The rat from The Departed, Banksy & more…Keep up to date with the latest intellectual property news in our weekly round-up…

BlackBerry sues Twitter for patent infringement

BlackBerry Ltd on Wednesday filed a patent infringement lawsuit accusing Twitter Inc of illegally using technology in its mobile messaging applications that had been developed by the former smartphone maker.

Judge refuses to strip Mongols motorcycle club of its trademark

A federal judge in California has declined to approve a jury’s decision to strip the Mongols motorcycle club of its trademarked logo, citing constitutional protections against intrusions on free speech and excessive fines.

Banksy sues Italian exhibition for trademark infringement

Despite once saying ‘copyright is for losers’, Banksy launched a trademark infringement lawsuit against an Italian company over their unofficial Banksy merchandise and won.

Nicki Minaj bang bangs back in Tracy Chapman copyright infringement suit

Nicki Minaj has countered Tracy Chapman’s copyright infringement lawsuit over Minaj’s “Sorry” claiming that Chapman doesn’t even own the copyright of “Baby Can I Hold You” and that her lifting aspects of that song was fair use.

And finally…

Warner Bros. shuts down campaign to remove rat from ‘The Departed’ over copyright infringement

The Kickstarter campaign to remove the rat from the ending of Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed”  has come to an end  because it is now “the subject of an intellectual property dispute and is currently unavailable”. I quite liked the rat, but that’s just my opinion.