Weekly IP Buzz for week ending June 8, 2018
Hasbro Trademarks Play-Doh Scent; Reposting Sports Clips and DMCA Takedowns; Amazon Fights ASIN Hijacking
Here's a summary of interesting developments in intellectual property, technology, social media, and Internet law for the week ending June 8, 2018.
Sensory Marks: Hasbro Trademarks Signature Play-Doh Scent
While the U.S. Trademark Office has long allowed the trademarking of scents and smells as sensory marks, few companies apply to have scents trademarked because the application can be difficult to complete and because few companies find it necessary to enforce such trademarks. This past month, Hasbro made news by filing a trademark application to protectthe scent of Play-Doh. Although Play-Doh has been around for over two decades, Hasbro only recently decided to file for federal protection of the product. Read more about sensory marks.
“GIF” Me a Break: Reposting Sports Clip Could Cost Twitter Account
Should you think twice before tweeting that sports highlight or animated GIF? While sports bloggers have long created and posted video excerpts and animated GIFs of NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and NCAA sports footage to which they have no express rights, recent crackdowns by some of these entities – in the form of DMCA takedown notification – suggests that such actions may cost you your Twitter or other social media accounts. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed into law by President Clinton in 1998 and essentially protects copyrighted information from infringement on the Internet. Read more about the law surrounding social media.
Amazon Fights ASIN Hijacking
As Amazon has experienced exponential growth since its inception, it has had to wrestle with new and emerging issues in technology and intellectual property law. One of the more recent issues has been ASIN hijacking. ASIN stands for Amazon Standard Identification Number. The Amazon Standard Identification Number is a 10-character alphanumeric unique identifier assigned by Amazon and its partners to products for easy and uniform identification within the Amazon organization. Other similarly used identifiers are the Universal Product Code, which is a twelve-digit bar code used in the United States or the European Article Number (“EAN”), which is a 12-13-digit product identification code used in Europe. Read more about Amazon and evolving IP issues.
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Darin M. Klemchuk is founder of Klemchuk LLP, a litigation, intellectual property, and transactional law firm located in Dallas, Texas. He also co-founded Project K, a charitable movement devoted to changing the world one random act of kindness at a time, and publishes Thriving Attorney, a blog dedicated to exploring the business of the practice of law, productivity and performance for attorneys, and other topics such as law firm leadership and management, law firm culture, and business development for attorneys.
Click to learn more about Darin M. Klemchuk's law practice as an intellectual property lawyer.
