Virgil Abloh, the Creative Director of fashion house Off-White and currently one of the biggest designers in the fashion industry, may have some important legal decisions to make in the near future. Abloh has been using quotation marks around everything he associates with the Off-White brand. Whether it is a design feature on a shoe, a […]
I was invited to attend the Canadian Bar Association Intellectual Property section’s IP Day 2017 and Judges’ Dinner, on May 11, 2017 in Ottawa. It was an honour to be invited as the winner of the Intellectual Property Law student essay contest for my paper “Just Laugh It Off: Trademark Parody and the Expansion of […]
Although there is no shortage of counterfeit products on the market, it is not everyday that a high fashion designer sues your local flea market. Recently, Louis Vuitton reportedly filed a lawsuit against Dr. Flea’s Flea Market for intentionally selling a handbag that was evidently in violation of Canadian trademark and copyright laws.
The tangled history of Pro Football, Inc (PFI) and the issue of disparaging trademarks is back in the spotlight with recent accusations of bribery and an anti-Washington Redskins prime time commercial from the National Congress of American Indians.
Some may say that there is no Laurent without Yves, but Hedi Slimane is definitely not one of them. Luxury Goods International (LGI), the owner of Saint Laurent Paris’ trademarks, is suing Jeanine Heller, founder of What About Yves, for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false designation of origin and unfair competition. Her parody t-shirts had […]
On Thursday September 18th, IP Osgoode presented the first talk of its IP Osgoode Speaks Series for the 2014-2015 academic year. Visiting from the University of Oxford, Professor Graeme B. Dinwoodie challenged a room full of eager listeners with his lecture entitled “Territoriality of Trade Marks in a Post-National Era.” For two hours Professor Dinwoodie captivated […]
There is currently a live, ongoing legal dispute in California between former and current student athletes (SAs) and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) which reveals that regulations defining collegiate eligibility did not foresee the nexus of new media technology and sport. Consequently, NCAA bylaws do not consider the effects of athlete intellectual property on […]
Video game developer King made headlines and the IPilogue last month when they applied for a trade-mark for the word CANDY in the United States. The move generated extensive commentary and negative backlash from game developers and the gaming community at large. While it is unclear if causing a news buzz was the impetus behind the application, King […]
Video game developer King, maker of the insanely popular and addictive Candy Crush Saga, has been granted a US trade-mark for the word "Candy". While previously owning trade-marks over the specific designs and game titles, this is the first common word successfully trade-marked by King. Some are worried registering a common word is an over-extension of intellectual property rights, while […]
As of July 25th, WIPO has rejected all of the first 14 Legal Rights Objections (LRO) filed in response to applications for the registration of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs). While there are still over 50 Objections yet to be decided, the rejection of all the objections so far have some commentators beginning to question the effectiveness of the process.