Group 1
Trademarks law intends to protect...
Consumer confusion as to the source of the goods
Would "Search.Com" be available for trademark protection as the name of a internet "search engine" company
No, it's too "generic" and cannot be protected
Key elements of a trespass claim
Voluntary act of physical invasion
Intent
Interference with use and enjoyment of property
Damages
What is the difference between payola and plugola?
Payola is accepting bribes (money or other consideration) to play specific music.
Plugola is when someone promotes (plugs) on the air goods or services in which they have a financial interest
Name the parent companies of the largest remaining vertically integrated media conglomerates?
Disney
AT&T
Comcast
ViacomCBS
Does copyright infringement need to be intentional? And what must be proved?
No.
Access and Direct copy OR Substantial similarity
The Definition of actual malice?
It's defined as making a statement “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”
What can and cannot be protected by Trade Dress?
Under some circumstances, trademark protection can extend beyond words, symbols, and phrases to include other aspects of a product, such as its color or its packaging. Such features fall generally under the term "trade dress," and may be protected if consumers associate that feature with a particular manufacturer rather than the product in general. However, such features will not be protected if they confer any sort of functional or competitive advantage.
What is the purpose of the Fair Use Doctrine
The fair use doctrine is available for works that provide criticism, comment, educational use and parody. Because parody relies upon referencing the original work, it commonly is considered fair use. When determining whether a particular use of the work is fair, courts consider a number of factors.
What was Marvel's argument in its copyright dispute with the estates of the comic book artists?
The Copyright Act's termination provision doesn't apply to works made for hire, however, and Marvel argued this prevents the artists from recovering the copyrights.
What must you prove to establish a negligence claim?
Duty to use reasonable care to avoid injury to others
Breach of that Duty
Causation
Damages
When is proving showing "actual malice" required in a defamation claim?
When the person is a Public Figure
Key difference between the focus of a False Light claim versus a Defamation claim
False light is focused on damage to a person's feelings or emotional well-being, whereas a defamation claims is concerned with the damage to a person's reputation.
What is Defamation Per Se
What Federal Statue provides Trademark Protection
Federal ® trademark rights come from Lanham Act (common law rights exist too)
Key test to determine Proximate Cause in a Negligence Claim
"Foreseeability," which asks if the defendant could have or should have predicted that the proximate cause could have resulted in injury.
Who gets the Actual Malice Burden of Proof
The plaintiff who must be a Public Figure: "All Purpose" Public Figures, "Limited Purpose" Public Figures or "Involuntary Public Figures" are the plaintiffs for the actual malice burden to apply
The key difference between sexually explicit material that is considered "obscene" vs "indecent"
Obscene material gets no first amendment protection and indecent does get protection but can get regulated
Who gets ‘actual malice’ in burden of proof?
Public figures
● All-purpose public figures (julia roberts, kevin hart, etc.)
● Limited purpose public figures (american idol, bachelor contestant) - because you wanted to be
out there
● Involuntary public figures - wrong place wrong time, couch guy, didn’t mean to draw attention
What is Libel Proof?
When one's reputation is already so bad that you can't sue, because any false statements cannot lower that person in the eyes of the community further.
Define a wrongful death claim
A strategy to reduce competition by capturing the vast majority of the market. Companies try to acquire other companies at the same level of the value chain.
Key legal elements for an Intrusion Claim
Reasonable expectation of privacy
Intentional Intrusion
Highly offensive to a reasonable person
Intrusion caused mental anguish
What are moral rights?
A moral rights are the rights “to claim authorship of the work and to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to, the said work.”
What part of the US Constitution protects your right to privacy?
It may come as a surprise that the Constitution of the United States does not specifically protect your right to privacy.
In Griswold, the Supreme Court found a right to privacy, derived from penumbras of other explicitly stated constitutional protections. The Court used the personal protections expressly stated in the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Amendments to find that there is an implied right to privacy in the Constitution. The Court found that when one takes the penumbras together, the Constitution creates a "zone of privacy."