Announcing the Law Office of Shourin Sen

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

I hope you enjoyed a safe and happy holiday season. I am writing to convey best wishes for this new year and share some exciting news of my own. I recently launched a law firm that focuses on copyright, trademark, corporate representation and entertainment law. Thank you to the many people who have been supportive and instrumental in this process. If you have questions about my practice, you can visit my firm’s website at http://senlawoffice.com or contact me directly.

Best wishes,

Shourin Sen, Esq.
244 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1765
New York, NY 10001
Tel.: (888) 693-7125
International Tel.: (347) 455-1250
Fax.: (212) 591-6111
ssen@senlawoffice.com

Copyright and Entertainment Law

The Law Office of Shourin Sen provides counseling on all aspects of copyright, entertainment and art law. The Office advises on all types of contractual and licensing agreements, copyright registration, acquisitions and divestitures of intellectual property, due diligence inquiries, and the enforcement of intellectual property rights.

Business and Technology

The Law Office mentors businesses, entrepreneurs and technology startups by providing cost conscious full service legal support. The Office advises on formation of business entities, corporate structuring and mergers of existing business entities. The Office also provides continued support on a broad range of contractual matters such as service, vendor, technology, asset purchase, and rental agreements. The Office’s intellectual property practice dovetails into our representation of businesses and technology startups, whose most valuable assets are often intangible. The Office advises businesses on, among other things, trademark registration and brand management, licensing, and the development of intellectual property portfolios.

Litigation

The Law Office of Shourin Sen handles litigation in all of the areas of law for which it provides representation. This includes complex copyright, trademark, trade secret, libel and unfair competition claims, as well as contractual and shareholder disputes. The Office will manage all phases of a dispute from pre-litigation communications through trial and appeal, if that is the necessary course.

One of the disappointments for U.S. law students who specialize in intellectual property is that there isn’t room on the bar exam for copyright or trademark questions; what with the need to cover 19th Century criminal and property law. This is apparently not the case in the Philippines. LAWPHiL has posted the questions from the Mercantile Law September 2009 Bar Exam, which featured a couple of fun IP questions.

You’re more than welcome to answer the questions in the comments. The winner will be openly ridiculed. The decision of the judges is final.

I

TRUE or FALSE. Answer TRUE if the statement is true, or FALSE if the statement is false. Explain your answer in not more than two (2) sentences. (5%)

1. The Denicola Test in intellectual property law states that if design elements of an article reflect a merger of aesthetic and functional considerations, the artistic aspects of the work cannot be conceptually separable from the utilitarian aspects; thus, the article cannot be copyrighted.

XV

After disposing of his last opponent in only two rounds in Las Vegas, the renowned Filipino boxer Sonny Bachao arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport met by thousands of hero-worshipping fans and hundreds of media photographers. The following day, a colored photograph of Sonny wearing a black polo shirt embroidered with the 2-inch Lacoste crocodile logo appeared on the front page of every Philippine newspaper.

Lacoste International, the French firm that manufactures Lacoste apparel and owns the Lacoste trademark, decided to cash in on the universal popularity of the boxing icon. It reprinted the photographs, with the permission of the newspaper publishers, and went on a world-wide blitz of print commercials in which Sonny is shown wearing a Lacoste shirt alongside the phrase “Sonny Bachao just loves Lacoste.”

When Sonny sees the Lacoste advertisements, he hires you as lawyer and asks you to sue Lacoste International before a Philippine court:

1. For trademark infringement in the Philippines because Lacoste International used his image without his permission; (2%)
2. For copyright infringement because of the unauthorized use of the published photographs; (2%) and
3. For injunction in order to stop Lacoste International from featuring him in their commercials. (2%)

Will these actions prosper? Explain.

4. Can Lacoste International validly invoke the defense that it is not a Philippine company and, therefore, Philippine courts have no jurisdiction? Explain. (2%)