Intellectual Property

Copyright Law Creates Crazy Business Models

Two recent court rulings exemplify the sometimes bizarre outcomes of a legal system that's often a couple of decades behind technology. No matter where you stand on copyright issues, you can't deny that the law as it stands is dysfunctional when it comes to dealing with the fact that owning a "copy" ... More >>

Bottom-Feeding Patent Trolls Troll On

The year that we somehow just made it through has been dubbed "the year of the patent troll." But given that our patent system is still broken, 2013 promises to take that title for itself, and succeeding years will make their own claim unless laws are changed. And we see how good Congress is at chan ... More >>

The New Cold War: The Tech World Is Fighting a Costly Battle

Zazzle, City Prevent Transit Blog N-Judah Chronicles From Selling Muni Gear

It takes a Herculean effort of bad behavior to have oneself ejected from a Muni vehicle. But having your ability to create Muni paraphernalia ejected is easy -- disturbingly easy. Greg Dewar, the mastermind behind the N-Judah Chronicles transit blog -- and co-author, with your humble narrator, of th ... More >>

It Ain't Easy Being Google

As the dominant search engine, Google inevitably finds itself in the position of deciding for the world which information is important and which information is less so. Just as inevitably, this leads to controversy, and tough choices being forced on the Internet's dominant search engine. The latest ... More >>

S.F. Businessman Wants to Make Money Off Trayvon Martin Shooting

Look, we don't want to argue that capitalism has hurt the moral fabric of America, but what else could we possibly conclude after learning how local businessman Lawrence Sekara is capitalizing off the Trayvon Martin tragedy?That's right, the 49-year-old San Francisco businessman submitted an online ... More >>

Is Neil Young Working on a High-Quality Digital Music Service?

Earlier this year, rock legend Neil Young made some waves in the tech world when he blasted the thin, tinny sound quality of MP3s, arguing that digital music distribution is "degrading music, not improving it." "The MP3 only has 5 percent of the data present in the original recording," Young said a ... More >>

Copyright Owners Continue to Tilt at Windmills

​Given the intensity of the debates over digital piracy, you'd almost think that if one side or the other were to "win," the question would be decided: If critics of copyright holders were victorious, piracy would run rampant and the media industry would be brought to its knees; if the copyright o ... 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 >>

Digital Statesman

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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

The 1,101 Trademarks of San Francisco

​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 team memorabilia since 1993 ... More >>

Giants Barred From Trademarking "San Francisco" Logo

​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, the franchise has been unable to do so in the ... More >>

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

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 >>

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 >>

'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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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

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 >>

Faster, Dressmaker! Style! Style!

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 >>

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 >>

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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?

Scarf Dance

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

Letters

Mix Masters

Inside the underground DJ mix-tape phenomenon