Intellectual Property

The Hot Yoga War's Messy End: Why Yoga to the People Won't Be Teaching Bikram Yoga Anymore

Greg Gumucio sat behind the desk of his 27th street hot yoga studio in Manhattan eating a glazed donut. He wore a tight burgundy v-neck with the words "Yoga to the People" pulled across his chest and wore a large watch with a bright red band. Pop music played over the speaker system. See More: ... More >>

CNN and Time Magazine Suspend Fareed Zakaria for Plagiarism

In journalism school, plagiarism is equivalent to life without parole: it is the bane of any writer's existence and an automatic halt on one's professional reputation. We are told over and over and over again to source everything, make sure all of your facts line up and that we'll be outcasted from ... More >>

Are Subtitles Illegal?

Here's an odd item from the file-sharing legal front: The guy who ran a subtitle-file sharing website has gotten in trouble with the law -- he's had to shut down Norsub.com and pay a Norwegian court 2,500 bucks for copyright infringement, according to TorrentFreak. This specific case provides some ... More >>

All Along The File-Sharing Front: Will New York Affect The Rest of America?

Good news, New York file sharers! Verizon has apparently decided to protect your privacy, despite demands that the internet service provider ID subscribers suspected of copyright infringement. And the company's decision -- as well as other recent developments intellectual property realm -- might ... More >>

The People Trying To Ruin The Internet: Chris Dodd

At the Voice, we have been regularly following internet policy developments. We figured it would be cool -- maybe even a public service? -- to ID people who keep pushing for web-killing proposals such as CISPA, SOPA, and PIPA in this new, occasional feature: "The People Trying To Ruin The Internet." ... More >>

The People Trying To Ruin The Internet: Bob Goodlatte

At the Voice, we have been regularly following internet policy developments. We figured it would be cool -- maybe even a public service? -- to ID people who keep pushing for web-killing proposals such as SOPA and PIPA in this new, occasional feature: "The People Trying To Ruin The Internet." Enjoy! ... More >>

IP Address Does Not Even ID a State, Judge Decides in Landmark BitTorrent Lawsuit

Just a few weeks after a New York judge decided that an internet protocol address is not enough evidence for lawsuits against accused illegal file-sharers, a California judge has ruled that an IP address can't even pinpoint one's state. As detailed by CNET, the judge tossed out lawsuits against 15 ... More >>

After Angry Birds Incident, Scott Stringer Writes Letter to Ray Kelly

This is a story about Angry Birds and a Manhattan pol who is probably going to run for mayor in 2013. More specifically, this is a story about an Angry-Birds-inspired police raid that prompted Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer to write a letter to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. On Novem ... More >>

Hunter Moore Makes a Living Screwing You

The hated revenge-porn profiteer says he wants to teach a lesson with his web site. How long before the 26-year-old learns one himself?

SOPA: Has It Returned?

In what's being called a "SOPA-style blackout," an Indian court has demanded that the subcontinent's internet service providers ban 104 websites said to feature "unauthorized" media -- bolstering similar efforts in the U.S. and the rest of the world. Chris Dodd, chair and CEO of the Motion Pictur ... More >>

Megaupload Co-Founder Mathias Ortmann Out on Bail; Kim Dotcom Still Jailed

Mathias Ortmann, who was arrested during the January bust of Megaupload, has been released on bail in New Zealand. Meanwhile, the U.S. is trying to bring him to the States to stand trial for internet piracy charges, TorrentFreak reports. Ortmann was supposed to get out earlier -- he was actually e ... More >>

Feds Seize 16 More Domains as Part of "Operation Fake Sweep"

​A 28-year-old Michigan man named Yonjo Quiroa has been arrested and charged with criminal copyright infringement for running nine websites that streamed, among other things, licensed content from the NFL. Quiroa is the lastest in a string of highly public copyright-related arrests, following ... More >>

Scientology Sues Debbie Cook Over Her New Year's Eve E-Mail

Monday evening, the Tampa Bay Times reported that the Church of Scientology filed a lawsuit Friday in San Antonio against Debbie Cook and her husband Wayne Baumgarten. The lawsuit, which accuses Cook of violating the terms of a non-disclosure agreement when she dared to criticize the leadership of h ... More >>

Breaking: PIPA Senate Vote Postponed

PIPA might soon perish. The Senate planned to vote on highly polemic PIPA on Tuesday, but Majority Leader Harry Reid just announced that he would postpone action on the anti-piracy bill, according to the Wall Street Journal. And if the downward spiral recent trajectory of the bill is any indicati ... More >>

Lamar Smith: SOPA Author, Copyright Violator

​Have you heard of SOPA? Of course you have. Have you heard of Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who in October filed SOPA -- which promotes harsher penalties and even jail time for people caught violating copyright laws, and is basically the reason that today you can't access Wikipedia and Re ... More >>

What We Talk About When We Talk About SOPA

SOPA, the Stop Internet Piracy Act, is the latest congressional move to put an end to the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material. The basic idea of SOPA -- now considered in the House of Representatives -- and its Senate analog, the Protect Intellectual Property Act, purportedly aims at ... More >>

Should You Be Able to Trash-Talk Your Dentist on Yelp?

