#TexasLawyer

Embedded Copyrights – The Not-So-Funny Side of Memes

David Baker

Jun 9, 2022
3 min

Embedded Copyrights – The Not-So-Funny Side of Memes

Do you ever forward memes to your coworkers and social media friends? It might be a picture of a kitten hanging from a branch and being told to just “hang in there” or it might be a grumpy cat who “hates Mondays” or it might not even feature a picture of a cat. It might be a photo of actor Gene Wilder portraying creepy Willy Wonka and making a snarky comment about your use of the Internet. The point is that memes are a permanent part of life online and yet no one (until now)

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BELIEVE IT OR NOT - Offering Free Wi-Fi Can Get You Sued

David Baker

Jun 6, 2022
5 min

BELIEVE IT OR NOT - Offering Free Wi-Fi Can Get You Sued

How Complimentary Wi Fi Policies May Lead to Copyright Infringement Claims Wi-Fi is everywhere and much of the time it is offered for “free.” Starbucks offers it. So, too, does McDonald’s. In fact, you may even be offering it yourself. And, while many businesses understand that it is a great way to bring in new customers and business, many do not understand the potential implications of allowing relatively unfettered access to the Internet. Recently, we’ve had a number of cli

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Selecting a Strong Trademark – 10 Simple Rules

David Baker

Jun 1, 2022
3 min

Selecting a Strong Trademark – 10 Simple Rules

The best way to avoid future problems with your brand is to select a strong brand from the outset. Doing so properly has the added benefit of increasing the value of your brand, especially when you properly use the trademark and enforce it against infringers. Not all words or names can be protected as trademarks. For example, no one business can claim exclusive rights in generic terms because every business owner in the same industry needs to be able to use them to identify t

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David Baker

May 26, 2022
3 min

McDonalds leaves Russia … forever?

No two countries that both had a McDonald’s restaurant have ever gone to war, or so a popular international business/political science theory has repeatedly claimed, but the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has put a lie to the myth. Worse still, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (or whatever euphemism Russia has been using this week) has now led to the hamburger giant’s decision to leave Russia altogether. When Russia began its incursion three months ago, international pres

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Craft brewer wins trademark lawsuit, sued for same thing

David Baker

May 19, 2022
4 min

Craft brewer wins trademark lawsuit, sued for same thing

After a three-week jury trial, Stone Brewing Co. won its lawsuit against MillerCoors (now Molson Coors) for trademark infringement based on the misleading marketing Molson Coors' Keystone Light used to promote it beers in 2017. The San Diego federal court case came to an end when the jury decided that Molson Coors had unlawfully used Stone’s registered STONE trademark after the company rebranded its Keystone beer as STONE and awarded Stone Brewing $56 million. Ironically, Sto

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Nike, Hermes lead fight against NFT IP infringement

David Baker

May 12, 2022
2 min

Nike, Hermes lead fight against NFT IP infringement

The names Nike and Hermes rarely appear in a sentence together, even when discussing fashion apparel. But the explosion in popularity of non-fungible tokens (or more simply, NFT’s) has made them strange bedfellows. Athletic shoe and apparel manufacturer Nike has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against StockX for its creation and sales of an NFT based on Nike sneakers. French luxury brand Hermes has done likewise against Mason Rothschild. The cases were filed in differe

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Comic book world loses another of the greats

David Baker

May 10, 2022
4 min

Comic book world loses another of the greats

Neal Adams has died. In the pantheon of comic book greats and their accomplishments, Neal and his art stand alongside names like Kirby, Miller, Ditko, Kane, Lee, Kubert, and Frazetta. But when it came to pure, unadulterated love for the craft, a deep concern for creators and the joy of interacting with fans, Neal had few peers. Neal Adams was a true superstar in the comics industry from the 1960’s through earlier this year and he was fixture at comic book conventions over the

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How to drive your trademark attorney completely bonkers in 10 easy steps - Part Three

David Baker

May 7, 2022
3 min

How to drive your trademark attorney completely bonkers in 10 easy steps - Part Three

Orange County Lawyer magazine published my article, How to drive your trademark attorney completely bonkers in 10 easy steps, in its May 2022 edition. The article is serialized here as follows: Step 8. Don’t create a written set of guidelines for how to use your trademarks. Then, when I try to explain that trademark license agreements give the licensor the leverage they need to ensure that their trademarks are used properly and consistently, I also explain that a good license

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How to drive your trademark attorney completely bonkers in 10 easy steps - Part Two

David Baker

May 5, 2022
3 min

How to drive your trademark attorney completely bonkers in 10 easy steps - Part Two

Orange County Lawyer magazine published my article, How to drive your trademark attorney completely bonkers in 10 easy steps, in its May 2022 edition. The article is serialized here as follows: Step 4. Never file an application to register your trademark. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard clients say, “Trademark registrations are a waste of good money. After all, U.S. trademark law allows you to enforce your trademark even if you have no active registrations on fil

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How to drive your trademark attorney completely bonkers in 10 easy steps - Part One

David Baker

May 3, 2022
3 min

How to drive your trademark attorney completely bonkers in 10 easy steps - Part One

Orange County Lawyer magazine published my article, How to drive your trademark attorney completely bonkers in 10 easy steps, in its May 2022 edition. The article is serialized here as follows: Last Friday, I was at my local brew pub hanging out with friends after a long week at the office. We were sharing war stories and griping to one another about how our clients, customers, and patients often refused to take the advice they were paying us to give them. “Why do they come t

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Super Bowl Ads Cost Millions; Superb Owl Ads Not So Much

David Baker

Aug 1, 2017
3 min

Super Bowl Ads Cost Millions; Superb Owl Ads Not So Much

If you’re a fan of the NFL, then you remember the 2014 Super Bowl. With time running out, the Seattle Seahawks were a play away from scoring the game-winning touchdown when a controversial play call led to an interception by New England and the championship belonged to the Patriots. You also probably remember some of the television ads that ran during commercial breaks and purportedly cost as much as $4.5 million for a single 30-second ad. In fact, the Super Bowl is so popula

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David Baker

Jul 4, 2017
3 min

Embedded Copyrights – The Not-So-Funny Side of Memes

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David Baker

May 31, 2017
5 min

BELIEVE IT OR NOT - Offering Free Wi-Fi Can Get You Sued

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David Baker

Apr 30, 2017
3 min

Selecting a Strong Trademark – 10 Simple Rules

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of David Christopher Baker