Taylor Swift to Trademarks: You Belong With Me-Does Intellectual Property Law Leave a Blank Space for the Protection of Short Phrases Taken from Song Lyrics?

By Caitlin Conway

Americans who stay up to date on popular culture may either love or hate the music of a certain fearless popstar. Taylor Swift (“Swift”) may be loved by some for her music, loved by others for her style or image, or possibly hated by others for outrageous on screen moments (e.g., after the 2013 Golden Globe Awards, Swift, instead of just shaking it off, responded to lighthearted jabs at her love life from popular comedians, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, by stating “there’s a special place in hell” for the two of you). 2 Regardless of the public perception of Taylor Swift, whether it be a love story or bad blood, she caught the media’s attention at the beginning of 2015 for something other than a hit single.

View PDF – Conway – Taylor Swift to Trademarks

Copyright vs. Social Media: Who Will Win?

By Brittany Curtis

Scrolling through the dashboard on Tumblr, a user is inundated with pictures of models, cute animals, and many Graphic Interchange Format (“GIF”) files. How do other users find these pictures and to whom do they belong? While the Universal Resource Locator (“URL”) of the blog that originally posted the picture is visible on a Tumblr post, nothing guarantees
that the user who posted the picture is the copyright holder. More often than not, the user found the picture online and posted it on the blog, without giving due credit to the copyright holder. Admittedly, these websites primarily facilitate mutual admiration of images and aesthetic enjoyment among visitors. However, the seemingly complete disregard for the rights of the photographers and creators is troubling.

View PDF – Curtis – Copyright vs. Social Media: Who Will Win

The Stimulus for Data Protection Law Around the World: The Development and Anticipated Effect of the European Union’s New Data Rules

By Arlette Noujaim

Do you ever question the process behind one-click purchases on
Amazon? How stores send promotional text messages when you are in the area? How the advertisements on your web browser are reflective of your most recent Google search? Or even how your credit card(s) are prone to fraudulent expenditures through popular department stores such as Target, Neiman Marcus, and Wal-Mart? These questions were not answered in the past because they were never an issue. Today, however, your personal data is everywhere, including in the hands of hackers and exasperating marketing departments. Entering sweepstakes at a local grocery store now
resembles signing a right of privacy death wish. Unprotected personal data, a notion that could serve as an answer to the above questions, has brought a wave of apprehension upon organizations concerning an individual’s right of privacy.

View PDF – Noujaim The Stimulus for Data Protection Law around the New World