The Anchor Plate : Intellectual Property Lawyers & Attorneys : BrickHouse Law Group : Open-Price Lawyering, Hourly Billing : St. Louis, Missouri

When you think porn, I bet the first thing that pops up isn't the Federal Antidilution Act. It does, however, over here at the Anchor Plate. And that intersection of porn, parody, and the First Amendment has inspired a contest to see who can coin the best porn parody title for any movie nominated for an Oscar at this year's Academy Awards.  But first, some background:

We intellectual property lawyers have our own set of favorite quirky cases, the sexy ones you'd hesitate to bring home to Mom, the goofy ones that tap into that special brand of humor most commonly associated with junior high school boys. (Yes, as many women will readily attest, there is a 7th-grade boy lurking within every adult male, including ones who can't resist use of the phrase "pops up" in the first sentence of this post.)

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Worried about protecting your brands and creations on the Internet? Worried that your own website might draw a blood-curdling demand letter from a pitbull lawyer for a Fortune 500 company? You aren't alone.

A pair of intellectual property decisions by the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit—one recently handed down, the other soon on its way—will reverberate throughout the business community, especially as companies struggle to protect their intellectual property in the ever expanding flea market known as the Internet.

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Only a few months ago we were bragging around here about our good fortune to welcome David Groce as a principal of our entrepreneurial law firm.  David's addition greatly enhanced our ability to provide a full range of business services counseling to our clients.

Now we get to brag again -- this time about our newest partner, Michael A. Kahn.  Some of you may know Mike from our past blogging efforts together on the old Fair Use Blog, and more recently Mike has been a contributor to Bryan Cave's Art Law Blog.  Others may know Mike as the successful author of many novels, including Trophy Widow.  Still others may know him from his long career as a nationally-known First Amendment, media and intellectual property trial lawyer. 

We know him all of those ways, too, but mostly as a good friend, great guy and exceptional attorney.  Truth be told, we've been stalking Mike for a while.  We've always thought he was a perfect fit for our entrepreneurial, client-centered approach to practicing -- he doesn't like the billable hour any more than we do!

Mike is joining the BrickHouse Law Group after more than 25 years of large law firm practice, and he'll be joining the AnchorPlate blog as an author.  I hope you enjoy hearing from him as much as we're going to enjoy practicing law with him.

Welcome to the BrickHouse, Mike!

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As is readily apparent around here, I am at best a sporadic legal blogger.  I have periods of time when I'm fairly active with my posts, and other (sometimes long) stretches of time when I seem to disappear.  I'm more consistent with my social media outreach, particularly on Twitter, but even there I could be much more prolific.  I'm happy to say, however, that it looks like 2011 will be much busier on both fronts.

It kicks off for me in two weeks, when I get to appear on a panel with one of my legal blogging heroes, Dennis Kennedy.  The program is entitled "Communities for Your Nonprofit: Legal Aspects of Social Media" and it will be presented at the Schlafly branch of the St. Louis Public Library on Thursday, January 20 at 3:00 p.m.  (Scroll down to Jan. 20)  Also on the panel will be a new colleague, Elizabeth Cox, a fellow intellectual property and entertainment lawyer in St. Louis.  Check out her blog, Design/Sing/Act/Write/Law, and come out and see us if you're in St. Louis.

There's more good news on the way, too -- including growth at The BrickHouse Law Group (in the form of an old friend and fellow legal blogger) and a move to a new office (in an old brick building, of course!).  Stay tuned -- I'll be back.

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