DuetsBlog Collaborations in Creativity & the Law

Monthly Archives: December 2010

Another Victory for Lombardi

By on Posted in Copyrights, Goodwill, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademarks

There have been a number of NFL headlines out of Minnesota this season, most of them ranging from ridiculous to deflating, that is, if you’ve been following the (mostly) hapless Vikings and their hapless stadium. Here’s one from last week:  the NFL won a motion for partial summary judgment in Minnesota’s Federal District Court against Titlecraft, Inc.,… Continue Reading

40 From 2010: Memory Lane on DuetsBlog

By on Posted in Mixed Bag of Nuts

As we approach the end of the year, we thought it might be a good opportunity to take a brief trip down memory lane, to identify, remind you of, and/or introduce you to what appear to be some of the most popular DuetsBlog posts during 2010 (ordered by date, not by popularity): How Realistic is the Risk of Trademark Genericide? Open Source Software in… Continue Reading

Open Source Software in the Cloud

By on Posted in Almost Advice

Here is a fun fact; Facebook is or was based on cloud computing.  Cloud computing consists of three types of computing services:  (1) software as a service; (2) platform as a service; and (3) infrastructure as a service.  Facebook used Amazon.com’s EC2 platform to build its social network website.  A computer platform is the computing… Continue Reading

Is the iPad Name Going Generic?

By on Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Genericide, Guest Bloggers, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Search Engines, Trademarks

—Mark Prus, Marketing Consultant at NameFlashSM Like many professional name developers, I opened 2010 by making fun of the Apple iPad name. Steve Jobs gave a strong case for naming the “tablet pc” in a way that was consistent with previous Apple naming conventions (iPod, iTunes, iPhone), but many of us poked fun at the… Continue Reading

Is iPad Famous, as a Trademark?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Dilution, Famous Marks, Marketing, Trademarks

Look what the email spam filter snagged for the holidays: As you may recall, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen iPad brand bait email solicitations. Back when they first appeared, the ownership of the iPad name was unsettled, but since then, it appears Apple has secured federal registration of the iPad brand name and trademark, at least, for a… Continue Reading

A Dickensian Portrait of Christmas Day

By on Posted in Advertising, Food, Goodwill, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Sight, Smell, Sound, Taste, Touch

I’ve often thought that copy writers could do worse than to make a close study of some of Charles Dickens’ work.  Perhaps too wordy a model for most copy, especially advertising and marketing copy, but he could paint a picture with words. [T]he people who were shovelling away on the housetops were jovial and full… Continue Reading

Unintended Consequences

By on Posted in Branding

As I was perusing ESPN.com, I came across an interesting installment on their Page 2 Power Rankings. For the uninitiated, Page 2 Power Rankings is a light-hearted ranking of the top sports-related stories grabbing headlines over the previous week (or two, or three, I’m not sure of the frequency).  As a Minnesotan and an NFL fan, my… Continue Reading

Serving Lawsuits With Your Morning Orange Juice

By on Posted in Infringement, Law Suits

Do these containers seem similar to you? Confusingly similar? That is what Coca-Cola, owner of Simply Orange, is claiming.  In a recently filed trade dress and patent infringement suit Coca-Cola claims that its Simply Orange container is nonfunctional, contains a patented closure lid, and the new Trop50 packaging is likely to deceive and confuse customers.  PepsiCo… Continue Reading

A Guest Post for the Rest of Us

By on Posted in Guest Bloggers

—Nancy Friedman, Chief Wordworker at Wordworking; and author of Fritinancy Like you, I’m counting the days. Unlike you, perhaps, my countdown ends Thursday, with Festivus, the holiday “for the rest of us” popularized by Seinfeld more than a decade ago and kept alive through endless syndication—and through some impressive efforts on the marketing and legal… Continue Reading

How Realistic is the Risk of Trademark Genericide?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Trademarks

The Grand Marshal in the Parade of Horribles, at least for some trademark types, is the one who forbids any deviation from the absolute "rule" against using brand names and trademarks as nouns or verbs, a standard "rule" commonly found in trademark use guidelines (only permitting the use of trademarks as adjectives). As I have written about previously, these "rules"… Continue Reading

A Study On Omitted-Letter Domain Name Typos

By on Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Famous Marks, Loss of Rights, Marketing, SoapBox, Trademarks

In the past on these pages, I have been hard on Apple Inc. for apparent missteps in securing trademark rights to some of its more well-known products (iPhone, iPad).  Last week, Apple landed a victory on the domain name front, winning a Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Procedure ("UDRP") decision for the appl.com domain name. … Continue Reading

eBay is Embroiled in More Intellectual Property Disputes

By on Posted in Infringement, Law Suits, Trademarks

Many people will access eBay this month to purchase that special gift for the holidays. In doing so, there are many products listed on eBay that are associated with valuable trademarks.    In a previous blog post, “New York Provides No Assistance to ‘The Little Blue Box’ Company,” we informed you that a district court had found that… Continue Reading

The Nine-Word Copyright Opinion: Costco v. Omega

By on Posted in Copyrights

The Supreme Court heard the appeal of Costco v. Omega, a copyright decision from the Ninth Circuit regarding the application of the first-sale doctrine to a foreign manufacturer who did not manufacture the goods in the U.S. or sell the goods directly to Costco.  The outcome?  The Supreme Court’s entire decision (available for viewing here) consisted of nine… Continue Reading

Face Job?

