The Rise and Rise of IP Trolls
Innovation fuels progress, but it also creates opportunities for exploitation. Enter the troll: Shadowy figures that lie in wait, using IP law as a tool of extortion rather than protection. Unlike the real creators, these actors contribute nothing to create the assets they claim to protect. Instead, their business model revolves around extracting settlements or […]
When IP Crosses Borders: Appraising the Exhaustion Doctrine in International Trade
Free trade opens borders to ‘food’ and ‘food for thought’ aplenty. For IP owners (“rightsholders”) in particular, a common challenge is how the free movement of goods may impact their IP rights. Understanding the “Exhaustion Principle” in IP law becomes vital. Also known as “the First Sale doctrine,” Exhaustion limits a rightsholder from controlling the […]
Up In The Air: Navigating Perfume Copyrights in a Sea of ‘Smell Alikes’
To say perfumes are a chemical blend of airborne molecules that form a scent and nothing more would be simplistic. Perfumes are an accessory we daily “wear”; and are every inch a part of how others identify, associate, and perceive us. Indeed, they are a mix of existing molecular blends engineered to produce a particular […]
When Your Name Is No Longer Yours: IP Dilemmas in Eponymous Branding
In crafting a market positioning that dominates industries, branding have their work cut out. Building brand equity takes time. But over time, companies have found eponymous branding, also called “Namesake” branding—the practice of naming your brand after a person (usually a founder or a prominent individual associated with your brand)—to shorten this curve. Names are […]
Sharing Is Caring, but Who’s Keeping? Marking IP Territory in Open Source
Similarly, issues such as bugs, vulnerabilities, or inefficiencies in open-source software are often addressed collectively by a community of collaborators. This collaborative approach allows companies to resolve problems efficiently while benefiting from innovation without the need to maintain large, in-house development teams. Good thing happens when companies harness the power of community and synergy among […]
Navigating Love and Intellectual Property: The Modern Couple’s Guide to Marital Agreements
In today’s world, where assets are not just physical but increasingly intellectual, the dynamics of marital agreements are evolving. Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, traditionally meant to resolve financial and property disputes in divorce, are now addressing the complexities of intellectual property (IP). This article discusses the intersection of love and intellectual property and examines the […]