Internetcase.com: “Former band members’ use of service mark is not so Chic:”
Rogers v. Wright, No. 04-1149, 2008 WL 857761 (S.D.N.Y. March 31, 2008)
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has issued a permanent injunction restricting the use of the service mark CHIC in connection with musical performances by two former members of the musical group of the same name.
Godzilla sues Subway for use of Godzilla in ad. Complaint here. Clearly defendants did not take sage advice from Austin Powers.
Aaron Greenspan, a college classmate of Mark Zuckerberg, has filed a petition to cancel Facebook’s first registration for FACEBOOK, on three grounds: (1) prior rights; (2) genericness; and (3) fraud on the PTO.
InfoLaw discussion here.
National Geographic show tonight, Illicit:
The world is under threat from a new kind of international crime wave: illicit trade in everything from knock-off Prada bags to bogus medicines, from dangerous weapons to humans themselves. While smuggling is nothing new, globalization has made it larger and far more ominous. The global value of this “dark trade” is estimated to reach a phenomenal ten percent of the world’s trade. Since the 1990s it has been growing seven times faster than legal trade—and it’s having profound consequences for the world’s economy and for politics everywhere.
I’d invite you all over to watch but the wife is still angry about the way you behaved the last time.
This is a real correction from today’s WSJ:
Thirteen billion golf balls, lying end to end, could go around the earth 14 times. An article in the April 7 Golf report incorrectly said nine times.
NY Times: “Rings of Dissent“:
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, probably didn’t have this in mind when he came up with a logo of interlocking rings in 1913, a logo incorporated into the Olympic flag in 1920. The rings stand for the five continents (North and South America share a ring, and Antarctica lacks eligible bipeds). But how tempting those rings are when it comes to protest, particularly against China, host of the 2008 Games. Alterations of the rings have highlighted grievances as the Olympic torch has made its way from city to city in the last couple of weeks: Free Tibet; stop the genocide in Darfur; independence for the Uighurs in Western China.
Dear AOL:
I’m the member of the family that usually buy the tickets online using 777film.com. Today my wife attempted to. She typed in 777films.com by mistake, and assumed she was on your site. Apparently you don’t own 777films.com. She was actually confused. And a little annoyed at you.
Sincerely,
A Customer
NY Times: “China Tries to Solve Its Brand X Blues“:
Mr. Guo and the other Li-Ning executives have big plans for Li-Ning sneakers. Although they are currently serving the domestic market almost exclusively, they want to begin exporting to Europe and the United States — and go toe to toe abroad with Nike and Adidas, as it is currently trying to do in China. Mr. Guo told me the company now generates only 1 percent of its $700 million in revenue abroad; by 2013 — when it hopes to be generating over $2 billion in revenue — it expects 20 percent to come from exports.
But to get there, Li-Ning will have to become a brand like Nike and Adidas. As Chiang Jeongwen, a Chinese marketing professor at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, said, “When you get right down to it, Nike is a branding company”; to compete, Li-Ning would have to become one as well.
. . . and there is something in particular that you would like to see discussed, please email me at marty at symbol schwimmerlegal dot com.
WSJ: “The Turf War Over a Dance Craze“:
Alexandre Barouzdin, a 31-year-old party promoter who used to work in the finance industry, says he has spent about $47,000 to trademark the Tecktonik brand. He says he recently quit his job as an assistant trader at Merrill Lynch & Co. so he could promote it around the world.
But see a US trademark search for TECKTONIK.