Intellectual Property

Net Radio Royalty EXTRA -- UPDATES: David Byrne, Cover feature

Jessica Seinfeld Accused Of "Vegetable Plagiarism," Husband Jerry Turns It Into Comedy Bit

Jessica Seinfeld Accused Of "Vegetable Plagiarism," Husband Jerry Turns It Into Comedy Bit

Fresh from controversy, Lane Hartwell to head up Tuesday night panel discussion and ask the immortal question: what's protecting artists on the web?

Is Emily the Strange a Copycat?

By Lauren Smiley What if Emily the Strange -- the sullen girl-power icon from Berkeley-based company Comic Debris who claims her own clothing line, comic book series, and soon, a motion picture -- isn't all that odd at all? Accusations are flying around the blogosphere that Emily, whose emo pre-tee ... More >>

Matador Records Skips Important Credit on Cat Power's Jukebox

By Lauren Smiley What if Emily the Strange -- the sullen girl-power icon from Berkeley-based company Comic Debris who claims her own clothing line, comic book series, and soon, a motion picture -- isn't all that odd at all? Accusations are flying around the blogosphere that Emily, whose emo pre-tee ... More >>

Blogos-Free

Since the paper is called the Examiner, shouldn't it take a closer look at what's going up on its Web site, and pay for it?

Unfair Use

To what insane lengths will Sony go in its fight against piracy?

Art Bandits

What's stealing and what's not, in "Pirated: A Post Asian Perspective"

Sounds of Silence

ASCAP's legal threats kill a thriving local music scene

Raw Sue-age

Let us not squander the gift of mass lawsuits against average Joes: Fuck the RIAA!

Paying through the nose -- and the ears

Noncommercial radio versus the capitalist urge

Digital Wage

What a difference a year makes, to the country, and to the New Economy

Who Owns Your Clone?

A San Francisco firm thinks it's time people started copyrighting their DNA

Study Thrall

Brilliance is hip and even -- ahem -- sexy at Intel's Science and Engineering Fair

Custody Battle

Marvel Comics isn't going to give up Captain America without a fight

Patent Fight Pending

When a company sues a notorious critic for infringement, is it just business or intimidation?

Babes in Toyland

Two hackers piss off Mattel and spawn an Internet legal imbroglio

Genes Without Frontiers

The so-called gene chip could revolutionize the way we treat cancer patients. That is, if biotech firms don't keep it out of doctors' hands.

Thievery Corporation

The sample-minded artists of Detritus.net celebrate the fine art of cultural reappropriation

South to the Future

Pressing Patent Suit May Backfire on Amazon.com

TheirNameHere.com

New domains -- including .store -- likely to multiply Internet trademark conflicts

Rhapsody in Green

At the end of the Gershwin centennial, his trust benefits from new copyright laws. But are they protecting artists or merely bank statements?

Viral Combat

Chiron Corp. and the nasty fight over the billion-dollar rights to the hepatitis C test

Scarf Dance

Gary Bukovnik says his flowers are sprouting on Gucci neckwear, but that's not where they belong

Letters

Gary Bukovnik says his flowers are sprouting on Gucci neckwear, but that's not where they belong

Mix Masters

Inside the underground DJ mix-tape phenomenon

Duck, Duck, Suit: One SF Duck Tour Sues Another Over Trademarked Quack

In November of last year, the SF Weekly published a cover story on the all-out duck fight going on between the city's rival amphibious tours, Bay Quackers and Ride the Ducks. Bay Quackers is the smaller, locally owned business that's been around about five years; Ride the Ducks belongs to ... More >>

New York Times Reports SF Duck Tour Quacking Lawsuit -- But Omits Crucial Aspect

The SF Weekly has paid a lot of attention to the Duck Tour rivalry here in San Francisco. Possibly too much. So it was nice to see that the nation's most respected publication also found that story interesting, and published one of its own.The story is a good one, and it's especially informativ ... More >>

Faster, Dressmaker! Style! Style!

The SF Weekly has paid a lot of attention to the Duck Tour rivalry here in San Francisco. Possibly too much. So it was nice to see that the nation's most respected publication also found that story interesting, and published one of its own.The story is a good one, and it's especially informativ ... More >>

Apple Triumphs in Key Copyright Ruling in San Francisco Lawsuit

Robert Pedraza                      By C. Stiles ​In our cover story last week, Worms in the Apple, writer Tim Elfrink detailed the saga of the Rudy and Robert Pedraza, a couple of rogu ... More >>

Swingless Golfers Strike In Court

via flickr by chris.corwinNever win​The saga over the patent rights and trade secrets of the swingless golf club continues in a San Francisco courtroom.A federal judge in San Francisco today permitted some counterclaims accusing a Wyoming-based company and two directors of tricking the former owne ... More >>

Total Drag: One of S.F.'s most famous drag queens protects her trademark

via flickr by chris.corwinNever win​The saga over the patent rights and trade secrets of the swingless golf club continues in a San Francisco courtroom.A federal judge in San Francisco today permitted some counterclaims accusing a Wyoming-based company and two directors of tricking the former owne ... More >>

Alleged Patent Violation -- of Mushrooms -- Spawns S.F. Lawsuit

A witness for the prosecution -- or the defense? ​For those of you who never thought they'd read an article in which the terms "patent infringement" and "mushrooms" were juxtaposed -- Oh happy day, your time has come. In recent years, items even erstwhile patent clerk Albert Einstein couldn't have ... More >>

Zynga Sued over 'Mafia Wars' Trademark by Digital Chocolate: Read the Lawsuit Here

Who says a war is bad for business?​San Francisco-based social-gaming company Zynga is being sued for alleged trademark infringement over its popular Facebook game, Mafia Wars.Digital Chocolate, another online gaming company, claims in a lawsuit filed in federal court that it owns rights to the na ... More >>

We Weren't Really Expecting Any Fresh Thinking About 'Online Piracy' From Obama, Were We?

