Music Manumit: Roadmap for Future Trademarks Coverage (instead of Current Issues Week 3)

This is not legal advice. Leave audio feedback at (512) 686-6329.

Long ago (not actually that long ago in the scheme of things), I skipped Week 3 in the "Current Issues" series before deciding to take that series monthly. Over the summer, I plan to finish up brief summaries of what we covered in the course. There is a lack of doctrinal Trademark podcasts on the web, so I hope at some point to fill that gap. Sure, they speak about trademarks on This Week in Law occasionally, but there's no Life of a Law Student-style podcast on trademarks, and I think there should be. It certainly would have been helpful for me.

Anyway, in week three of International IP we discussed the "Blue Revolution." It is quite fascinating (of course, I say this having a Biology degree and Chemistry minor) but not really appropriate for the Lawcast. Thus, I am going to talk about Trademarks!

What a Herculean task with which I have presented myself (and that's why I skipped it during the actual Week 3). Just to give you some idea of the task, our course book has 1002 pages plus the index and has a 549 update supplement. Upon a couple months of reflection, this is not something that can be done in one post, which is why I am leaving a roadmap for you today. Please let me know if there are specific topics I list that you would prefer I get to sooner rather than later.

I first want to discuss a few of the details of posts that have already happened here and those that are in the works. Brian already did a post on trademarks as they relate to band name. I think Brian is going to be bringing you some thoughts about registration this semester (although, considering where we are in the semester, I don't know if that is happening). Additionally, I'm going to come back to geographic indicators in a separate "Current Issues" post.

Between Brian and I, we've basically knocked out a chapter of the book Professor Susan Ric hey has assigned for us. The chapters, as a guide, are:

Concepts of Trademarks and Unfair Competition
What is a Trademark?
Ownership and Use
Registration of Trademarks
Loss of Trademark Rights
Infringement
False Designation of Origin
Advertising
Dilution
Authors' and Performers' Rights
Internet Domain Names
Trademarks as Speech
Remedies

During week 4 of the current issues series, I wrote an article about domain names, so we can skip that too. The First Amendment is a course I may be taking next semester, so let's skip chapter 12 too. That leaves us, essentially, with:

Concepts of Trademarks and Unfair Competition
What is a Trademark?
Ownership and Use
Loss of Trademark Rights
Infringement
False Designation of Origin
Advertising
Dilution
Remedies

Those will be the 9 topics in the trademarks series. Expect it to look a lot like the copyright series did last semester, only in audio. It may or may not have Brian's involvement. If you can't wait for me to get done with the audio editing, below I've left you places you can find further information on trademarks. Again, please let me know what you think of the roadmap. We'll try to stay flexible!

Additional Resources

Wikipedia Article on Trademarks
USPTO guide for Musicians and Artists

USPTO FAQ about Trademarks
Canadian Copyright and Trademarks
Intellectual Property Office: European & International Trade mark's
CC Licenses and Trademarks: A Guide for Organizational OER Creators and Distributors
Podcasting Legal Guide: Trademark Issues
CC0 and Trademarks (and patents)
What's in a Name: Can Trademarks be Helpful to Free Soft ware Projects?
Karen and Bradly discuss "Some of What You Need to Know About Trademarks"
Other Trademark-related podcasts
ARC Law Group: Trademark Basics

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