FTC Halts Operations, Freezes Assets Of Companies Offering Trial Offers
The FTC just filed a suit against 59 corporations and three individuals for violating the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers Confidence Act (ROSCA) for deceptively selling products on 87 websites through free trials that converted to recurring charges on consumers’ credit cards. The [...]
The Supremes Uphold Federal Registration of Derogatory and Offensive Words
The world of branding, and the technical legal world of trademarks, are a lot more complex than most people understand them to be. For example, many branders don’t know the Trademark Law in the United States is really broad, granting protection to just about any [...]
COMPONENT PARTS OF MEDIATED REALITY: LIGHT FIELD CAPTURE
Yes, it's true. I'm not an engineer. So, I'll do my best on this post, as Light Field Capture is a critically important piece of the Mediated Reality ecosystem, and, therefore, to the future of Mediated Reality itself. Here's my effort. I look forward to [...]
Bjork, VR, and Intimacy
Bjork is an Alien Fairy Princess and no one who has seen her new VR exhibit at The Reef will disagree with me. This is definitely one of those things that you have to see for yourself to truly understand. What I will say is [...]
COMPONENT PARTS OF MEDIATED REALITY: MACHINE VISION
As we discussed in an earlier post, the fundamental difference between an Artificial Intelligence and a very powerful computer is the AI’s capacity to not only learn new abilities but to teach them to itself. No human or group of humans can process the amount [...]
COMPONENT PARTS OF MEDIATED REALITY: AI
The idea of an AI has been toyed with across science fiction for decades now, in part because of our fear that our lives will end after uttering “open the pod bay doors.” But what is AI really about, and what can we expect of [...]
WHY DOES A LAWYER MATTER IN MEDIATED REALITY?
Recently, I’ve been speaking at a bunch of AR/VR/MR conferences, sometimes on the dry subjects of legal entities, intellectual property rights, and getting your corporate house in order. I’m always amazed people show up for my talks. Down the hall, someone is showcasing a new [...]
FTC Complaint Details How Not to Run a Negative Option Program
by Lisa Dubrow Last month the FTC filed another suit against a group of online marketers for violating the FTC Act and Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (“ROSCA”). The company allegedly marketed golf-related products and cooking gadgets under the names Kitchen Advance; Gourmet Cooking Online; [...]
A Mediated Reality
Hello and Welcome As this generation of wizards leap forward with new technologies, it seems that every week brings some mind-bending new invention alongside. At the forefront of this movement is the visual unveiling of a world coming into being before our eyes. We are [...]
SCOTUS TO DECIDE IF DISPARAGING NAMES CAN BE FEDERALLY REGISTERED TRADEMARKS
DEAD KENNEDYS. SEX PISTOLS. PUSSY RIOT. Band names are sometimes offensive. They also can be service marks governed by the federal Trademark Act and state trademark acts. On January 18th, the US Supreme Court heard oral argument on whether the disparagement provision of the Trademark [...]
HW News Highlights
Dear Friends, As we head toward a new year, we are delighted to share with you some of the exciting news, events, awards, wins and client successes we and our clients experienced during 2016. We begin with our brand-new website! www.holmesweinberg.com. Designed in collaboration with [...]
HW Wins Ninth Circuit Appeal in a Trademark Case November 20, 2016
We are delighted to share with you that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the decision we obtained on behalf of our client E. & J. Gallo Winery that the trademark EL GALLO for an energy drink infringes the Winery’s exclusive rights in [...]