From: Jeffrey Sussman, Inc.
Marketing Public Relations
249 East 48 Street FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York, NY 10017

For: Offit Kurman

Contact: Jeffrey Sussman
212-421-4475
[email protected]
www.powerpublicity.com



OFFIT KURMAN ATTORNEY, JONATHAN WACHS, ISSUES LATEST

MONTHLY NEWS ABOUT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Maple Lawn, MD --- Jonathan Wachs, a principal in the mid-Atlantic law firm of Offit Kurman and head of its Intellectual Property Group, regularly posts a weekly blog about the latest news regarding intellectual property. His blog is entitled Friday Factoids. Now on a monthly basis, Mr. Wachs will be issuing a press release summarizing the most topical intellectual property issues. Below are the issues that Mr. Wachs has chosen:
In February 2014, Comedian Nathan Fielder opened Dumb Starbucks, a coffee shop in Los Angeles that sold products under names identical to the names of the Starbuck’s products, with the exception of adding the word “dumb” before the name of each item on the menu. Fielder claims he is legally permitted to use the Starbucks brand as a parody and therefore such use is not an infringement on Starbuck’s intellectual property rights. Dumb Starbucks was closed by the Los Angeles Department of Public Health because it was operating without a health permit.
Source: http://www.todaysgeneralcounsel.com/dumb-starbucks-challenges-trademark-system/
On February 12, 2014, the United States Trade Representative released its 2013 Review of “Notorious Markets,” which lists specific online and physical marketplaces around the world where significant violations of intellectual property rights have occurred. Countries that made this year’s list include Argentina, China, Columbia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Paraguay, Spain, Thailand and Ukraine.
Source: http://www.ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2013_Notorious_Markets_List-February_12_2014.pdf

On January 31, 2014, the founding members of the rock band Survivor sued Sony Music Entertainment regarding Sony’s obligations to pay royalties on digital downloads of Survivor’s songs. The complaint alleges Sony incorrectly treated revenue it received from online music platforms like iTunes and Amazon as "sales of records" (for which the plaintiffs receive a royalty of 5-10%) instead of “other” licensing revenue relating to the songs (for which the plaintiffs are to earn a royalty of 50%).
Source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/204277263/Gov-uscourts-ilnd-292336-1-0

If you register a trademark with the USPTO, every few years you must also submit to the USPTO evidence that you are still using the mark in interstate commerce. Failure to submit such evidence as and when required will cause the USPTO to cancel the registration. Recently, the USPTO canceled seven highly used NJ Transit marks because the New Jersey Transit Corporation mistakenly failed to submit evidence of its continued use of these marks.
Source: http://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_Transit_scrambling_to_protect_its_logos_after_trademarks_lapsed_in_error.html

About Offit Kurman:
Offit Kurman is the fastest-growing, commercial law firm in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It has offices in Baltimore/Washington; Bethesda, Frederick, Maple Lawn, and Owings Mills, Maryland; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Tysons Corner, Virginia; Cherry Hill, New Jersey; and Wilmington, Delaware. The firm’s website is http://www.offitkurman.com


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