There's an interesting case in the news today involving New York dentist Stacy Makhnevich, who is facing a class-action lawsuit from Robert Lee, a former patient. Makhnevich, who calls herself "the Classical Singer Dentist of New York," treated Lee for a toothache, but not before he signed a contrac ... More >>

TRUE ORIGINAL

Sherrie Levine gets a major retrospective

Robert Maresca Tried to Trademark "Occupy Wall Street," Says He's Not a Jerk

emilydickensonridesabmxThis is not one of Maresca's Occupy Wall Street shirts.​Robert Maresca has been the object of a certain amount of ridicule ever since it was revealed yesterday that he has applied for a trademark for the phrase "Occupy Wall Street." Initially published at The Smoking Gu ... More >>

Matt Taibbi on Michele Bachmann in Rolling Stone: Not Quite Plagiarism; PBS Hacked Again

​Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone wrote another of his highly entertaining, polarizing, acerbic, hyperbolic and metaphor-laden magazine features, online now, this time about Minnesota politician and presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, who Taibbi, right out of the gate, calls "almost certainly t ... More >>

Laurent Tourondel Owns the BLT (The Name, Not the Sandwich)

The man, the brand​Who would have thought the acronym BLT would be so controversial? Really, can you really own the trademark to the ubiquitous sandwich? Apparently so. Crain's delves into the legal battle between chef Laurent Tourondel and his ex-business partner Jimmy Haber. The Frenchma ... More >>

Q&A: The Slants' Simon Young on How His Band's Name Should Have the Same Legal Protection as The Name N.W.A.

The Slants bill themselves as "Chinatown Dance Rock," which means they have no problem copping to the fact they sound like "the Asian version of the Killers." The Portland, Oregon-based group, who come to Union Hall next month, made news recently when they attempted to trademark their name, but th ... More >>

Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About the New York Times Paywall, But Were Too Poor to Ask

​Big news in the world of meta media news today! Details of the long-awaited, vaguely teased New York Times paywall have arrived via a press release from the Paper of Record. It's sort of expensive, compared to free! It's also sort of reasonable, if you feel inclined to support the making of good ... More >>

Julian Assange Doesn't Want to Trademark His Name, But He Must

​It's a nonstop job for WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange to defend themselves against the endless onslaught of biased journalists that may or may not be a part of a vast ("Jewish") conspiracy. After yesterday's battle with the British magazine Private Eye, over the level of Jewishness ... More >>

IN THE RING

National Theatre of Scotland puts up its dukes

Jeff Koons Sues for Balloon Dog Dominance

Metropolitan Museum of Art​Jeff Koons, the artist you may know for his reproductions of "banal objects" (like balloon animals), is now suing two companies who have allegedly reproduced his reproductions of said everyday objects. Which brings up a somewhat existential question: If you reproduce ... More >>

Catfish, the Other Facebook Film, Facing Lawsuit Which Could Reveal Hoax

​This year's movie about Facebook that has nothing to do with Harvard or a billion dollars is called Catfish, and follows a young New Yorker to Michigan to meet a family he's communicated with online. What follows in the documentary is a parable about the risks of connections made virtually, a ... More >>

Forget Banh Mi Beefs. Introducing the Brooklyn Winery Wars.

"Lucy! You got some 'splainin to do!"​ Remember good, ol' fashioned Brooklyn banh mi rivalries? Well, the borough has now graduated to winery wars. The Brooklyn Paper reported today that a squabble has broken out between two wineries in Brooklyn, but one of them now says the episode is a non-i ... More >>

Eddie Huang Trademarks the Chairman Bao Name

Yesterday's pun may turn into tomorrow's lawsuit.​Back in May, Eddie Huang was none too pleased to learn that a new San Francisco food truck called the Chairman Bao had apparently appropriated the name of one of Huang's signature creations at Baohaus. Huang told us that he was planning to trav ... More >>

Judge Rules That City Owns Tavern on the Green Name

Bridge and Tunnel ClubTavern on the Green in less fraught days.​Bad news for Tavern on the Green's 450-plus creditors: a federal judge ruled earlier today that the city, not the LeRoy family, owns the restaurant's name. The New York Times reports that Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum ruled that ... More >>

Booze News--Aussie Wine Now Cheaper Than Water; More on the Beer Cocktail Trend

The Bermudan Dark 'n' Stormy cocktail is two ounces of Gosling's Black Seal rum layered with ginger beer, and that's official. E. Malcolm Gosling Jr., whose family has owned Gosling's since 1806, says two trademark certificates on file with the United States Patent and Trademark Office define the ex ... More >>

Tech Dreck: iPhone Does Homework, AT&T Plays Big Brother, Twitter Celebs Fake It

"Parents have lost the war over buying cellphones for their children," says Saul Hansell in the Times. He must be talking about those parents, overrepresented in the Times' demographic, whose children can battle for the right to own expensive electronic geegaws without getting smacked. Hansell says ... More >>

ART ATTACK

Is there hope for Fairey's 'Hope' poster?

GOLDEN GATE GYPSIES

Williamsburg embraces other weary travelers

Roosevelt Island Getting Crowded, Hard to Leave

Columbia's Knotty Noose Problem, Part 2

How the Teachers College administration went from supportive to skeptical in the Constantine case

Artist, Fan Clash Over What Constitutes Online Piracy

A sticky web of sale, resale, and photos of a Park Slope painter's work

Sample Sale

Too much joy: Who gets royalties from 'Happy Birthday'?

Meet John Doe

The RIAA runs its lawsuits as a volume business, and sometimes downloaders just gotta settle

Art

All the Wrong Moves

A Fraud Grows on West 43rd Street

Workin' It

Happy Hacking

The Quiet Man

Hollywood Fights to Seal Jack Valenti’s Testimony

Letters

The Digital Rights Dilemma

National Writers Union Wins Landmark Decision for Freelancers. Maybe.

Nation

Paper Trail

The Cat-and-Mouse of the Game of Online Plagiarism

Steal This Idea

Ground Zero