IPKat: “Gola Kicks Globe Into Touch“:
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acobson acquired the GOLA footwear brand and its associated intellectual property rights way back in 1996. Globe sold and imported footwear into the United Kingdom, including shoes known as ‘Globe Finale’, ‘Globe Wedge’ and ‘Globe Motto’. Globe’s shoes featured a stripe design on the sides known as the ‘Globe side design’ and the word ‘globe’. Jacobson sued for infringement of its UK and Community registered trade marks (above, left and right) for its ‘Wing Flash’ logo in respect of Globe’s markings on its trainers (illustrated below, right). Jacobson also alleged that Globe was passing its footwear off as its own, seeking an injunction and the destruction of the offending products. Globe counterclaimed for a declaration that Jacobson registered trade marks were invalid.

Information Week: Google Takes Aim At Domain Tasting Profiteers:

Google is planning to introduce a system to detect a form of domain registration abuse known as domain kiting. In so doing, the company stands to lose millions in advertising revenue, though it may gain far more in user trust and goodwill.
Registrants of Internet domains generally have a five-day grace period between the time a domain is registered and the time payment for the domain is due. This five-day period is used by domain profiteers for domain tasting — testing the ad revenue generated at a given domain and then returning unprofitable domains — and for domain kiting — deleting newly registered domains within the grace period then immediately re-registering them to reset the grace period and postpone payment.

Rumor of Google’s move published on Thursday.

LocaTechWire.com: LuLu Settles Lawsuit Against Hollywod’s Hulu:

Bob Young, founder and chief executive officer of Lulu, has dropped his trademark infringement lawsuit against Hulu, the Fox- and NBC-backed online video Web site.
. . .
Lulu filed suit against Hulu last fall after the Hollywood venture disclosed its name. Young felt that Hulu would create confusion in the marketplace since it is so similar to Hulu. The case immediately ran into a setback when a judge threw out the suit, saying no damage had yet occurred.

A friend of mine uses LuLu’s self-publishing service. I personally used the beta version of Hulu to catch up on some old episodes of Heroes.

Washington Times: Inside Politics:

Two organizations with slightly different names are united in their opposition to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign. And now they may be united in a trademark dispute.
Citizens United, the conservative group headed by David Bossie that just released its sixth documentary, “Hillary: The Movie,” has sent a cease-and-desist letter to a so-called “527” political group organized by legendary Republican prankster Roger Stone.

Apple threatens an opposition against Plaintiff’s application for AIRPOD for air purifiers. Plaintiff brings declaratory judgment action against Apple arguing that AIRPOD for its products is not confusingly similar to Apple’s IPOD products. The complaint does not allege that Apple threatened a civil proceeding.
BlueAir v. Apple, Inc., 08 C 427 (ND Illinois Jan 18 2008).
It is not clear whether the filing of a trademark opposition without more gives rise to a declaratory judgment action. See D. Peter Harvey and Seth I Appel, “The Declaratory Judgment Response to a Cease and Desist Letter: ‘First-to-File’ or ‘Procedural Fencing’?,” 96 TMR 639 (May-June 2006).

Sports-law Blog: ESPN Relies (in part) on CDM Fantasy League Case To Renegotiate Licensing Fees:

In today’s edition of Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal (subscription required), John Ourand and Eric Fisher report that ESPN is renegotiating its digital rights deal with MLB Advanced Media, looking to pay a significantly lower fee after finding several pieces of the original agreement it signed in 2005 no longer cost effective (“ESPN Seeks Better MLBAM Terms”).