Author Archives: Kenneth Tanji, Jr.

NCAA basketball and football players’ right of publicity and antitrust claims continue to proceed in court

The long-running lawsuit by NCAA basketball and football players concerning the use of their names, images, and likenesses by the NCAA and video game companies has had two important recent developments. The development that is of more interest to this … Continue reading

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Federal appeals court says hands-off force-fed duck’s livers: California foie gras ban upheld

California’s law banning the force-feeding of birds for the purposes of enlarging their liver (a virtual ban on foie gras in the manner it is commercially produced) was recently upheld by the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals  The ruling … Continue reading

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Patent Law – The Patent Troll Update: News and Strategy – Summer 2013

Patent troll developments keep coming, so here’s the latest: The Federal Trade Commission continues to look into patent trolls. NPR remains a steady source of features on patent trolls. A Washington Post columnist says patent trolls is a software patent … Continue reading

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Copyright Law – Green Day not liable for using illustration in video backdrop of its concerts

Green Day’s unauthorized use of an illustration, Scream Icon, by Derek Seltzer, in a video backdrop for its 21st Century Breakdown World Tour (including here at the 2009 MTV awards) was determined by the 9th Circuit of the US Court … Continue reading

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ADA Lawsuits – Updates in the defense of disabled access cases – summer 2013

Although the California legislature did end up passing Senate Bill (SB) 1186 last fall, ADA lawsuits continue pretty much the same as before.  The following are examples of recent coverage on ADA lawsuits: Although SB 1186 does make the ADA … Continue reading

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Patent Law – The Patent Troll Update: News and Strategy – Spring 2013

Here’s the latest on news and views on patent trolls: The most significant recent development is that patent trolls are definitely on President Obama’s radar (including an animated editorial!) The Federal Trade Commission is also investigating patent trolls. States are … Continue reading

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Patent Law – Monsanto can restrict use of patented seeds

Farmer, Vernon Bowman, gets an A for effort and imagination, but his idea of using “commodity soybeans” (intended for human or animal consumption) to plant soybean crops was deemed by the Supreme Court to infringe Big Ag company, Monsanto’s, patents … Continue reading

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Copyright Law – Supreme Court rules gray market goods don’t violate copyright law

In a somewhat surprising ruling, the US Supreme Court recently ruled that “gray market” goods manufactured overseas can be sold in the US without violating copyright law in the case of Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (see the … Continue reading

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Employment Law – Urasawa is the latest restaurant to be fined for paystub violations

Urasawa is the most expensive restaurant in Los Angeles, with an average bill of $1,111, and gets rave reviews.   However, this acclaim and charging these prices apparently did not prevent Urasawa from cutting corners when paying at least 3 of their … Continue reading

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Patent Law, Trademark Law – Updates on patent trolls, the Winklevoss twins, Kim Kardashian, and Jeremy Lin

Here are updates on things we have covered in the past. President Obama is aware of the problem of patent trolls, although he did not mention any particular solution to the problem. The Winklevoss twins did not appeal the 9th Circuit … Continue reading

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