Reason to celebrate
The long-running dispute over the song "Happy Birthday to You" was back in the headlines after the Hollywood Reporter revealed that a "smoking gun" had emerged on the eve of a judge's ruling in the dispute over filmmakers working on a documentary and Warner/Chappell, which claims rights to the song. The filmmakers are suing for right to use the song without paying a $1,500 licence fee. They filed documents claiming to prove "conclusively that there is no copyright to the Happy Birthday lyrics". The documents cited a book of children's songs from 1922 that included the song's lyrics without any copyright notice. The filmmakers argue this shows the lyrics were dedicated to the public before the copyright registration in 1935 that Warner/Chappell is relying upon. A hearing two days after the filing was made did not include discussion of the motion, however. "I was a little disappointed that [discussion of the new evidence] didn't happen because I think the evidence is so compelling," the plaintiffs' attorney Mark Rifkin told The Hollywood Reporter.
The A to Z of trade marks
The technology media went into meltdown last month with Google's formation of a holding company called Alphabet. Its choice of domain for the new company's website – abc.xyz – attracted attention. According to The Domains, the new gTLD .xyz saw nearly 20,000 domain names registered in the two days after the announcement. The gTLD had been getting about 3,000 new registrants a day up to then. It also turns out that many other companies had thought of the name Alphabet before Google did. According to Business Insider, BMW is looking into whether Google infringed any trade mark rights. BMW's Alphabet provides services to companies with vehicle fleets. Business Insider quoted a BMW spokeswoman as saying: "We are examining whether there are any implications over trade marks." Some 103 trade mark registrations in the US include the word "alphabet".
Lion’s share
With the internet ablaze with righteous anger over an American dentist shooting a lion called Cecil in Zimbabwe, it did not take long until the inevitable trade mark applications looking to take advantage of the story came rolling in. As of August 4, four trade mark applications had been filed with the USPTO. They were filed to cover "paraphernalia", including T-shirts, stuffed animals and the like. In addition, toy maker Beanie Baby launched a Cecil the Lion Beanie Bay to raise funds for animal conservation.
Song and dance
Congratulations to IP Freely and The Incontinents, a band including members of the law firm Collyer Bristow, who won this year's CIPA Battle of the Bands in July. They beat bands from other UK firms of patent attorneys and lawyers in a contest judged by CIPA members and charity representatives. Utynam caught IP Freely, as well as previous BOTB winners the Black IPs, performing for charity at the Old Nick pub in August (pictured). Who knew patent attorneys were so multi-talented?
