Tomorrow, October 9, 2025, Lauren Leipold and Owen Wolfe, Intellectual Property Partners at Seyfarth, will be speaking at the WIPR AI & IP Summit in New York.
Lauren and Owen will take part in the session “AI vs Copyright: Tackle the New Creative Battleground,” which will examine how generative AI is disrupting traditional copyright
It’s that time of year where, for two weeks in late August and early September, tens of thousands of people descend upon Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York for the U.S. Open tennis tournament. The biggest stars in the world of tennis are there
Angel Reese—the former LSU basketball superstar who now plays for the Chicago Sky in the WNBA—made headlines recently when she filed an application to register MEBOUNDS as a trademark for clothing and related items (Serial No. 99,234,613). “Mebounds” was a phrase used by some of Ms. Reese’s critics, referring to rebounds Ms. Reese grabs after
Keen sports observers sometimes use trademark applications to try to identify the names and locations of potential expansion teams that may be coming to sports leagues. Recent trademark applications by the WNBA and National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) highlight just how complicated expansion team-related applications can be, however.
Let’s start with the WNBA. Earlier this year, the WNBA filed applications to register CHARLOTTE STING (Serial Nos. 99,027,594 and 99,027,574); CLEVELAND ROCKERS (Serial No. 99,027,630); DETROIT SHOCK (Serial No. 99,024,363); HOUSTON COMETS (Serial No. 99,027,505); and MIAMI SOL (Serial Nos. 99,027,625 and 99,027,613). Notably, these are all names of teams that were previously WNBA franchises, but went defunct in the 2000s. When the teams folded, the WNBA’s trademark registrations relating to those teams were canceled or abandoned. Although the WNBA could potentially be seeking new registrations only for the purpose of protecting “throwback” or “retro” merchandise, press reports indicate that some or all of these cities have submitted bids to the WNBA for a new expansion franchise.
There is a complicating wrinkle for the WNBA, however. An independent basketball league, the Women’s Basketball League, has announced plans to launch a six-league team in 2025, including teams called the Cleveland Rockers and the Detroit Shock. The Women’s Basketball League filed an application for CLEVELAND ROCKERS (Serial No. 98,201,494) in 2023, and filed applications for DETROIT SHOCK (Serial Nos. 98,096,968 and 98,593,400) in 2023 and 2024. The USPTO granted the 2023 DETROIT SHOCK application, so the mark was registered as of February 4, 2025. It remains to be seen how these dueling marks will impact the WNBA’s trademark applications or its possible expansion strategy.Continue Reading Reading the Tea Leaves: How Trademark Applications Show WNBA and NWSL Expansion Plans and Complications
On May 9, 2025, I sat in a crowded football stadium for the sold-out second night of the Grand National Tour concert featuring Kendrick Lamar and SZA (the stage name of Solána Rowe). As I listened to those iconic artists perform their hit song “luther,” my mind turned, as it often does, to trademarks. I
As my colleague Puya Partow-Navid recently wrote, popular or viral phrases in the sports world are often the subjects of trademark registrations. Women’s sports are no exception. 2024 was a banner year for women’s sports, including the rise of stars like Caitlin Clark and Ilona Maher, the continued dominance of Simone Biles, another gold
Gadgets, Gigabytes, & Goodwill Blog editors, Lauren Leipold and Owen Wolfe, co-authored an article, “Rules for use of AI-generated evidence in flux,” in Reuters and Reuters’ Westlaw Today. The Seyfarth attorneys discussed how generative AI prompts and outputs are discoverable in litigation, even those that were part of pre-suit investigation, and that parameters around
Sarah Silverman and her fellow author plaintiffs are fighting a judge’s recent order requiring them to disclose the prompts and outputs they used in preparation for filing their class action lawsuit against ChatGPT owner OpenAI. The judge is giving OpenAI until July 24 to respond to the plaintiffs’ argument that the material should be shielded
The author of the lyrics for Canada’s national anthem, “O Canada,” probably didn’t have trademarks in mind when he wrote “we stand on guard for thee.” But a recent trademark infringement win for a Maryland-based U.S. non-profit corporation in Canada shows that Canadian courts will guard against consumer confusion and enforce trademark rights even when
We are still waiting for a formal ruling on the Andersen v. Stability AI defendants’ second round of motions to dismiss, but so far it’s looking like most of the case may be allowed to proceed to discovery. The judge heard oral arguments on May 8, 2024 in this case involving image-generating AI software, a