Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled

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• TWiL is finally out, and it's excellent

  The first episode of TWiL (This Week in Law), Denise Howell 's new podcast on the TWiT network, is (finally) out . It is excellent, which should come as no surprise given how good her previous efforts with Bag and Baggage and Sound Policy were. This episode features special guest Hank Barry along with a "regular" panel of Cathy Kirkman , Ernie Svenson , John Palfrey . Topics include the YouTube's safe harbor under DMCA, its recent licensing agreements, and the effect those agreements will have on other its competition and copyright reform in general. The name is somewhat misleading considering it was recorded several weeks ago. There were some audio issues in episode #1 but Denise said they've worked those out for episode #2. Oh, and hopefully the flat-lining TWiT can find some life after a brief vacation. Posted Oct 24 2006, 09:06 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Intellectual Property, Copyright, Web 2.0, Trademark, Audio, Podcast

• The Web 2.0 Trademark Debacle

  There has been a bit of controversy over O'Reilly's "Web 2.0" service mark cease-and-desist letter and their subsequent "we had to" response . I'd say Mike Arrington correctly predicted the lynching , though some are defending O'Reilly . ( Scoble is just upset he's no longer the King of Evil ). Fortunately, the issue has been resolved , but not before the PR damage was done. We're not claiming exclusive use of "Web 2.0" in all contexts. Our service mark applies only to "Web 2.0" when used in the *title* of "live events" such as conferences and tradeshows. Rob Hyndmann wrote exactly what I was thinking , especially the first and last points. First, there’s the effort (without any trace of irony, it appears) to restrict and monopolize the use of the term in connection with events held to educate and evangelize … a set of technologies that are about collaboration, sharing and open access to information. Next, there’s the threat against a non-profit, of all things, innocently trying to do nothing... Posted May 26 2006, 12:23 PM by Tim with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Rants, Web 2.0, Trademark

• Trademark Attribution for Dummies

  I was curious/shocked when I first read Jason's post last month that Wiley was demanding attribution for use of the FOR DUMMIES mark. Martin Schwimmer said it's not really a demand letter though . Wiley's letter is not a demand letter in that it doesn't allege an infringement of rights and doesn't demand cessation of activity. When pressed by Calcanis (CEO of Weblogs (now an AOL company)), Wiley acknowledged that one-time use in a title was not trademark use, and that Wiley was merely asking for attribution. However, the original letter resembles a demand letter in that it starts out with a recitation of legal rights, and asks for written assurance that Weblogs is complying with the request. On these facts, Weblogs does not have to provide attribution. If you write a letter asking someone to do something they do not have to do, then you are asking them for a favor. When asking for a favor, If you do not use magic words such as 'please', 'thank you' and 'we respectfully request,' then do... Posted Mar 14 2006, 06:17 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Intellectual Property, Web 2.0, Trademark