News – Michael A. Kahn

A Kinky Salute to the 2023 Public Domain Day. Sorry, Winnie!

Posted on January 10, 2023 by Michael Kahn

At the beginning of each year I post a blog on my law firm’s website welcoming the annual Public Domain Day, which occurs on January 1st and ushers dozens and dozens of novels, songs, and other creative works into the public domain. The copyrights in those works, first published 95 years ago, are now in…

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Winnie-the-Pooh and Hemingway, too! Happy Public Domain Day

Posted on January 12, 2022January 12, 2022 by Michael Kahn

The past few New Year’s Days, and every January 1st going forward, herald a special event in the realm of copyright for an ever-growing collection of works of creative arts that fall into the public on that first day of the year. This January 1st marks that special day for one of our favorite literary…

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Tonto, Aunt Jemima, and the Challenge of Oblivious Bias

Posted on February 28, 2021March 8, 2021 by Michael Kahn

Surrounded by dozens of hostile Indians on horseback waving rifles and tomahawks, the Lone Ranger turns to his faithful companion. “What are we going to do, Tonto?” “What do you mean ‘we,’ Kemo Sabe?” Earlier this year I gave a Strafford webinar presentation entitled “Rebranding Trademarks: Challenges of Walking Away and Choosing a New Mark.”…

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From Covfefe to Aunt Jemima R.I.P.–Trademarks in the Era of Black Lives Matter

Posted on August 7, 2020August 18, 2020 by Michael Kahn

In my day job as an intellectual property lawyer I’ve been blogging occasionally about the strange new world of trademarks that began three years ago with the explosion of trademark registration applications for the 7-letter typo in one of Donald Trump’s late-night Tweet complaints about what he claimed was “fake news.” Following that trademark silliness…

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An Author Event in the Era of COVID-19

Posted on April 26, 2020April 26, 2020 by Michael Kahn

I now have my own sequel to one of my favorite novels by the great Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera. While I concede my sequel may not have the same poetic charm as the title of the Marquez novel, I can now say that have presided over a Book Signing in…

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Cover Reveals: The Good, the Bad, and, well . . .

Posted on March 4, 2020March 4, 2020 by Michael Kahn

Most authors have little say in the design of our book covers, and thus arrives that anxious moment when the publisher reveals its proposed cover for your novel. You hope for the best. This time I got lucky. For my next Rachel Gold novel, Bad Trust, due in April of this year, I can state…

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Thank you, Dorothy Parker

Posted on February 28, 2020February 28, 2020 by Michael Kahn

Dorothy Parker in 1924, photographed in the backyard of her New York residence

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Upcoming Appearance at the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival

Posted on November 7, 2019 by Michael Kahn

I am pleased to announce that I will be one of the featured speakers at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, November 12th at the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival, held each year at the Jewish Community Center on 2 Millstone Campus Drive in St. Louis, MO 63146. I will part of the annual “Missouri’s Own!” panel…

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Now We Can All Take That Road Not Taken! The Copyright Freeze Has Melted

Posted on January 31, 2019January 31, 2019 by Michael Kahn

Once again my dual lives as a lawyer by day and an author at night have intersected in what is unquestionably a happy new year for all of us–including even Mickey Mouse. Two decades ago the Congress passed an amendment to the Copyright Act that added an additional twenty years to lives of the copyrights…

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Beers, Brands, Books, and Brawls

Posted on December 15, 2018January 31, 2019 by Michael Kahn

My bio describes me as a lawyer by day and an author at night–and I generally try to keep those two identities separate. But a recent trademark brawl over the word SCHLAFLY–a name associated with both the late conservative firebrand Phyllis Schlafly and her nephew Tom’s brewery–inspired me to write a post on that lawsuit for…

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