Articles by anthony verna

How to value Trademarks?

How to value Trademarks? One stumbling block for many businesses is in valuing intellectual property. The stumbling block is important to consider because intellectual property takes time and money to register and enforce. Valuation is important to show on a company’s...

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Episode 15 – Games for Promotions and Daily Fantasy Sports

Episode 15 – Games for Promotions and Daily Fantasy Sports

The newest trend is daily fantasy sports.

Taking a step back, what makes a game used in promotion not gambling?  And what, then, makes a daily fantasy sports business model not gambling?

In order to use a game for promotion, the sponsor of the game must remove one of three key elements of the game:

  • Chance
  • Prize
  • Consideration

So, daily fantasy sports like Draft Kings and Fan Duel must be able to do that in order to run a non-gambling game.

But those games also must have a set of rules and must also be run fairly, with a level playing field.

Would you like to run a game in order to promote your business?  Call or send an e-mail.  914-358-6401 or anthony@vernalaw.com

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Episode 14 – The sale of 4chan and Internet Privacy

Episode 14 – The sale of 4chan and Internet Privacy

In Episode 14 of the “Law & Business” podcast, Anthony and Oz Sultan (Sultan Interactive Group LLC) talk about the sale of 4chan and how that intersects with Internet privacy.

Internet privacy is an oxymoron. Any website that is accessible for free means that there’s a product involved. (In this particular case, it is the services of Verna Law, P.C.) In many cases, if there is user-generated content, the content and the user are the products. Meaning that the website can only monetize by keeping track of the users and understanding the users’ behavior, and, ultimately, selling that information to other websites that need the same information.

Oz Sultan

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Have You Ever Received an E-mail from China About Registering a Domain Name There?

Let's define the situation: You've registered your domain name.  You have your website going. Then you receive an e-mail similar to this: "(It's very urgent, please transfer this email to your CEO. Thanks) We are the domain registration and solution center in...

Why did Mars Inc. File a Trademark Infringement Lawsuit against a Small Company?

Candy maker Mars Inc. is suing a Wisconsin woman over chocolates she is selling under a name that the company argues is "confusingly similar" to its cocoa extract supplements called CocoaVia. Mars said in a federal lawsuit filed March 24 that the chocolates sold in...

Why Can’t Deadmau5 Register his Cat’s Name as a Trademark?

Why Can't Deadmau5 Register his Cat's Name as a Trademark? Have you heard?  Deadmau5 has a cat called Prof. Meowingtons, PhD, so named because he meows a lot, as in “meowing tons.”  (This comes as news to us at Verna Law, however, we can accept this as...

Trademark Abandonment: When Has a Trademark Been Abandoned?

Would you want another business to “freeload” off of your business’ goodwill? If your business does not protect its trademarks and service marks, that is exactly what can happen. If another business wants to use your business’ mark, it can petition a court to...