Kabbalah Red String
Via The Smoking Gun, a copy of the Trademark Office's Preliminary Refusal to register KABBALAH RED STRING for Kabbalah Red Strings. Apparently adherents to the Kabbalah, a Jewish form of mysticism made trendy recently by Madonna, wear red strings on their wrist to ward off evil.
One Fewer Thing To Worry About
Leaving only the Michael Jackson case and Iraq as unresolved world crises, OCLC, owners of the Dewey Decimal System, has settled its litigation with the Library Hotel regarding the latter's use of the system to designate rooms in its hotel. OCLC press release here.
But Do Brands Love You Back?
Lovemarks is Saatchi and Saatchi's website devoted to brands that people love.
Volokh Amicus in McFarlane v. Tony Twist
Text of Amicus brief of Michael Crichton, Larry David, Jeremiah Healy, Elmore Leonard, Harry Shearer, Ron Sheltom, Scott Turow, Paul Weitz and the Author's Guild, written by Eugene Volokh and Erick Jaffe, on behalf of Todd McFarlane's cert. petition in McFarlane v. Tony Twist (backround here and Missouri Supreme Court decision here), on the right of an author to name a character after a real person. Via How Appealing.
Red Hat FEDORA v. Cornell FEDORA
Cornell University indicates that it will oppose Red Hat's attempt to register FEDORA for operating systems, based on Cornell's prior use. Via ZD Net.
Discussion of REALTOR Trademark
Editorial from a real estate news service that if the National Association of Realtors were to lose its registration in the REALTOR trademark, then life would still go on.
PRC: Not Similar
Coverage here, here and here on a Beijing Court throwing out Toyota's suit against Chinese car manufacturer Geely's MERRY logo (above, left).
Open Source Litigation
Here is Groklaw, a website devoted to the SCO v. IBM litigation. One of IBM's exhibits to its counterclaims has drawn 66 comments. Its memo in opposition to discovery requests has 75 comments. IP litigation is the Internet's answer to college football.
Trademarks in the Movies: Weekend Wrap-Up
Master and Commander: J. Welch reports that there were no visible brand names on cannons, cannon balls, swords, etc.
Looney Tunes, Back in Action: The heroes are lost in the desert. They then see a shimmering Wal-Mart. One character asks: "Is that a mirage or just clever product placement.?" After stocking up on essentials in the Wal-Mart, Daffy Duck says: "It sure was nice of Wal-Mart to give us all this food, drink and clothing in exchange for us saying Wal-Mart over and over." Acme Products were also mentioned a lot.
Austin Powers Goldmember (saw it on Tivo): Two men in Tokyo running from Godzilla-looking giant lizard. 1st man: Run! It's Godzilla! 2d man : No, due to International Copyright Law, it only looks like Godzilla, but it isn't! 1st man: Let's run as if it were Godzilla! 2d man (winking at camera): But it isn't Godzilla! Both men then run away screaming. There is also an on-going Preparation H joke.