Decoding IP Blog

Can you copyright your fashions? In general, clothing designs: i.e., the cut and design of articles of clothing, are not protected by copyright law because the statute expressly excludes protection for “useful articles.” One of the murkiest issues in copyright law is how to determine what transforms a “useful article” otherwise not protected by copyright […]

The 2016 Presidential election campaign is in full swing and the world of IP law is not immune from it. But we aren’t talking about policy positions, we’re talking trademark and copyright. Last month, lawyers for the Bernie Sanders campaign sent a cease and desist letter to political satire gear creator Liberty Maniacs claiming that certain t-shirts sold on Liberty Maniacs’ website infringed the trademarks and copyrights of the Sanders campaign.

Unsurprisingly, the cease and desist letter and the cleverly worded response from Liberty Maniacs went viral and inspired a lot of commentary. So, are political campaign logos protected by copyright and trademark? Was the Sanders campaign right to send the letter that they did? With cease and desist letters and their responses going viral instantly, what can rights holders do to protect their intellectual property without engendering scorn from the public?

Join Kandis Koustenis and Jennifer Atkins as they discuss trademark and copyright issues relating to political campaigns and the nuances of appropriate trademark and copyright enforcement.

Photo credit: DonkeyHotey

Your car can be a copyrighted character. Ok, not really. But the Batmobile is. And other cars in films may be as well. DC Comics sued Gotham Garage for copyright infringement alleging that the custom “Batmobile” cars and car modification kits manufactured by Gotham Garage violated DC Comics’ copyrights. Gotham countered that cars are not subject to copyright protection and that the two models manufactured by Gotham had been subject to design patents that expired.

The district court held that, despite the design patents, the two models of Batmobile were in fact protected by copyright law because the Batmobile was a character in the Batman comics, television shows, and movies. The Ninth Circuit agreed and announced a new test for determining whether something is a character subject to copyright protection. The case sparked headlines not just because of the popularity of Batman, but because of the unique holding that a car, which cannot normally be the subject of copyright protection, can be a copyrightable character.

Join Kandis Koustenis and Jennifer Atkins as they discuss the implications of the new Ninth Circuit test and the interplay between patent, copyright, and trademark law highlighted by this case and others like it.

Photo credit: Gideon Wright