Here’s an article reporting that Governor Schwarzenegger wants 75% of punitive damages awarded in California to go to the state on the (quite plausible) theory that punitive damages are intended to punish the defendant, not reward the plaintiff, and should therefore go to the state where it can benefit society.
Here’s a demand letter sent
Via the NY Times, a report of a very expensive infringement case involving very expensive furntiure (the chair on the bottom was found to infringe the chair on the top).
Eminem, whose song “Lose Yourself” I have listened to about 4 times today, prevailed in a UDRP regarding the domain name EMINEMMOBILE.COM. The name was used for a site distributing unauthorized ring tones incorporating Eminem’s songs.
Ben Edelman, the investigative journalist of the Internet, has produced another report: “WhenU Spams Google, Breaks Google’s No Cloaking Rules.” The report alleges that pop-up advertiser WhenU has been ‘search engine spamming,’ the practice of creating multiple web sites so as to occupy multiple positions for a search for ‘WhenU,’ with the result
The Trademark Blog has been selected “Link of the Week” by the Social Law Library, a Massachusetts-based legal research institution.
Via the Daily News of Sri Lanka: Coca Cola has successfully enjoined the makers of MY COLA from using similar labels and similarly shaped bottles and from placing its stickers saying MY COLA on Coca Cola’s display racks.
Via IPKAT, Chanel, owner of the mark COCO, successfully opposes application for COCO DE MER in the Chancery Division of the English High Court.
Wall Street Journal, page B1 today (paid sub req.) “Lawsuit Over Counterfeit Jewlery Shakes Big Discounter,” reports on lawsuit filed by Liz Clairborne against Tuesday Morning, a close-out retailer, alleging that a distributor, Consumer Product Recovery, placed the MONET brand on two million pieces of counterfeit jewelry. More coverage via Google News here.
International
NY Times article reporting little backlash against U.S. brands as a result of Iraq.
OK, it seems that there are rival copyright royalty collectives in Nigeria (as there are here) and that one them, headed by Charly Boy, hired 100 individuals to ‘invade’ the national copyright office. The dispute resolves around the fact that Mr. Boy’s collective is not licensed to collect royalties.