Washington Post article reporting the victory of the National Association of Realtors in which the TTAB ruled that the terms REALTOR and REALTORS, using REALTOR as a noun (better: REALTOR brand real estate agent).
Decision courtesy John W. here.
Tiger Hawk Logo Infringed
University of Iowa victimized by manufacturer of recreation room equipment, via The Daily Iowan.
Return of the Jelly Kelly
Page B1 of today’s Wall Street Journal: long article on Hermes and its fight against the Jelly Kelly (background here). Good photographs illustrating side-by-side comparison of Hermes Birkin bag and features in rubber ‘knock-offs,’ such as belt clasps and grommets.
Interesting point: Hermes sells its Birkin bag only to those on a waiting list
ICANN Moves to Dismiss Verisign Lawsuit
ICANN’s has moved to dismiss Verisign’s antitrust lawsuit. Copy of ICANN’s notice and memo here.
ICANN Seeks Comments on new TLDs
ICANN is now seeking public comments on applications for new Sponsored Top Level Domains. Applied-for TLDs include:
.asia .cat .jobs .mail .mobi .post .tel (2 different applicants) .travel .xxx
MARCH MADNESS in April
In honor of tonight’s game, I point to my prior post on the MARCH MADNESS trademark.
Trademarks As Economic Indicators
The NY Times (subscription required) reports on Dechert’s annual survey of U.S. trademark filings. Highlights: Filings for high-tech stuff down, filings with the term CARB up.
p.s. The article has the headline “Patents As Economic Indicators.” Oh well.
Neither Side Should Include Me In Their Survey
When I read about the trademark dispute between Donald Trump and the person who fires pots, I think how I associate the phrase “You’re Fired!” with Tuck and Roll, the pill bugs in Pixar’s Bug’s Life.
Seventh Circuit Case on Reverse Confusion: 2 Camels Named Niles
Another Judge Posner decision involving Ty, Inc., source of Beanie Babies. Plaintiff sold a few thousand plush camels under the name NILES. Defendant Ty then came out the next year with its plush camel named NILES and sold 2 million. There is a very long discussion as to why NILES is not a descriptive term
Google GMail to sell Email Adwords?
This from the Drudge Report suggests that Google’s proposed Gmail email service will use software to scan contents of email messages so as to insert ads keyed to words contained in the email (more coverage here). The example given by Drudge is that if the email indicates that the author writes that he/she has