By on Posted in Guest Bloggers

- John Reinan, Senior Director at Fast Horse, a Minneapolis marketing agency Let’s face it: Social media are taking over the world. And the biggest social medium of them all, Facebook, is well on the way to grabbing a premier piece of trademark turf. Facebook has applied for a trademark on the word “face” when… Continue Reading

New Billboard Advertiser Needed?

By on Posted in Advertising, Marketing

The answer is, apparently not. This falls under the category of, some things aren’t what they seem to be, or maybe they are just that, so let me try to explain. Blog posts don’t always turn out the way you might think at the start, and this one is a perfect example of how they can… Continue Reading

Roof Collapse at Mall of America (Field)

By on Posted in Mixed Bag of Nuts

Do you suppose that the Mall of America ever thought about its brand name being associated with a "roof collapse" when it signed on and paid for the naming rights at the aging Mall of America Field, the nearly thirty year old inflatable indoor venue "formerly known as" the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota? Having seen this image, the above… Continue Reading

Look for Reese’s “Perfect Mix”

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Food, Look-For Ads, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Configurations, Product Packaging, Taste, Television, Trademarks

Earlier this week, Jason Voiovich commented on The Great Chocolate War between Hershey and Mars.  We obviously have chocolate on the brain here this week.  The company that brought you the product configuration trademark to the right has recently released the below commercial for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups–perhaps further establishing rights in what is getting… Continue Reading

Iron-clad Liability Protection for Idea Submissions?

By on Posted in Copyrights, Idea Protection, Infringement, Television

Several bloggers and commentators have been critical of the Travel Channel about its website soliciting  people to submit their ideas for what could possibly become a new hit show. As pitching television show ideas has become a complex, involved and costly process, should one really blame them for trying to streamline the process? If people… Continue Reading

Provocative Uniforms, Protectable Trade Dress?

By on Posted in Law Suits

Move over Collar and Cuffs, a new trade dress suit has hit the Texas courts and it is set to rival the Chippendale headlines from earlier this fall. The Texas restaurant, Twin Peaks, recently filed suit against the owner of a new Arkansas restaurant called Northern Exposure. (If you haven’t caught onto the innuendos yet think Hooters… Continue Reading

The Great Chocolate War

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Product Packaging, Trademarks

—Jason Voiovich, author of the “State of the Brand” & Vice-President of Marketing for AbleNet, Inc. It sounds like something I’d get wrong in a game of "Trivial Pursuit". Name the belated military attempt of King William I to restore his position as monarch over the Belgians. I might have guessed the delicious-sounding "great chocolate… Continue Reading

Trademark Case to “Watch”: Rolex Sues Rollx Vans in Minnesota

By on Posted in Branding, Dilution, Domain Names, Famous Marks, Goodwill, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Trademarks

          Another interesting trademark case was filed last Thursday in Minnesota federal district court, captioned Rolex Watch U.S.A., Inc. v. Associated Partnership Ltd., d/b/a Rollx Vans and d/b/a www.RollxVans.com. Here is a pdf of the Complaint and the attached Exhibit. The crowned plaintiff really needs no introduction. On the other hand, the defendant Rollx Vans is… Continue Reading

INTELligent Trademark Enforcement?

By on Posted in Dilution, Domain Names, Famous Marks, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademarks

What is the difference between a semiconductor computer chip maker and an electrician? Not much, at least when both have the word "intel" in their business names, according to a Complaint (complete with Exhibits) filed last Thursday in Minnesota federal district court, by Intel Corporation a/k/a Chipzilla, against a pair of Elk River, Minnesota electricians doing business… Continue Reading

Life Imitating Art: Service So Bad, It’s Good

By on Posted in Goodwill, Marketing, Search Engines

:-(   I have long enjoyed the offerings of Despair, Inc., the outfit that has built a business out of parodying Successories–the makers of those know-them-when-you-see-them corporate motivational posters.  Despair offers, among other things, DEMOTIVATORS® posters.  The entirety of the despair.com website reinforces the Despair brand and image.  (An empty "shopping cart" is underscored with the… Continue Reading

Yet Another Good Reason to Listen to Your Trademark Attorney

By on Posted in Trademarks

Trademark attorneys often counsel their clients to file trademark applications with the broadest scope of goods and services possible (e.g., broad categories of goods without any trade channel limitations). The main reason for this is to provide clients with the broadest scope of trademark insulation on the registry. Filing for ELVISWARE for “tableware” rather than “glassware featuring… Continue Reading