Trademarks in the Movies con’t: SNOLI on the Rocks

The Wall Street Journal reports today on page W12 that the distributor of Stolichnaya had objected to the appearance of its STOLICHNAYA in the hands of a drunken Santa in Miramax’ upcoming move ‘Bad Santa’ (more Bad Santa backlash here).  A spokesperson for Allied Domecq indicated that the company’s marketing code prohibits ‘association with any situation involving abuse of our products.’

In response, the film depicts Santa holding a ‘look-alike’ bottle labeled SNOLICHNAYA.  The article reports that Allied Domecq ‘is not amused.’

Look Before You Litigate

The Wells Fargo/WhenU decision is a must-read for many reasons.  Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for plaintiffs, you learn in para. 128 that a related company of plaintiff uses defendant’s complained-of service.

WhenU Wins Pop-Up Ad Case Against Wells Fargo

Pop-Up Ad distributor WhenU has defeated Wells Fargo’s motion for a preliminary injunction in the Eastern District of Michigan.  This is WhenU’s second victory, having defeated a similar motion brought by U Haul, in the Eastern District of Virginia (background here).

Wells Fargo v. WhenU.com, Case No. 03-71906 (E.D. Mich. Nov. 19 2003).

High Water Mark For .INFO and .BIZ?

According to IcannWatch, as soon as their registries reached their two year anniversaries, the number of .INFO and .BIZ domain name registrations began decreasing, as deletions outpaced new registrations.  .INFO has crested (at least for the time being) at approximately 1,184,000 names, .BIZ at 1,055,000 names.

If you know the URLs of the five most popular .INFO and .BIZ websites, please advise.

Recouping What Madrid Hath Taken Away

Question for discussion raised at the recent INTA mid-Winter meeting: In view of the U.S. accession to the Madrid Protocol, U.S. Attorneys will lose filing income from non-U.S. clients who use Madrid and non-U.S. trademark agents will lose filing income from U.S. clients.  Nevertheless, applicants who receive office actions will still need to retain local counsel to respond to those actions.  The question is not whether local counsel will seek to recoup lost income by charging ‘take-on’ fees – they will.  The question is: what is and is not an appropriate rationale for such charges (and how much will be charged).

Map of Madrid courtey of Lonely Planet.

Why I Disabled the Readers’ Comments Feature on this Site

Because then I’d get into this sort of thing.

Tarnishing Santa

IPKat on Disney’s upcoming movie BAD SANTA and the concept of protection of traditional knowledge and folklore.

More on Cybersquatting

Miami Herald article on cybersquatting, including quote from John Barry (long list of UDRP cases involving him, here).

We Charge Less And We Didn’t Lose Bush v. Gore

Via CRN.COM, a report that SCO will pay the Boies Schiller firm (the other law firm around here) approximately $9 million ($1 million in cash and stock valued at about $7.9 million) for its representation in the Linux dispute against IBM.

UPDATE: An article from Forbes.com indicating that on top of the $9 million, the Boies firm has some type of option to receive 20% of SCO in case of a sale of the company.  The CEO of SCO points out that SCO’s market cap has increased $187m since it retained the Boies firm.

Licensed Logos Are in the Eye of the Beholder