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The CONSOR team of Weston Anson, Lacy J. Lodes, esq., and David Noble discuss the patchwork of rights of publicity laws. Unlike Patent, trademark and copyright laws, rights of publicity are governed by state statutes and common-law decisions, not a single federal statute. Similar to valuing other types of intellectual…

Melody Maker magazine quoted Jimi Hendrix in 1969 as saying, “It’s funny the way most people love the dead. Once you are dead you are made for life. You have to die before they think you are worth anything.” Is that true? You’re worth more dead than alive? Wasn’t that…

IP valuation consultants, such as CONSOR, place value in all types of intellectual property assets, including patents, trademarks and copyrights. It is our business and we encourage enforcement of those valuable rights. But you have to take a moment to reflect whether or not enforcement of those rights is worth…

Smile and say…sell! After filing for Chapter 11 protection almost a year ago, this Friday the bankruptcy court is expected to approve Kodak’s proposed agreement to sell its digital-photography patents for about $525 million. The buyers, a consortium led by Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corp., are seemingly getting a bargain…

What? No Twinkies, no Ho Ho’s, no Ding Dong’s? No Sno Balls to make bikini cakes? Is the world ending in 2012? Hold on, it’s not quite the end of the world yet. Even though Hostess was unable to mediate an acceptable contract with the unions, Hostess can convert to…

During the recent and ongoing patent war between Apple and Samsung, Apple had claimed that Samsung infringed on their patent which covered rectangular devices with rounded corners. One would think how can you patent a shape? Well, Apple was actually granted their patent earlier this month. The USPTO issued the…

Every IP professional should keep a reliable reference library. IP expert Weston Anson has published three key IP valuation books to get your library started. IP Valuation and Management In a time of great economic, social and political change in the world, intellectual property is more important than ever. Given…

As defined, Rights of Publicity (ROP) is “the inherent right of every human being to control the commercial use of his or her identity.”[1] However, unlike patent, trademark, and copyright law, rights of publicity are governed by a patchwork of state statutes and common-law decisions, rather than by a single…

The NFL is a business that produces a product. Like any other business, no matter how loyal the consumers, once the quality of the product declines, so does the loyalty of the consumer and the value of the business. The NFL’s players, coaches and other celebrities derive substantial incomes from…