Unpublished Fourth Circuit decision. Plaintiff registered AUDITRON in stylized form thirty years ago. Record indicated that he hadn’t used that stylized form for 15 years. Defendant registered AUDITRON for hi-fi speakers, and then moved into health practice management software. Defendant registered auditron.com. Plaintiff brings infringement (section 32 but not 43(a) (infringement of an unregistered mark))
Fat Finger Dialing, the Phone System's Equivalent of Typo-squatting.
Via ICBTollFree: AT&T is suing Sprint, One Call and ASC for what it calls a ‘fat-finger dialing scheme’ whereby they obtained close versions of the toll free number 1 800 CALL ATT.
MCI reportedly owns 1 800 OPERATER (as opposed to ATT’s 1-800-OPERATOR).
ATT reportedly owns 1 800 CALL MCI.
The FCC on fat-finger dialing here.
Not That I Agree With EveryThing They Say
The terms and conditions for this website are pretty funny.
This Blog Depicts No Violence, Sex or Drug Abuse, But Some Aberrational Behavior
Via Politech and info-commons.org, a demand letter from the MPAA to the owner of a website named RATEDNC-17.COM, which appears to distribute ‘themes’ or ‘styles’ for Linux. The MPAA Rating System consists of certification marks. The criteria for MPAA’s NC-17 mark is:
. . . IN THE OPINION OF APPLICANT’S RATING OR APPEALS BOARDS,
Chinese Famous Mark Case
Fortune Magazine is suing a Chinese radio station over its use of the Fortune name, in China. This via the new China Blawg.
Request for Feedback on Registrar Compliance
Registrars of generic top level domains must be accredited by ICANN, and the registrar submits to an agreement imposing various obligations.
In May I wrote to ICANN requesting that it review whether a specific registrar was in compliance with its accreditation. I indicated that I had reason to believe that the registrar was systematically refusing to
TTAB Wrap-Up
John Welch of Foley Hoag has wrtten a comprehensive article entitled “The TTAB in 2002: Strong Marks, Weak Marks, Phantom Marks, and No Marks at All.” There is an extensive discussion of dilution cases including CURIOUS GEORGE vs. FURIOUS GEORGE. There is also an analysis of the ST. JOHN WORTS TORTILLA CHIP case.
Cybersquatting is Unfair Competition Down Under
Warwick Rothnie, who wears a horsehair wig because he’s an Australian barrister, reports what he describes as a “reasoned decision finding that cybersquatting breaches our laws on unfair competition but is probably not trademark infringement.”
Harshest comment made about the defendant: “[Defendant] clearly has no regard for the turth.”
Runner-up: “[Defendant] has a law
Fourth Circuit Reverses Barcelona.com Decision
The Fourth Circuit has reversed the lower court in the Barcelona.com case. The District Court had held that the owner of a Spanish national trademark registration could invoke the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. In contrast, the Fourth Circuit held today that “It requires little discussion that this use of Spanish law by the district court
Another Unanimous Supreme Court Trademark Decision
The Supreme Court held today, 8-0, that the Lanham Act, simply put, does not prevent the uncredited copying of a public domain work.
Dastar v. Twentieth Century Fox, no. 02-428 (June 2, 2003).