Denise Howell, who has bambinos on the brain, has BAMBIs there as well, wondering aloud the state of the BAMBI mark.

With regard to the AIRSTREAM BAMBI (pictured above), Airstream’s owner has a registration for BAMBI.  It also claims rights in the shape of the AIRSTREAM ‘silver bullet’.  A client of mine once depicted a model leaning against an Airstream Trailer in a fashion lay-out and got a demand letter.  So we got a chuckle out of that.

With regard to HUNTING FOR BAMBI, in which men allegedly paid to hunt naked women with paintball guns, I am relieved it turned out to be a hoax.

As for Disney’s Bambi, I note that this website streams in its entirety BAMBI MEETS GODZILLA.

Another Bambi: Bambi Bembenek, of ‘Run, Bambi, Run’ fame, whose life was depicted in a made-for-tv movie starring Tatum O’Neil.

China Blawg on a negotiated settlement between PLANET HOLLYWOOD and STAR HOLLYWOOD for restaurnats in China.

Among the things trademark owners worry about is that their unused marks will become vlunerable to non-sue cancellation in certain jurisdictions.  The article passes along the tip that in China, mere newspaper advertising, even without the ability on the part of the advertiser to actually sell something, satisfies use requirements, and therefore will serve to defeat cancellation on non-use grounds.

The NY Times (free subscription required) has an article on targeted advertising where Google or Overture serve ads that are triggered by the content of a website. For example:

. . . on Weather.com’s golf forecast page for Norfolk, Va., Google’s service — which it calls AdSense — can deliver ads for marketers who had bid to have their ads appear above Google search results whenever users type “Norfolk Virginia golf courses” or some similar phrase”

However:

The online edition of The New York Post, which is owned by the News Corporation, ran an article last month about a murder in which the victim’s body parts were packed in a suitcase, and Google served up an ad for a luggage dealer.

Idle thought: will knowledge of most-searched for terms influence the editorial content of websites?  The media understands that it has to be provide interesting content in order to attract circulation in order to attrack advertisers.  But does knowing in advance what keywords advertisers target change the equation slightly?  Will a website consult the Lycos Top 50, and then go out of its way to mention Kobe Bryant, Dragonball Z and Clay Aiken (or some other valuable keyword) in each article? 

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has released its first decision evaluating dilution as grounds for an opposition since the Supreme Court issued Mosely, holding that a plaintiff alleging dilution under FTDA must establish that defendant’s activities caused actual dilution.  Here, the Board held that just as it is prepared to evaluate likelihood of confusion with regard to ITU applications for marks that have not yet been used, the Board is prepared to evaluate the likelihood of dilution for such applications.

Here, the Board found that the Nasdaq Stock Market’s NASDAQ mark was famous, and was likely to be diluted by applicant’s NASDAQ mark for sporting goods and clothes.  Applicant alleged that it had chosen NASDAQ as an acronym for Nouvi Articuli Sportivi di Alta Qualita, or New High Quality of Sporting Goods.  It did not explain how it arrived at its second choice, NAFTA.

Nasdaq Stock Market v. Antartica, Opp. 91121204 (TTAB June 30, 2003).

Thanks to John Welch for the pointer.

Via Portland Business Journal, an article reporitng that Nautilus, makers of the BOWFLEX exercise system, has successfully enjoined use of the CROSSBOW exercies system, which apparently has been re-named the CROSS BAR system.

Previous UDRP involving BOWFLEX here.

Information on Charles Atlas, the world’s most perfectly developed man, here.

 

I can’t tell exactly what is going on from this AutoWeek story but the Caliph of Configuration Marks, Glenn Mitchell did some digging.  Someone named Brock is attempting to import the coupe pictured on top.  Race car legend Carroll Shelby attempted to stop the importation at customs on the basis of a registration for the trade dress of his coupe.  The drawing from his application is above left, a photo of a Shelby coupe is above right.  Shelby was unable to stop the importation at Customs because his registration had been inadvertently issued, and was rescinded (and, it seems, the application is now being opposed).  Shelby can however proceed in civil court and allege trade dress infringement under Section 43(a).  A Google search of ‘Shelby Coupe’ suggests a plausible shot at establishing secondary meaning in the shape.  An earlier AutoWeek article quoted Brock as saying that his car was ‘indistinguishable’ from Shelby’s design.

So we have a practice pointer: Never say that your trade dress is indistinguishable from that of a famous senior user.

Die-cast models of Shelby coupes here.

Super expert Glenn Mitchell’s book on trade dress here.

UPDATE:  A loyal reader writes while on vacation (!!) to alert us to this District of Massachusetts decision from August 2002 denying a summary judgment by Shelby against SuperPerformance Complete Replicas, an issue being whether Shelby’s design of the Cobra had secondary meaning.