By Julius Melnitzer | March 12, 2024
JEWISH AMERICANS SEEK TRADEMARK FOR PALESTINIAN CHANT
Joel Ackerman and Oron Rosenkrantz, who are Jewish US citizens, have filed separate applications to trademark the phrase ‘From the river to the sea’, used by the Palestinian nationalist movement since the 1960s to express its desire for a Palestinian state that covers the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which embraces both the current state of Israel and the Palestinian territories. According to the Jerusalem Post, Ackerman, representing River to the Sea LLC, a New Jersey domestic limited liability company, has applied for the entirety of the chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. Rosenkrantz, on behalf of The River to the Sea Shop LLC, a Pennsylvania domestic limited liability company, is only seeking a trademark for the first phrase.
Related Article: Bare Bones Briefs: Non-Humans can be patent ‘inventors’
LAW FIRM SUES TOWN FOR 27 CENTS IN DAMAGES
NZP Nagy Legal, an Austrian law firm whose lawyers were forced to take a 3.4 km detour when the Austrian town of Schattendorf closed a border crossing to the Hungarian town of Agfalva, have initiated a lawsuit asking Schattendorf to refund them for the 27 cents extra in fuel that the detour caused the commuters to incur. Practice Source says the lawyers maintain they “were not doing this out of spite” but to enforce EU prohibitions against obstacles to smooth traffic flow at internal borders.
Related Article: Japan: a black hole for legal advice?
DWPV REPORTS ON 2023 INSOLVENCY SWELL
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP has released its latest edition of Insolvency Now, which focuses on 2023’s record post-pandemic high in business insolvencies in Canada, especially in Q4. Highlights include:
- The spike was particularly acute in Ontario and Quebec;
- Professional, scientific and technical services were among the sectors that experienced a significant rise;
- Receiverships returned to 2019 and 2020’s elevated volumes, but with lower declared asset values; and
- The Supreme Court received 11 insolvency-related applications for leave between April 2021 and December 2023.
Related Article: New insolvency ruled help energy companies carve out their environmentally-compromised assets
EU ENACTS NEW ECOCIDE CRIME
The European Union has agreed to create a new offence punishing “cases comparable to ecocide”. Practice Source reports that the proposed definition mirrors the 2021 recommendations of the Stop Ecocide Foundation in 2021.
UKSC rules AI cannot be patent ‘INVENTOR’
Law Society Gazette reports on a United Kingdom Supreme Court ruling that applicants cannot name artificial intelligence programs as ‘inventors’ on patent applications. The unanimous court stated, however, that the judgment was “not concerned with the broader questions whether technical advances generated by machines acting autonomously and powered by AI should be patentable” or whether the meaning of the word “inventor” should be expanded.
Related Article: Bare Bones Briefs: Non-humans can be patent ‘inventors’
Julius Melnitzer is a Toronto-based legal affairs writer, ghostwriter, writing coach and media trainer. Readers can reach him at [email protected] or https://legalwriter.net/contact.