Trademark Blog of the Trademark Lawyer's Mind

Tough timing for Facebook. Should be interesting h...

2012-04-02T08:23:32.223-07:00

Tough timing for Facebook. Should be interesting how it all plays out. Lawsuit

Here's why it's different: http://fineartamerica.com/pinterest-enables-copyright-theft-on-a-global-scale.html

Here's my question: Supposing I rip an exampl...

2012-03-08T19:11:10.359-08:00

Here's my question: Supposing I rip an example of an interior design I like out of Architectural Magazine, and take an old-fashioned pushpin and put it on a linen pin board on my wall. Further suppose that I add a few other inspiring items and group them into sections on that same linen pin board, something like all the interior stuff in one section, the outdoor stuff in another, and landscaping ideas in another section, or maybe on a separate pin board hung next to the first one on the wall in my stufy. Then, I call up my friends and say "Hey! Come take a look-see at some inspiration I found!"

How is Pinterest any different?

I think this copyright squaking is nuts, and I've said as much: http://candidcanon.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/are-we-seriously-kidding-with-the-pinterest-copyright-nonsense/.

Create, don't litigate.

People are waiting for a chance to sue high profil...

2012-02-25T06:42:58.474-08:00

People are waiting for a chance to sue high profile people & companies.

The year of 2010 had produced some nice inventions...

2012-01-31T02:13:42.449-08:00

The year of 2010 had produced some nice inventions. But lots of like 2011. The page is firmly highlighted that year.

I don't know anymore about this speedo problem...

2012-01-16T03:06:30.206-08:00

I don't know anymore about this speedo problem in GTA 5. This is pretty impressive read on the subject. That spread many good information.

A number of other factors complicate matters, howe...

2011-11-18T08:24:58.984-08:00

A number of other factors complicate matters, however. For one thing, investors generally buy stocks according to their expectations about the unpredictable future, not according to current earnings. Expectations can be influenced by a variety of factors, many of them not necessarily rational or justified. As a result, the short-term connection between prices and earnings can be tenuous...............
stock market today

I don't see a problem, if Speedo did decide to...

2011-11-10T19:21:31.582-08:00

I don't see a problem, if Speedo did decide to do anything about this 'non-case' they would become a laughing stock. To me at least.

It took reading this article to make me even think of Speedo, before that I hadn't made a connection.

The .XXX Sunrise period ends on 28 October 2011, w...

2011-10-19T00:55:17.063-07:00

The .XXX Sunrise period ends on 28 October 2011, which does not give trademark owners much time to block their trade marks within the .XXX namespace. We have reduced our pricing to $189 per domain name, which should go some way in encouraging trademark owners to block their trademark.

Welcome to america!

2011-08-14T01:15:20.004-07:00

Welcome to america!

That's great for MGA -- except that this litig...

2011-08-06T22:49:18.528-07:00

That's great for MGA -- except that this litigation has essentially killed the Bratz franchise and arguably MGA might have earned much more than $309 million selling their dolls and growing the brand.

Astonished by the dare and skills of these people ...

2011-08-02T07:53:18.152-07:00

Astonished by the dare and skills of these people who produce devices similar to Apple.

Their logos has a really big resemblance. I prefer...

2011-07-08T16:38:43.622-07:00

Their logos has a really big resemblance. I prefer Volcom over Roc Nation.

I know I'm not the only one who finds it compl...

2011-07-04T18:47:37.074-07:00

I know I'm not the only one who finds it completely ridiculous that the House has stripped the least controversial provision from this bill (ending fee diversion) and passed the most contentious provisions. Without an end to fee diversion, "patent reform" is a waste, or worse.

That's the lesson you take? Offices should hav...

2011-04-28T10:37:27.873-07:00

That's the lesson you take? Offices should have higher security? How about that regardless of which award stands, or neither, they're BOTH lower than what each company has paid in legal fees. That's a fierce combination of stupid and broken.

Thats why offices should have high security standa...

2011-04-28T07:58:52.106-07:00

Thats why offices should have high security standards to avoid these things

Its free publicity after all then whats the issue,...

2011-03-29T13:20:29.924-07:00

Its free publicity after all then whats the issue, and why is there a dispute with the real rock image that even includes a partial sex or violence after all its Hard Rock and thats what it has always been about.....Lets see who ends up changing the name.

Interesting to note that USPTO rejected twitter...

2011-03-24T03:21:00.811-07:00

Interesting to note that USPTO rejected twitter's application to register TWEET. See http://www.sinapseblog.com/2011/03/no-tweet-for-twitter.html

Two things I find troubling about Facebook's a...

2011-02-25T22:54:03.317-08:00

Two things I find troubling about Facebook's argument:
It is likely ALREADY the case that consumers understand the suffix 'book'--in the context of a website--to suggest that the website is a social networking service.
Facebook shouldn't be able to divide their mark into smaller pieces and then enforce those pieces as separate marks. So long as their is no implied sponsorship by Facebook, there doesn't seem to be a problem.

If DC Comics and Neil Gaiman didn't sue over &...

2011-02-10T09:38:04.841-08:00

If DC Comics and Neil Gaiman didn't sue over "The Books of Magic" (which came out about five years before the first Harry Potter book) then I don't give much hope to Willy the Wizard's chances of prevailing.

The Tim Hunter character in the Books of Magic is so visually and thematically close to Harry Potter (down to hair colour, glasses, owl companion, the broken home, the educational setting, etc. etc.) that it's almost impossible to imagine that Rowling hadn't read the graphic novel.

However, she says she didn't, and Gaiman has publicly stated that he believes her, mostly on the basis of "the zeitgeist occasionally barfs up really weird coincidences" and, to paraphrase loosely, that "she'd have to be an complete idiot to copy it so closely".

There are also literally dozens of pre-dating fantasy series about kids in magical schools of one sort or another, and Rowling herself has acknowledged her debt to the UK boys papers of the 30s and 40s, all of which feature boys in very-Hogwarts-like boarding school settings (see this George Orwell essay for more background: http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/essays/boysweeklies1.htm).

So yeah, Willy, good luck

It's unbelievable that with all that's wro...

2011-02-01T21:19:16.845-08:00

It's unbelievable that with all that's wrong in the world, people are suing over a "diddy" trademark infringement.

I love the Paper Jamz Guitar so much , I brought it and play with my friends, a lot of fun .. :D

Now that's a bit of worry really because one h...

2011-01-03T21:28:46.778-08:00

Now that's a bit of worry really because one has to loose the name and if its the hotel then it will be really bad thing. Probably the hotel is trying to get publicity that is free of cost in this case, they might settle out later on. That's what I feel as I have noticed a few cases like that before. I have a blog related to Trademark issues that has some useful information as well see http://www.trademark-sentinel.com/blog/check-the-status-of-your-trademark-application/ and http://www.trademark-sentinel.com/blog/should-i-include-an-entity-designation-such-as-inc-or-llc-in-my-trademark-application/
Thanks

Apple is the first company that designed finger-fr...

2011-01-01T10:02:25.733-08:00

Apple is the first company that designed finger-friendly hardware and software from scratch rather than stuffing a PC into a keyboardless case. When it calls the results "magical" and "revolutionary," it's distorting reality only slightly. One analyst says the iPad is the fastest-selling nonphone gizmo in consumer-electronics history.

Is there an exact "translation"? From w...

2010-11-15T14:12:57.603-08:00

Is there an exact "translation"? From what I have been reading, it seems difficult to translate an English word to Chinese characters exactly. Is that wrong? Thanks, MB