"This is a fundamental issue of America's economic competitiveness," Locke said of online piracy on Monday.​Commerce secretary Gary Locke issued a harsh condemnation of so-called music piracy in a speech in Nashville Monday. We'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that Locke seemed to r ... More >>

'Giants Baseball: Torture.' Can That Phrase Be Trademarked?

Really, it just seems like the Giants' bats are broken...​Earlier this year, San Francisco Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper -- who can't turn off the games when they become unwatchable -- turned to broadcast partner Mike Krukow and uttered "Giants baseball: Torture." It's a phrase fans have taken t ... More >>

Levi's Suing Dolce & Gabbana For Copying Pocket Stitching

Copy this at your own risk. ​Levi's is suing another fashion label for trademark infringement alleging it copied the Levi's double- arch stitching design and ribbon tab on the back pocket. The San Francisco-based jeans company filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco Wednesday against Ita ... More >>

Claim: Limewire's Shutdown Reduced Music Piracy by 7 Percent

​The nationally-recognized market research nerds NPD Group just released their latest poll, which suggests the shutdown of the file-sharing application Limewire this past October reduced peer-to-peer-based music piracy in the U.S. by a significant 7 percent. Wait, that many of you were still ... More >>

Google Thumbs Nose at Antitrust Regulators

​You can't say Google doesn't have balls. Despite increasingly heavy antitrust scrutiny by the federal government, the Internet behemoth is charging ahead with a deal that brings all kinds of potential for cornering a market. It will pay $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility, a leading maker of hand ... More >>

Restaurateurs Beware: Michael Jackson Could Cost You $40,000

​You can't say Google doesn't have balls. Despite increasingly heavy antitrust scrutiny by the federal government, the Internet behemoth is charging ahead with a deal that brings all kinds of potential for cornering a market. It will pay $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility, a leading maker of hand ... More >>

Giants Barred From Trademarking "San Francisco" Logo

Wait! There's a "likelihood of confusion!"​It was that kind of year for the San Francisco Giants. The team scored the fewest runs in the National League -- the fewest runs the team has scored, in fact, since it lost 100 games in 1985. At the plate, the Giants just couldn't deliver. Bizarrely, it h ... More >>

The 1,101 Trademarks of San Francisco

Out at the plate, Giants...​Earlier this week, we reported on the San Francisco Giants' summer of discontent carrying over into a fiasco at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The team was barred from trademarking the script "San Francisco" logo featured on Giants jackets and an armada of other ... More >>

Giants Get Sued Over Team's "San Francisco" Logo

Out at the plate, Giants...​Earlier this week, we reported on the San Francisco Giants' summer of discontent carrying over into a fiasco at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The team was barred from trademarking the script "San Francisco" logo featured on Giants jackets and an armada of other ... More >>

Woman Says 'Hipstamatic' iPhone Photo App Violates Copyright Law

A Hipstamatic photo​A photographer is suing Apple in federal court in Texas, alleging that the iPhone's popular Hipstamatic app violates copyright law by republishing her photos and those of others without permission.In a complaint filed against the Bay Area-based company, plaintiff Shanti Deva Ko ... More >>

Copyright Fight the Subject of Juvenile Flamewars

​To the uninitiated, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce might sound like a larger version of local chambers of commerce: something like the Elks or the Rotary Club, where dull businesspeople get together for dull meetings to eat rubber chicken and to "network." But the U.S. Chamber is the largest lobb ... More >>

The Stop Online Piracy Act: The Owner of San Francisco's Burning House Records Explains His Support

​You've probably heard some rumblings about the Stop Online Piracy Act recently. And in all likelihood -- especially if you watch major news channels like CNN -- it's probably all sounded pretty bad and pretty scary. Casey Shafer owns and runs Burning House Records -- an independent, San Francisco ... More >>

Media Companies Outspend Tech Giants in Fight Over SOPA

Can content pirates be stopped?​The tech industry has been paying quite a bit of attention to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill wending its way through the U.S. Congress that would allow media companies to pursue legal remedies against online search engines and social networks that link to ... More >>

Digital Statesman

Can content pirates be stopped?​The tech industry has been paying quite a bit of attention to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill wending its way through the U.S. Congress that would allow media companies to pursue legal remedies against online search engines and social networks that link to ... More >>

Porn Company Hunts for Illegal Downloaders of 'My Little Panties #2'

​As the tech and media industries slug it out over laws governing copyrighted material online, one original content producer has won a small victory in its effort to staunch intellectual-property theft. The California-based porn-video producer Digital Sin [NSFW] has won the right to obtain persona ... More >>