IP Nuggets

In Qualitex Co. v. Jacobson Products Co., 1995, the US Supreme Court held that a colour alone could be registered as a trademark. [1]

Earlier this year, the Italian Parliament passed a law legalizing the sharing of degraded music for non-commercial purposes thereby legitimizing a large fraction of P2P sharing although the law does not seem to have come into force as yet. [2]

Links:
[1] 33 Law and Social Inquiry 173 (2008); web.austin.utexas.edu/law_library/trademark/
[2] arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080201-whoopsitaly-inadvertently-legalizes-some-p2p-music.html

Link: QuizLaw.com

I just came across a site which lists stories like this:
The Government of Singapore is involved in the introduction of a ‘course teaching students about flirting and relationships. Subjects include love song analysis, speed-dating and online chatting’. [1]
According to IOL, a German lorry driver wasn’t punished for using his cell phone while driving since he claimed that he was using it as a ear warmer and produced a bill to show that he had made no phone calls at the time he was arrested. [2]
Gene R. Morrill, 57, tried to excuse his pedophilia by claiming to have been molested by the mythical Bigfoot. [3]
A 35-year old woman got stuck to her boyfriend’s toilet after sitting on it for two years. [4]
Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. ordered three Spanish-speaking men to learn English or go to jail. [5]
Links:

[1] http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080320/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_holdsingapore_love

[2] http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=iol1205573962357C415

[3] http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0308/506664.html

[4] http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/bizarre/5613590.html

[5] http://news.lp.findlaw.com/ap/other/1110//03-27-2008/20080327115008_03.html

IP Nuggets

In Qualitex Co. v. Jacobson Products Co., 1995, the US Supreme Court held that a colour alone could be registered as a trademark. [1]

Earlier this year, the Italian Parliament passed a law legalizing the sharing of degraded music for non-commercial purposes thereby legitimizing a large fraction of P2P sharing although the law does not seem to have come into force as yet. [2]

Links:
[1] 33 Law and Social Inquiry 173 (2008); web.austin.utexas.edu/law_library/trademark/
[2] arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080201-whoopsitaly-inadvertently-legalizes-some-p2p-music.html