Nur Huda el-Wahabi CREDIT: Facebook

On the 14th of June, 2017, residents of London awakened to the horrific news that a raging inferno had engulfed a 24 story highrise in the middle of North Kensington. According to police reports 80 lives were lost in that tragedy. In a charity event to raise money for the surviving families, British author Philip Pullman has decided to name a character in his newest publication after one of the Grenfell Tower victims. Pullman raised £32,400 after teacher James Clements suggested the character should be named in memory of his former pupil Nur Huda el-Wahabi, who died in the tragedy.

The US Supreme Court ruled in June that disparaging words can receive trademark protection. It said rejecting disparaging trademarks violates the First Amendment, clearing the way for an Asian American rock group called the Slants to trademark its name – and for the Washington Redskins’ maligned moniker to stay protected as well. Now, two entrepreneurs offended by the n-word filed to trademark the epithet to keep it out of the hands of racists.

Steve Maynard, who also filed to trademark the Nazi swastika, said he wanted to quash hate by getting the rights to it. Will they succeed? Read on to find out what IP lawyers think of their chances.

Star bright, star bright, first star I see tonight…every wonder how all of those heavenly bodies receive their official name? The International Astronomical Union provides detailed information about the star names and naming – including a long list of list of IAU-approved star names.

Hint: don’t try this at home.

The cataloguing of stars has seen a long history. Since prehistory, cultures and civilizations all around the world have given their own unique names to the brightest and most prominent stars in the night sky. Certain names have remained little changed as they passed through Greek, Latin and Arabic cultures, and some are still in use today. As astronomy developed and advanced over the centuries, a need arose for a universal cataloguing system, whereby the brightest stars (and thus those most studied) were known by the same labels, regardless of the country or culture from which the astronomers came.

Once upon a time, Coca-Cola tried to rebrand their flagship drink by changing the recipe and calling it “New Coke”. If you are of a certain age, you’ll remember what a disaster this is; they quickly phased it out and we got back Classic Coke. Now Coke Zero – not to be confused with Diet Coke – has been renamed to Coke Zero Sugar. Why the change? This informative article by Alex Kelley of Catchword explains it all.