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Public Domain Day 2024 is Coming: Here’s What to Know

Copyright Lately

Oh Mickey, you’re so fine—but you’re not alone: An avalanche of copyrighted works will enter the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2024. public domain on January 1, 2024—and that’s a shame. public domain for failure to comply with the various formalities (e.g., copyright terms.

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Trademark Considerations for Copyrighted Works in the Public Domain

LexBlog IP

Because copyright protection has a set term, copyrights in certain works necessarily expire each year and enter the public domain. Once a work has entered the public domain, it no longer retains copyright protection and cannot stop use of the work by others based on its prior copyright rights.

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You can build a lot with LEGO – But also your own design law?

The IPKat

Designs are meant to protect the appearance of the whole or a part of a product. In order to minimize the overlap with technical IP rights, no protection is granted for designs whose appearance is solely dictated by their technical function ( Art. 8(3) CDR does not require the design to serve an aesthetic purpose. 8(2) CDR ).

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E.D. Va. Affirms TTAB: Timberland Boot Design is Functional and Lacks Acquired Distinctiveness

The TTABlog

District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia upheld the TTAB's decision [ TTABlogged here ] affirming a refusal to register certain features of Timberland's boot design on the ground that the proposed mark for "footwear, namely, lace-up boots" lacked acquired distinctiveness.

Designs 96
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Book Review: Intellectual Property and the Design of Nature

The IPKat

As a plant intellectual property nerd , this Kat was delighted to get her hands on the new book Intellectual Property and the Design of Nature (Oxford University Press, 2023), edited by Jose Bellido and Brad Sherman. The other two chapters turn to the conceptualisation of nature in patent law.

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Why Generative AI is Doomed

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

Technological innovation flourishes only within a thoughtfully designed legal infrastructure, and my talk explains why pro-regulation advocates are likely to overshoot their mark (unless they intend to kill Generative AI outright, which may be the agenda of some).

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Board of Appeal sweeps floor with Invalidity Division: vacuum cleaner bags do enjoy design right protection

The IPKat

Green Label (of 23 August 2021), the BOA ruled that vacuum cleaner bags enjoy design right protection, overturning a previous decision by the Invalidity Division. Background of the case In 2008, Miele successfully registered a Community Design (‘CD’), consisting of a depiction of a vacuum cleaner bag, one of which is shown below.

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