The TTAB (in a citable decision) holds that a Canadian entity did not use its mark in foreign commerce with the U.S. despite spillover advertising into the U.S. and some sales to U.S. customers. In so doing, the TTAB declined to apply the wide definition of ‘foreign trade’ in the Monte Carlo case.
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Yes, I’m Migrating The Site
So far, so good. If you’re reading this message then your browser is correctly re-directing to the new hosting service. Also I’ll be using Movable Type as the blogging software, which will allow, among other things, the use of categories.
The RSS should be working (I’m available on Bloglines again, shhh, don’t tell.)
I Had Two Ponies Drown Under Me
Jordache and the United States Polo Association prevailed with regard to three of four polo pony logos (not shown), in a in the Southern District of New York with Ralph Lauren Polo. Coverage here. If you have URLs for the disputed logos, please advise.
Complaint in 2d Google Print Case
Following a suit by the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers has now sued Google over its Google Print program.
Coverage by Slashdot,
Via Publishers.org, here is the complaint, draft by Debevoise.
Counterfeits in Vietnam
Counterfeit ZIPPO lighters seized in Vietnam. Via VietNam News
2d Circuit Case On Side-by-Side vs. Serial Viewing
Louis Vuitton brought a trademark, trade dress and related torts action against Burlington Coat Factory, for selling a handbag that, Burlington conceded, ‘brought to mind’ LV’s Murakami Multicolore handbag. The District Court judge denied LV’s motion for preliminary relief, relying in part on the observation that consumers would not be confused in side-by-side comparisons of
Scientology v. Scientomogy
The Church of Scientology has protested the use of SCIENTOMOGY.INFO by a website parodying Scientology and famous Scientologist, Tom Cruise.
See Lamparello v. Falwell (re use of FALLWELL.COM to comment on Rev. Falwell).
Is Paid Word-Of-Mouth Advertising Deceptive?
This letter from Commercial Alert, an advocacy organization, to the FTC, argues that ‘buzz marketing’ (using paid lay people to spread word-of-mouth) can be deceptive. Tidbit: Procter & Gamble reportedly has 250,000 teenagers on its WOM payroll.
Is Black Hat SEO False Advertising or Unfair Competition?
Mark Cuban (Dallas Maverick owner and founder of blog search engine Ice Rocket) posted “Get Your Blogspot Shit Together Google” yesterday, and the Wall Street Journal ran “‘Splogs’ Roil the Interent, and Some Blame Google,’ today, regarding spam blogs or splogs, created to improve search engine rankings.
Might ‘black hat’ search engine optimization techniques
Google Changes GMAIL to GOOGLEMAIL in the UK Due to Trademark Protest
Reuters reports that Google will stop using GMAIL and will instead use GOOGLEMAIL in the UK, as a result of a trademark protest from an owner of prior rights in the term.
I will subtly point out here that our firm performs trademark clearance searches and provides availability opinions for the U.S. and abroad, working with