Detroit Free Press article regarding Nissan, source of the INFINITI Q45, suing Audi over its use of Q5 and Q7. The artcile quotes me about the ‘family of marks’ argument, where if a trademark owner can show that a common prefix or suffix in a series of marks has source-indicating power, than it could prevent
Great Deals On Sewage Courtesy of Google and EBay
“Automated Ads Serve Up Nonsense” from today’s Wall Street Journal. If you type SEWAGE into Google, an EBay keyword ad will offer you ‘great deals on sewage.” That power-seller of sewage pumps is going to get a lot of click-throughs today so he’ll probably remove the ad before you read this. I’m not quite sure this proves much
The Early Bird Deadline For INTA San Diego Is This Friday
The early bird deadline for registering for the INTA Annual Meeting is this Friday.
So what should we do this year? In Atlanta a bunch of us went to Fat Matt’s for blues and ribs. If you’re familiar with the seamy underbelly of San Diego, please send details.
Hellhound Copyright Lawyer On My Trail
The March 22, 2005 Wall Street Journal (sub only) reports on the disputatious proceedings involving the Estate of Robert Johnson, famed bluesman, concerning, among others, his illegitimate son, his half-sisters and the blues historian who obtained assignment of the rights to the only known photographs of Mr. Johnson, then purportedly reneged on his agreement to share the
If They Can Sell U.S. Basmati, Why Can’t They Sell U.S. Tequila?
In response to the TEMEQUILA post below, someone wrote “If they can sell U.S. grown BASMATI rice, why can’t they sell U.S. grown TEQUILA?” Well, first I’ll say that the ability to refer to rice grown in the U.S. as BASMATI is likely not a done deal but in any event, the situations are not analogous. BASMATI
Wall Street Journal on Publishers’ Attitudes on Aggregators
Free WSJ article comparing different publishers’ views on third-party distributors such as Google News and Topix (an aggregator that was jsut sold to a group of newspaper publishers including Gannett, Knight-Ridder and the Tribune Company).
TEQUILA v. TEMEQUILA (Appellations of Origin)
Blue Agave is a spiky plant found in semi-arid places in the U.S. southwest and Mexico. Liquor consisting of spirits of which at least 51% are derived from Blue Agave found in the Jalisco state and several neighboring states in Mexico, may bear the TEQUILA appellation of origin. PRotection of the TEQUILA appellation is included
How To Identify Fraudulent E-Mail and Phishing Schemes
Microsoft on How To Identify Fradulent E-Mail and Phishing Schemes.
The Trademark Application for PODCAST: Revenge of the Pod People
The fact that someone filed a trademark application for the term PODCAST covering something that sounds like podcasting services made its way through the blogosphere this past week. Not content to not worry, John Welch at TTABlog has put together a how-to write a Letter of Protest to the Trademark Office, which is appropriate
Text of Complaint in AFP v. Google
The complaint in AFP v. Google is posted here. Thank you Marquette. Initial observations – there are 3 copyright claims, one for the headlines, one for the photos and one for the story leads. There is also an allegation that Google removed ‘copyright management information’ (see para 73). There is no ‘hot news misappropriation’ claim.