Amusing thread on Slashdot re threats by a descendant of the mathematician who coined the term GOOGOL to go after GOOGLE.

Definition of Googolplex here.

Information on Googleplex here.

Bio of Russian novelist Gogol here.

Song about Barney Google here.

Eminem’s suit against MTV and Apple re unauthorized use of his song “Lose Yourself” to proceed.  Via FindLaw.

Gwenyth Paltrow names her baby “Apple.”  Via ITV.COM.

I began this blog May 17, 2002.  The most used search term to get here is ‘trademark.’  The second most used term is ‘jelly.’  The three most requested articles of all time involve the Miss Piggy Parody, Mecca Cola and the Jelly Kelly.  The most requested jpg files are of Miss Piggy, the fake Puma ad and the unusual G logo.  I think that about 1700 people visit the site each day, up from three the first day (me, Ernie the Attorney and Denise).  A really large theater or concert hall might sit 1700.

I was thinking while at INTA that it would be nice if other people (especially non-U.S. people) would begin blogs about trademarks so that there would multiple points of view and we could have debates and I could link to them on really busy days like today.

NY Times article on upcoming animated film that will feature 80 name-brand products including Charlie the Tuna and the Brawny Paper Towel man.  The movie, ‘Foodfight,’ takes place in a supermarket after hours.  The filmmakers report that the product-based characters do not overtly promote the products they represent.

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 recently on behalf of movie actor Schwarzenegger, threatening defendant with substantial puntive damages.

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 of displacing competitors and critics.  Furthermore, WhenU is allegedly cloaking – sending altered content to Google to index, but sending different content on those pages to users (also a method to distort search engine results). 

Ben reports that Google has taken immediate action – as of this writing WhenU.com has been removed from Google.