Copyrights, Fun Facts, Patents

Was Harry Houdini’s Most Famous Trick Understanding IP Law?

Intellectual property (IP) law probably isn’t the first thing you think of when you think of Harry Houdini. One probably envisions dramatic performances involving straightjackets, water barrels, or sleight of hand illusions. However, Houdini’s greatest trick may have been leveraging IP to his personal advantage.

While many know of the magician for his impressive feats of escape, the Hungarian-born immigrant was also an avid inventor. Harry Houdini, born Erik Weitz, came of age during the Industrial Revolution. As a product of his time, Houdini had high esteem for feats of mechanical engineering. This, along with a few other incentives discussed later, led him to patent the machines he created for his magic performances.

He designed created new machines that would dazzle his audiences with exciting performances. Patenting his inventions served a few important functions for Houdini. But before describing those functions, let’s first explain how patents work and what they do.

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Kayla Stetzel
Copyrights

Quilting and Copyrighting: Part 2

In my last post I analyzed whether the design of a quilt top meets the statutory requirements for copyright protection and determined that it does. But there are still some unanswered questions. For example, if I wanted to create and sell a pattern with instructions on how to make my original quilt, would that also be protected under copyright law? And, if so, what might infringe?

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Lily Parker
Behind the Scenes, Copyrights

Fair Use Flop: Understanding The Second Circuit’s Decision in Warhol v. Goldsmith

On March 26, 2021, the Second Circuit ruled that a decades-old series of prints created by Andy Warhol depicting music legend Prince infringed the copyrighted photograph by Lynn Goldsmith on which the series was based. Warhol’s series of prints takes Goldsmith’s traditional, black and white portrait of the singer and superimposes it with his signature pop art stylization. Goldsmith did not find out that Warhol had used her image until Prince died in 2016. The court’s decision overturned a district court ruling which declared Warhol’s works legal under the fair use doctrine. But what exactly is the fair use doctrine, and why was it so important in this case? Let’s find out.

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Lydia Bayley
Trade Dress, Trademarks

Trade Dress: Can A Tampon Applicator Get Trademark Protection?

Before taking an intellectual property (IP) course this past fall, I assumed trademarks only applied to brand slogans. I did not realize that trademarks could apply to physical products, too.

Now that I have taken various IP courses and participated in the IP Moot Court team, I see trademark protection everywhere. This made me wonder: can a commonplace item, like an applicator for a tampon, receive trade dress protection?

Before jumping into that answer, let’s first explain what a trade dress is.

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Ariel Katz
Why Loyola

From a Life Science Degree, into IP

Photo by Louis Reed, licensed under Unsplash.

My path to an interest in intellectual property (IP) started with earning a bachelor’s degree in Genetics. I spent four years learning how complex our genetic code is. Classes in genetics, biology, and chemistry were enough to make my head spin. While I enjoyed learning science, I  was always more interested in the real-life applications of the science I was learning. I was most interested in learning about how scientific developments could be used to help people. To explore this interest, I began to learn more about what happens with genetic research outside of a lab. I began to read more about how advancements in genetic are used in day-to-day life.

What I learned was that there are many legal implications to genetic research, especially with biotechnology. This research was my first introduction to the world of patent law.

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Madison Causey
Why Loyola

From Construction to IP Law

How it Started

If you asked me five years ago whether I could picture myself in law school, I probably would have said no. Back then, I was working towards my Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering at University of Notre Dame. I thought I would later pursue a professional engineering license as that is common for civil/environmental design engineers. After graduating from Notre Dame, I worked as an engineer and project manager for a general contractor in Chicago. As a project manager, I would oversee all aspects of a construction project. After two years there, I started to think that maybe I didn’t want to be a professional engineer. I wasn’t enjoying the work a professional engineer does. The only thing was, I didn’t know what other path to take.

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Madeline Thompson
Trademarks

Trademarks Aren’t for Losers: Banksy Defeated In Legal Battle With UK Greeting Card Company

Banksy, one of the world’s most notorious street artists, has learned a hard lesson about trademarks. Trademarks is a type of intellectual property (“IP”) that protects things such as brand names and logos. The British artist recently lost a court battle in which the trademark for his popular Flower Thrower image was declared invalid. However, Banksy’s contempt for copyright, which protects artistic expressions such as his graffiti art, and other IP is well documented. Why then did he seek to trademark the Flower Thrower image in the first place? And why was the trademark found invalid? It is all tied to Banksy’s desire keep his identity a secret.

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Lydia Bayley
Why Loyola

My Dynamic Journey to IP Law

Fusion

[fyoo-zhin] (noun), A process or mechanism of combining two distinct matters into one.

For most of my life, I didn’t consider law school at all. I was interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), fields that I thought had nothing to do with law. In my head, TV-depictions of lawyers like Harvey Specter or Olivia Pope were the only representations of legal work. So basically, I thought attorneys managed million-dollar-deals or put criminals behind bars.

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Keval Amin
Fun Facts, Trademarks

Trademark Trivia: Sports Edition!

Which of the following is NOT a federally registered trademark?

  1. “Taco Tuesday,” as in LeBron James’s social media celebrations of eating tacos on Tuesdays
  2. “Three-peat,” as in winning three consecutive championships
  3. Blue athletic turf, as in Boise State’s famous blue and orange football field
  4. “Fear the Brow,” as in NBA star Anthony Davis’s very distinct unibrow Continue reading “Trademark Trivia: Sports Edition!”

Which of the following is NOT a federally registered trademark?

  1. “Taco Tuesday,” as in LeBron James’s social media celebrations of eating tacos on Tuesdays
  2. “Three-peat,” as in winning three consecutive championships
  3. Blue athletic turf, as in Boise State’s famous blue and orange football field
  4. “Fear the Brow,” as in NBA star Anthony Davis’s very distinct unibrow Continue reading “Trademark Trivia: Sports Edition!”
Maggie DePoy