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Tag Archives: Trademark Bully

Insuring a Great Super Bowl Trademark Fight

By on Posted in Advertising, Almost Advice, Articles, Branding, Fair Use, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Trademarks

So, tomorrow is the big day, the big game, or whatever else other intimidated advertisers might call it. I just want to find the best deal on a flat screen television today! But, more to Mike Masnick’s point on Techdirt about the NFL’s reputation as a “trademark bully,” and his challenge to advertisers — “It’s the Super Bowl…. Continue Reading

Redefining a Trademark Bully?

By on Posted in Almost Advice, Articles, False Advertising, Mixed Bag of Nuts, SoapBox, Trademarks

We’ve spilled a lot of digital ink discussing the trademark bullying topic, going all the way back to my original blog post from 2010: ”The Mark of a Real Trademark Bully.” Within the last several days, there has been quite a bit of online media coverage about Trademarkia’s new features that tout an ability to “Find… Continue Reading

Putting the Shoe on the Other Tootsie

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

There was a time when a certain kind of small business owner – strapped for cash — with a meager promotional budget, easily could be tempted to adopt a "clever" name, as a "short-cut," to "play off" a well-known, iconic brand, but in the end, he or she probably was convinced by counsel that doing so would be… Continue Reading

Brilliant Trademark Advice or Baloney?

By on Posted in Almost Advice, Genericide, Marketing, Trademarks

A few bits of trademark advice recently passed across my screen from The Marketing Blog: Turning Entrepreneurs Into Marketers – advice that I believe deserves some friendly comment and critique, leaving you to decide whether any of it rises to the level of brilliant trademark advice or sinks to the level of trademark baloney: "Trademark as you go. Don’t wait… Continue Reading

Protecting the Least Sophisticated Potential Consumers

By on Posted in Famous Marks, Infringement, Trademarks, TTAB

When the "trademark bully" epithet is hurled at a trademark owner "caught in the act" of enforcing or otherwise protecting its intellectual property rights, another common accompaniment is the expressed outrage and indignation that no one could ever possibly be confused. Here are a few points worth noting: The test of infringement is likelihood of confusion, not actual confusion. Likelihood of confusion is… Continue Reading

Willa-n-Wella, Living-n-Harmony Now

By on Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademarks, TTAB

The New York Times has been following a trademark battle between Christy Prunier’s body and beauty care start-up business apparently geared toward preteen and teenage girls (Willagirl LLC) and industry giant Procter & Gamble, owner of the well-known, if not famous, more than century old WELLA hair care brand, with U.S. trademark rights dating back at least to the early… Continue Reading

Trademark Bull?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Look-For Ads, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sight, Trademarks

In the midst of all our discussion about "trademark bullying," I couldn’t resist picking up this "No Bull" postcard from Manny’s Steakhouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota. You may recall Dan previously wrote about Manny’s promoting similar images with the phrase "One Helluva Sac Lunch". Dan also noted the irony of the best beef coming from steers, not… Continue Reading

Rapala Taunts a Monster?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Fair Use, Marketing, Trademarks

Happy Mother’s Day!  So, it’s time again to talk a little fishing billboard branding, I guess. We have enjoyed discussing Rapala billboard ads over the last couple of years, the "attracting cats" billboard, the "More hits than Google" billboard, the "Whudjagiddumon" billboard, and now the "Do you believe in monsters?" billboard. Note the upper case "G"… Continue Reading

Trademark Bully Baloney?

By on Posted in Branding, Trademarks

In the wake of all the discussion and debate over "trademark bullying," NFIB (National Federation of Independent Businesses), the self-proclaimed Voice of Small Business, recently offered its members and followers "5 Steps to Avoid Corporate Trademark Bullying": Do Your Homework; Choose a Descriptive Business Name; Use Common Sense; Consider Buying Intellectual Property Insurance; and When in Doubt,… Continue Reading

Numbers for Thought & The “Trademark Bully” Debate

By on Posted in Trademarks, TTAB

"Trademark law is a complex, specialized area of law," according to the International Trademark Association (INTA), as set forth in a recent communication to the USPTO. So, I must ask, does substantial experience or the lack of substantial experience in handling trademark matters impact the current trademark bullying debate? And, if so, how? Here are some interesting numbers… Continue Reading

Trademark Bullying: Emerging Legal Threat Webinar

By on Posted in Trademarks

There is another excellent webinar coming next week on April 6, dealing with the very hot topic of trademark bullying. This one is provided by Strafford Publications, and the details are here. Thanks to John Welch for his post on the program too. As before, first two people to post a comment receive free attendance!

See You In The Parking Lot After School

By on Posted in Law Suits

It appears the topic of “trademark bullies” has been trending up recently. (For example, Steve Baird posted about an interesting Webinar that he moderated about dealing with “trademark bullies.”) Since I’m a shameless bandwagon jumper and fad follower (just ask my Pet Rock), I figured I’d write my own trademark bullying post in an effort to capitalize… Continue Reading

View Free Webinar Here: Strategies for Dealing With “Trademark Bullies”

By on Posted in Trademarks, TTAB

Last month I mentioned a trademark bullying webinar available through Minnesota Continuing Legal Education (MinnCLE), here. Tuition was $95 for 75 minutes of action-packed discussion on this very hot topic, so, a real bargain. Now, MinnCLE is graciously making it available for viewing free, here, so enjoy. (No CLE credit). By way of preview, yours truly set up the topic… Continue Reading

A Few Trademark Grammar School Facts

By on Posted in Copyrights, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Configurations, Trademarks, Truncation

Any recent graduate of trademark grammar school knows, at least, the following twenty facts (perhaps there is, at least, one opinion among them): A trademark identifies, distinguishes, and indicates the origin of goods; A trademark should be searched and cleared before adoption and first use; A trademark needs a trademark attorney to take a position on availability; A trademark… Continue Reading

All This Talk About “Trademark Bullying” . . . .

By on Posted in Domain Names, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademarks

Apparently has led to the creation of a new blog entitled Trademark Bully — Kindly Back Off! The TrademarkBully.com domain was registered just days ago, by someone who has shielded their identity (doesn’t real blogging require transparency?) and it resolves to a WordPress Blog, with a couple of initial posts from yesterday. It also reveals the blog’s intended… Continue Reading

AIPLA Comments on USPTO’s “Trademark Bullying” Survey

By on Posted in Trademarks

You may be interested to know that the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) did file a timely response on January 7, 2011, to the USPTO’s original request for comments regarding whether "trademark bullying" is a significant problem deserving attention, see here. Hat tip to Jackie. Let’s just say, it is starting to become clear why the USPTO dropped the… Continue Reading

“Trademark Bullying” Comment Period Extended (Again)

By on Posted in Infringement, Law Suits, Trademarks

It appears the USPTO, once again, has extended the period for submitting comments on what originally was termed a study regarding "trademark bullying," but was later characterized as a study on "aggressive trademark litigation tactics" — so, for those of you still interested in submitting comments, the new deadline is February 14, 2011. Apparently, the USPTO plans on delivering the… Continue Reading

Levi Pockets a Favorable Court of Appeals Decision

By on Posted in Dilution, Law Suits

Dusting off the archives, you may remember a 2009 blog post by Tiffany about a trademark infringement lawsuit initiated by Levi Strauss against Abercrombie & Fitch over the back pocket design on the respective parties’ jeans. In that case the jury determined that the pocket designs, shown below, were not confusingly similar; thus, no trademark… Continue Reading