Need some good reading material? Here’s a quick recap of the top IP news stories and hot topics in IP we loved diving into this month!
- “…when Taken Alive, 35, asked for copies [of the Lakota dictionary], he was shocked to learn that the consortium, run by a white man, had copyrighted the language materials, which were based on generations of Lakota tradition. The traditional knowledge gathered from the tribe was now being sold back to it in the form of textbooks. ” – Lakota elders helped a white man preserve their language. Then he tried to sell it back to them., NBC News
- “The World Trade Organization approved a politically important deal Friday to water down intellectual property restrictions for the manufacture of Covid-19 vaccines after an almost two-year effort involving scores of high-level meetings and much political arm twisting.” – WTO Approves Vaccine-Patent Waiver to Help Combat Covid Pandemic, Bloomberg
- “Spotting a trademark symbol for Juneteenth on the product’s label, many on social media criticized both companies…[But]…Someone else had claimed the term before any of the major companies could. That person was Mario Bowler Sr., an assistant director at his alma mater, Lincoln University, a historically Black university in Pennsylvania.” – How one Black leader sees trademarking Juneteenth as protection of Black culture, NBC News
- “Many blockchain projects — like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) — are designed to provide new or more convenient ways to own and sell creative works. But at the same time, many of these projects have run into copyright trouble due to confusion about how copyright law applies to NFTs.” – The tangled truth about NFTs and copyright, The Verge
- “Since the launch of Rhode skincare, the women behind Rhode (the fashion brand) explain that there has been confusion from customers who believe that they launched a skincare line with Hailey Bieber and that there’s some confusion with the brands’ respective social media handles and websites.” – Fashion Brand Rhode Is Suing Hailey Bieber for Trademark Infringement, InStyle
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The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property, an initiative of the Michelson 20MM Foundation, provides access to empowering IP education for budding inventors and entrepreneurs. Michelson 20MM was founded thanks to the generous support of renowned spinal surgeon Dr. Gary K. Michelson and Alya Michelson. To learn more, visit 20mm.org.