Polite and Witty Take-Downs

"Stop Using Our Trademark... please... pretty please," writes ENSafrica  Legal blogger, Gaelyn Scott.

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=483bd976-3a57-4b40-96dd-7e0944dbacff&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2017-12-29&utm_term=

This highly readable blog tells the story of three courteous, witty and charming Cease and Desist notices that resulted in good publicity for the enforcers, and no apparent hard feelings from the recipients of the notices.  There are also at least four examples of heavy-handed approaches that backfired. So.... something for everyone.

Jeffrey S. Edelstein, legal blogger for Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP taps for inspiration the medieval-royal-banquet inspired advertisement for a certain brew. It is a charming story of a well received, themed takedown.
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=67f74b61-c31e-4e70-99f9-68c3eea682bd&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2017-12-29&utm_term=

"Dilly" by the way, is also a nickname for a stage-coach. Before trains and coaches, there was a very fast stage-coach service, known as the Diligence. I have this on the authority of "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable."

Yes, there really is a "Brewer's Dictionary." It was recommended to me by one of my English Professors at Cambridge, whose surname was Brewer.

"Dilly Dilly" is a refrain in the old English song, "Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, Lavender's green..." which was made popular by Burl Ives.  I have a vague recollection that the "lavender is blue/lavender is green" may have stemmed (pun!) from the different perspectives of lavender enjoyed by a butterfly and by a caterpillar.  The plant looks one color from below, and another from above.

Apparently, Disney appropriated "Lavender's blue, dilly dilly..." for a Cinderella cartoon movie.

Online, which girl's name is abbreviated to "Dilly",  I would have thought "Delilah", but nameberry.com offers Dilys, Dilwen, Daffodil, and then there is the masculine Dilliver, and possibly Dillon.

Other meanings of "dilly" can be found here: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/dilly

Sometimes, I am baffled that the Trademark authorities award trademarks for words and phrases that have been in common (or even in arcane) use for decades.

Ending on a sour note, this author was disappointed to see a regular guest on a Fox News program on Saturday speak approvingly of Britain's London School of Economics (as I recall), which I understood her to claim provided subsidized photocopying services to allow students to photocopy textbooks instead of purchasing or renting them. Photocopying textbooks may well be copyright infringement if one copies subtantially. It is not "fair dealing", under UK law, if the copying of the work is a substitute for the purchase of the work and affects sales of the work.

One guide for educators in the USA. http://www.kasunic.com/article2.htm
A guide for educators in the UK https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/375951/Education_and_Teaching.pdf

One should be wary how one uses a photocopier!
For our European readers,Advocate  Elaine Gray of AO Hall in Guernsey offers comprehensive and timeless advice from 2010 about copyright.

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=634f9488-7fd6-466a-b25e-5c04b4b3b0c2

Authors, have you audited your websites and social media pages recently? If you host images or music that was created by someone other than yourself, are your licenses and rights up to date? Are you sure?

Wishing everyone a healthy, prosperous, and happy New Year!

Rowena Cherry