January, 2013, Las Vegas, NV., - Beanstalk rounds-up a host of licensed products showcased at CES from its world-class client roster.
Read MoreHONG KONG CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE, BOOTH GH-D14 & 16
7 January, 2013, New York, NY.,
— Beanstalk, a global brand licensing agency and consultancy, today announced another strong year for its Asia office, contributing to the agency’s impressive overall growth in 2012.
Read MoreBY OLIVER HERZFELD, FORBES IP COUNSEL, JANUARY 3, 2013 - On September 20, 2012, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary voted for the Innovative Design Protection Act of 2012 (a.k.a. the “Fashion Bill”) to proceed to the Senate floor without amendment, and on December 20, the bill was placed on the Senate legislative calendar. The Fashion Bill extends copyright protection for three years to fashion designs that “(i) are the result of a designer’s own creative endeavor; and (ii) provide a unique, distinguishable, non-trivial and non-utilitarian variation over prior designs for similar types of articles.”
Read MoreDecember 10, 2012, New York, NY., – Beanstalk, a leading global brand licensing agency, announces the addition of three new exciting licensing partnerships for the beloved candy brand Airheads now partnering with Zazzle, Naui Ollin andIsaac Morris. Partners will translate the brand’s ‘out-of-control’ personality, and colorful and imaginative graphics, to multiple lifestyle categories.
Read MoreBY MICHAEL STONE, FORBES CMO NETWORK, DECEMBER 7, 2012 - The world of retail is in the throes of the holiday shopping season, which means display cases are stocked full of celebrity fragrances. Consumers’ desire to smell like their favorite celebrities and be ‘Bieber-licious’ has made fragrance a popular category among celebrities for years. While there is no indication of fragrance slowing down, in fact, sales grew 57% in 2011 according to CNBC, celebrities are looking to make their mark in other categories within health and beauty (HBA), moving beyond endorsements and straight into brand development.
Read MoreBY OLIVER HERZFELD, FORBES IP COUNSEL, DECEMBER 4, 2012 - Virtual goods are intangible objects in online games and communities. Examples include everything from weapons and potions in multiplayer online role-playing games to seeds and cows in online social farming games. Virtual items have value, and are purchased and sold by game players for real money in the real world. Although the current annual U.S. market for trade in virtual goods is estimated in the billions of dollars, and sales are expected to continue to grow at a rapid pace, the legal status of such goods remains completely uncertain. Four possibilities of the status of virtual goods include no legal significance, personal property, services and intellectual property. I will consider each in turn.
Read MoreBY OLIVER HERZFELD, FORBES IP COUNSEL, NOVEMBER 20, 2012 - In general, publishers of books, newspapers and magazines are legally liable for the content of the materials they publish, while book stores, newsstands and other distributors of publications are immune from liability for such content. The rationale behind the legal principle is that publishers can research, review and edit the content they publish whereas distributors often cannot easily do so for the content they distribute. With the advent of the Internet, however, the line between publisher and distributor became blurred. For example, if a company encourages users to submit content to its website, comments to its Facebook page or videos to its YouTube channel, is it deemed to be a publisher or a distributor? Early court decisions in this area arrived at unintuitive results. In particular, a company that made no effort to filter defamatory content submitted by its users was held to be an immune distributor, but another company that actively filtered and edited defamatory content in good faith was held liable as a publisher for failing to screen and remove all such unlawful content.
Read MoreBY OLIVER HERZFELD, FORBES IP COUNSEL, OCTOBER 24, 2012 - Sony Computer Entertainment has featured the fictional character “Kevin Butler” portraying a Sony employee in a series of advertisements for its PlayStation 3 game system. Sony recently filed a complaint against Bridgestone Tires over an advertisement featuring the same actor, allegedly portraying Kevin Butler as a Bridgestone employee, using and speaking excitedly about the competing Nintendo Wii game system. The case provides a good opportunity to review the laws relating to the protection of fictional characters which implicate unauthorized sequels and adaptations of existing works, the popular and widespread subculture of fan fiction, and many other applications.
Read MoreBY OLIVER HERZFELD, FORBES IP COUNSEL, OCTOBER 24, 2012 - In Hannibal Saldibar v. A.O. Smith Corp., the court recently denied post-trial motions filed by Tile Council of America, a licensor trade association, essentially holding it liable in connection with a death caused by licensed products that Tile Council neither manufactured nor sold. Tile Council’s liability was predicated on its detailed specifications governing all aspects of certain asbestos-containing products. The case presents an excellent opportunity to review the laws of trademark licensor liability for injuries caused by licensed products.
Read MoreOctober 16, 2012, London, U.K., – Leading international brand licensing agency, Beanstalk today unveiled several new brands that have recently joined its prestigious client roster at Brand Licensing Europe. The announcement comes amidst news of major new license agreements secured by Beanstalk for celebrated British fashion designer Matthew Williamson in footwear, handbags and interiors, as well as the retail launch of the official MovieStarPlanet magazine by Egmont Kids U.K.
Read MoreOctober 12, 2012, London, U.K., – Leading international brand licensing agency Beanstalk announced its partnership with games developer Lima Sky for exclusive representation in the U.K. of its global app sensation, Doodle Jump. The phenomenally successful digital property entered the Apple App Store in April 2009, and subsequently received an Apple Design Award for excellence in design, user experience and quality. Recognized by Apple as the third all-time top paid app in March 2012, Doodle Jump has remained in the Top 25 Paid Apps for over two years. With tens of millions of game downloads on over 2,700 mobile handset models worldwide, Doodle Jump has established itself as a modern classic in the mobile application space.
Read MoreBY OLIVER HERZFELD, FORBES LEGAL CORNER, OCTOBER 11 2012 - Beanstalk Chief Legal Office, Oliver Herzfeld, addresses the long running dispute between the University of Alabama and the artist Daniel Moore in his recent Forbes post.
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