theft from China has been called an “emergency” by the Department of Justice. An emergency was declared because trade secret theft siphons off hundreds of billions of dollars from American companies every year. According to a 2013 report by the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, trade secret theft is

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Chinese Intellectual Property Theft Costs US ‘Hundreds of Billions of Dollars’

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has called Chinese intellectual property theft a “national security emergency” that has cost American companies hundreds of billions of dollars and two million jobs. According to the DoJ, Chinese espionage has stolen intellectual property from thousands of American companies. Can American companies fight back against the entire intelligence apparatus of

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Gearbox Software Victorious In Duke Nukem Lawsuit

Gearbox Software has reached a settlement with 3D Realms Entertainment and its parent company, Interceptor Entertainment, in a trademark lawsuit over the intellectual rights to the Duke Nukem video game franchise. Duke Nukem is a machine-gun wielding, alien-killing and bad-mouthed ladies’ man with an affinity for destruction. Several video games in the series have come out over

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Led Zeppelin Accused Of Stealing Stairway To Heaven

A hearing has been set in the lawsuit against famous rock band Led Zeppelin over allegations they stole the song “Stairway to Heaven”. The lawsuit alleges Led Zeppelin stole the song from Randy Craig Wolfe, a founding member of the late 1960s instrumental band, Spirit. The founding members of Spirit once claimed Led Zeppelin front

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Similarly Stitched Dress Leads to Trade Dress Infringement Case

The clothing designers Spirit Clothing Company filed a lawsuit against West Trend for allegedly marketing and selling clothing that contained stitching that was similar to Spirit’s clothing designs. The California Federal District Court has labeled this case as a trade dress infringement case, although the underlying complaint did not allege trade dress infringement specifically. The

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Former NFL Players File Lawsuit Against Video Game Company

Former National Football League (NFL) players are taking on the video game company Electronic Arts (EA) for using their likenesses in its Madden NFL football video game series. Former NFL quarterback Vince Ferragamo, who played professional football from 1977 through 1986, states that EA never asked his permission to use his likeness in the game.

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Tom Petty and Sam Smith Settle Intellectual Property Dispute

Twenty-two-year-old English musician Sam Smith accidentally infringed on the intellectual property (IP­) of the legendary American musician Tom Petty. Smith alleged that he had never heard of Petty’s 1989 song I Won’t Back Down when he wrote the melodically similar song Stay With Me, which was recently Grammy-nominated. The music industry is prone to all kinds of business litigation, because

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