There’s really a well-developed jurisprudence with regard to beauty pageant names. Here, MISS USA fails to enjoin MISS ASIA USA.
Decision Miss Universe Miss Asian Usa
2009
Don’t Sing-a-long: Capitol v Vimeo re ‘Lip Dub’ Videos
Lip Dub – Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo.
Vimeo is a video-sharing site (owned by InterActive Corp). It apparently hosts many videos consisting of ‘lip dubs,’ like the one above actually performed by the Vimeo staff. Plaintiff record labels allege that Vimeo is no ‘so-called video sharing service’ as it…
Damages Denied On Counterfeit Default: Pointer On Proving The Obvious
This is why lawyers are neurotic.
Chanel and Vuittton sue an alleged counterfeitor on trademark, copyright and patent. Defendant defaults. A supporting paper for the default motion is reproduced below. It is a long catalog of the plantiffs’ extensive trademarks, copyrights and patents, and reproductions of the infringing items. Take a look, and see if…
Seemingly Impossible Motion to Dismiss Re Genericness Allegation Against Registered Mark
Plaintiff owns registrations for, among other marks, FRAGRANCENET and FRAGRANCENET.COM. Defendant moves to dismiss based on genericness. The only record here is the pleadings. A registered trademark is entitled to a (rebuttable) presumption that it functions as a trademark. This seems to me to be an impossible 12(b)(6) grounds for dismissal, unless the motion to…
It’s Certainly Not Contaminated By Cheese
Wall Street Journal article: English Village Tries to Milk a Connection to Its Cheesy Past:
STILTON, England — This small hamlet shares its name with a famous curd. But under European Union law, it’s illegal to make Stilton cheese in Stilton.
The bar on producing Stilton cheese here is a curious consequence of EU
…
Burberry Awarded $4 Million in Statutory Damages
Burberry obtains judgement of $4 million in statutory damages, based on $1 million per type of counterfeit good, against ‘serial’ counterfeiter.
Decision Burberry Statutory Damages
Google Public DNS: Discuss Amongst Yourselves
Google announced today that it will be offering a service named Google Public DNS, a ‘public domain name resolver.’ I asked the IPC list today whether this was a good, bad or neutral thing from an IP perspective and we all had fun speculating. Here’s a SEO blog discussion of things that could happen.…
Howard Stern Conducts Hearing In KAMELFLAGE/CAMELFLAGE Dispute
Plaintiff and Defendant dispute as to who used KAMELFLAGE or CAMELFLAGE first for underwear.
Below is an exhibit from the complaint purporting to be a summary of a segment from the Howard Stern Show in which plaintiff and defendant called in and disputed patent and trademark priority. Listeners purporting to be lawyers called in as…
ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ Triathalon v ALCATRAZ Triathalon
The background of the ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ Triathalon seems to be complex, according to the Wikipedia entry at least. Here, defendant triathalon director split from plaintiff triathalon promoter, to organize another triathalon taking place on Alacatraz and calling it the ALCATRAZ TRIATHALON. Plaintiff sues based on its registered rights in ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ.
Complaint…
“Case Study” of Design Within Reach’s Move To “Knock-Offs” Plus Questions For Discussion
Design Within Reach, a retailer of designer furniture, used to promote itself as ‘The source for licensed classics,’ selling modern classics such as the Barcelona Chair and Eames Chair. This earned it a certain following but also a non-following who referred to it as ‘Design Out Of Reach.” This FastCompany article details its current finanical…