And while we’re talking about official sponsorships (see below), I am reminded of a lawsuit brought by MasterCard against Sprint during the 1994 World Cup. MasterCard was the official card-based payment sponsor while Sprint was the official long distance partner (and it cost more to be a sponsor than a partner). Sprint distributed calling cards with
NY Times article (reg. req.) on NYC preparation for the 2012 Olympics, including creation of a special Brand Protection Board who would oversee ‘brand enforcement agents.’ The article notes that:
. . . the mayor has authorized an Enforcement Board on Olympic Brand Protection to “recruit and train auxiliary Olympic brand enforcement agents,” run a
The compelled commercial speech issue again reaches the Supreme Court. Beef producers are forced to pay for trade association advertising that encourages the public to view beef as a generic category, which goes against their attempts to brand beef. Audio discussion of case here, via SCOTUS Blog. Previous Supreme Court case involving fruit
TTABlog on recent Board decision regarding marks consisting of generic terms, in this case THE BEEF JERKY OUTLET.
Can an ad for a fake product, intended to promote a real service, function as a trademark for the real service? TTABlog comments on the rejection of a trademark application intended as a joke, plus as an added bonus, provides a photo of the author of the TTABlog.
Law.com article on trademark suits against ‘gripe sites.’
An NPR story on NOVY OCHEVIDETS, or NEW EYEWITNESS, a new Russian magazine referred to as a dead-ringer for THE NEW YORKER.
Assuming Conde Naste (publisher of The New Yorker) were to protest, this case would be one for the books. The article states that there is no foreign language edition of The New
A trademark tale for the holidays: After a protest from the Rudolph Company, the brewery behind RUDOLPH’S RESERVE Beer has re-named its product as RUDE ELF BEER. Thanks to Jay from Igor.
Hooters has sued WingHouse, for infringing the trade dress of its ‘breastaurant” (not my term). Thanks to Bradford for the tip. For more on trade dress protection of restaurants, see Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc., 505 US 763 (1992).
Chilling Effects identifies two previous DMCA notice letters sent by Perfect 10 to Google. Wendy Seltzer comments on this and other issues in the case.