Take 2 (for some reason all of my comments keep getting held for moderation.)
Yahoo did indeed file the suit to get jurisdiction of their choice. The MN court has already heard this issue and held against the NFL (CBS Interactive, Inc. v. Nat. Football League Players Inc., 70:08-cv-0597-ADM-SRN (D. Minn.))
Whereas the NFL won a similar lawsuit in Florida (Gridiron.com, Inc. v. Nat'l Football League, Player's Ass'n, Inc., 106 F. Supp. 2d 1309, 1315 (S.D. Fla. 2000))
Thus given the NFL's threat in seems clear that Yahoo wanted to file first to get a jurisdiction with better precedent.
Likelihood of confusion = 0.
Cost of filing the suit = high.
Cost of rewriting trademark law = higher (would be cheaper if everybody pooled resources but have a public good problem.)
Thus:
trademark law's obligation to protect = happy attorneys ...
Mike,
Great article! I think you got it exactly right when you said:
The news is important, but people want to be able to share the news, spread the news and discuss the news -- and you can't do that when it's behind a paywall. The very act of putting up a paywall diminishes the value of the content.
Seems to me this is the exact purpose of Intellectual Property law; to reward creators/inventors for sharing their ideas with the public. The concept being that the idea is much more valuable to society when it is shared.
On the post: Yahoo Gets Aggressive: Wants Court To Make It Clear That It Doesn't Need To Pay To Use Player Names/Stats
Re: Players Associations, Not Leagues
On the post: Yahoo Gets Aggressive: Wants Court To Make It Clear That It Doesn't Need To Pay To Use Player Names/Stats
Precedent
Yahoo did indeed file the suit to get jurisdiction of their choice. The MN court has already heard this issue and held against the NFL (CBS Interactive, Inc. v. Nat. Football League Players Inc., 70:08-cv-0597-ADM-SRN (D. Minn.))
Whereas the NFL won a similar lawsuit in Florida (Gridiron.com, Inc. v. Nat'l Football League, Player's Ass'n, Inc., 106 F. Supp. 2d 1309, 1315 (S.D. Fla. 2000))
Thus given the NFL's threat in seems clear that Yahoo wanted to file first to get a jurisdiction with better precedent.
On the post: Taser Sues Second Life For Having Virtual Tasers
Likelihood of Confusion
Cost of filing the suit = high.
Cost of rewriting trademark law = higher (would be cheaper if everybody pooled resources but have a public good problem.)
Thus:
trademark law's obligation to protect = happy attorneys ...
On the post: Media Dinosaurs Look To Set Up iTunes For News
Public Policy re: IP laws
Great article! I think you got it exactly right when you said:
Seems to me this is the exact purpose of Intellectual Property law; to reward creators/inventors for sharing their ideas with the public. The concept being that the idea is much more valuable to society when it is shared.
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