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, has compiled his most recent important IP news from his weekly blog, Friday Factoids. Below are the issues that Mr. Wachs has chosen:
On February 13, 2014, the European Union’s Court of Justice ruled that hyperlinking publicly available content from one website onto another does not constitute copyright infringement and does not require the consent of the person or entity that owns the copyright associated with the linked content.
Source: http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=147847&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=7778
In February 2014, a federal court ruled in favor of The Simpsons voice artist Hank Azaria and against Leap Year actor Craig Bierko in a copyright suit regarding one of Azaria’s characters, sportscaster Jim Brockmire. The judge ruled that the Brockmire character is copyrighted material owned by Azaria and How to Pictures, Inc. In his complaint, Azaria claimed Bierko’s false assertion of ownership regarding the Brockmire character caused Azaria to lose a potential movie deal.
Source:http://tv.yahoo.com/news/simpsons-voice-actor-hank-azaria-wins-lawsuit-over-222004910.html

Twitter recently paid $36 million to IBM to purchase a portfolio of 900 patents. The purchase is likely a result of IBM’s prior patent infringement threats against Twitter.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57620042-93/twitter-paid-$36-million-for-ibm-patents-to-avoid-a-lawsuit/
A person has a legal right to prevent others from commercially exploiting his or her identity without permission. This right, sometimes known as the right of publicity, is available to both celebrities and non-famous people. One who misappropriates the name, likeness or image of another person and uses the same on the Internet for financial gain can be forced to remove the content in question and/or pay compensation to the injured person.
Source: http://www.americanbar.org/publications/gp_solo/2013/may_june/intellectual_property_law_right_publicity_and_social_media_revolution.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; and Wilmington, Delaware. The firm’s website is http://www.offitkurman.com

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