Coke v Pepsi Re Trade Dress In Oversize Green Closures For Juice Bottles

Coke (Simply Orange) sues Pepsi (Trop50) for adopting green closure, claiming trade dress in its oversize green closures.

Complaint Coke v Pepsi Green Closure

S-a-t-u-r-d-a-y Night! whatever.

Not an IP case, just a dispute over royalties from Bay City Rollers.  Complaint makes for nostalgic reading.

Complaint Bay City Rollers

Yes, It Does Seem Like A Strange Decision

This DomainNameWire article points out two oddities about this UDRP regarding the name THEMOVIEINSIDER.COM.  The first is that complainant alleges common law rights in the mark THEMOVIEINSIDER.COM dating a month prior to its registering the domain name THEMOVIEINSIDER.COM.  Possible, but probably a typo.  The second is that the name in question is alleged to be inactive (for purposes of whether there is a bona fide use of the name), and actively hosting a page o’ links, for purposes of bad faith.  This may be a distinction without a difference for the purposes of ‘good faith offering’, but imho, an inactive domain name doesn’t resolve and a domain name that merely displays click-through ads is an active domain name that merely displays click-through ads.  Probably an imprecise use of terms, rather than an error.

The NAF has come in for some criticism in the past for alleged ‘cut and paste’ tactics.  This sort of thing doesn’t help its image.

DMCA Agent As Protection From Copyright Trolls

Wired:  “The $105 Fix That Could Protect You From Copyright-Troll Lawsuits”

Call it ingenious, call it evil or call it a little of both: Copyright troll Righthaven is exploiting a loophole in intellectual property law, suing websites that might have avoided any trace of civil liability had they spent a mere $105.

That’s the fee for a blog or other website to register a DMCA takedown agent with the U.S. Copyright Office, an obscure bureaucratic prerequisite to enjoying a legal “safe harbor” from copyright lawsuits over third-party posts, such as reader comments.

Hells Angels v Alexander McQueen, Saks, Zappos

Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, owner of various federal registrations for HELLS ANGELS and design mark depicting a skull with wings, sues the Alexander McQueen fashion house, Saks and Zappos for selling jewelry, apparel and accessories that infringe and dilute the Hells Angels’ marks.

Complaint Hells Angels

What Was The Nature of Nestle’s Copyright Claim?

According to this report:

In a bold online video, the environmental group Greenpeace cleverly links candy-giant Nestle to oil palm-related deforestation and the deaths of orangutans. Clearly angered over the video, Nestle struck back by having it banned from YouTube and replaced with this statement: “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Société des Produits Nestlé S.A.”

So, does anyone what was the nature of Nestle’s copyright claim?

Have a break? from Greenpeace UK on Vimeo.

ROTHSCHILD v ROTHSCHILD CLUB

Various entities in ROTHSCHILD financial group sues ROTHSCHILD CLUB.

Complaint Rothschild

Famous Horse v 5th Avenue: False “Satisfied Customer” Claims

Plaintiff is a retailer. Defendant attempts to sell it counterfeit product, which plaintiff refuses. Defendant says to third-party retailers: “Plaintiff is a satisfied customer.” Plaintiff brings 32 and 43(a) causes. District court dismisses at 12(b)(6) level, indicating that the unauthorized use of plaintiff’s mark doesn’t lead to confusion as to source of products. Second Circuit reverses, noting that the false advertising prong is much broader, applying to any false statement containing an unauthorized use of a mark, which statement may harm plaintiff (and notes that it has recognized ‘satisfied customer’ cases as recently as 2003. Important discussion of the scope of false advertising and of standing.

Decision Famous Horse v 5th

When BEATS BY DR DRE Are 66% Off

My son asked me for BEATS BY DR DRE headphones, retail $300, so I pretended not to hear him and left the room.  I tried that the next couple of times he asked me.  Eventually I had to do one of my ‘when I was your age speeches’ which makes him drowsy enough for me to escape.  Yesterday he texted me that he found a website selling them for 66% off.  DHGate.com, indicating that it is a wholesaler, offered three of the headphones for $100 each, plus free shipping (from China).  Three of his friends had gotten together and purchased them (and the attendant status that goes with them).   I checked out the website and saw that they were offering ear-bud versions for as little as 10% of retail.   I called Monster (manufacturer of BEATS) and asked them to confirm whether DH Gate was an authorized re-seller. No, they are on the ‘blacklist.’  And then I had a ‘when things are too good to be true’ talk with my son.

NY Times v Kachingle

Kachingle says that it has pioneered a new approach that will save traditional journalism thorugh ‘micropayment monetization’ of content such as blogs. A Kachingle customer’s account is billed some small amount when they read content on a site that partners with Kachingle.  Kachingle approached the NY Times, which declined to participate. Nevertheless, Kachingle maintained various Times blogs in an index and directed readers to those blogs – however it was able to insert its own ads on the Times page (see para. 22 of the complaint).  The Times is suing on asserted trademark causes – no copyright causes.

Complaint Ny Times v Kachingle