What do trademark lawyers charge? There isn’t a lot of hard data but I have anecdotal evidence as to what constitutes “market,” at least in my part of the world.  Therefore my jaw dropped when I took over two clients recently and saw their old bills.  One NYC trademark boutique (not on anybody’s short list) was charging $975 to file a trademark application (plus government fees).  The NYC office of a large white-shoe firm was charging $1000 (plus fees) to file a U.S. renewal affidavit.  I could double my rates, do the work myself without a paralegal, and still under-price those firms.  Some mega-firms are up front about their cost structure, telling clients that they build their IP departments for bet-the-company litigation, not trademark prosecution (we’re built for both).  I don’t know what the boutique was thinking.

Fashion fights SARS in Hong Kong, via Drudge Report (don’t know where Drudge got it). This article reports that (unauthorized) designer masks in HK is a booming business.

Habeas sells an anti-spam solution consisting of a copyrighted and trademarked Haiku.  The Haiku must be appended to an email in order to pass through a Habeas spam filter.  Thus mis-use of the Haiku, Habeas argues, is copyright and trademark infringement.  Habeas has now announced the first batch of copyright and trademark suits against spammers who allegedly mis-used the Haiku.

Strange article  via NameProtect regarding a German lawyer hassling Linus Torvalds, owner of the LINUX trademark, in Germany.  Misinformation, possible due to bad translation: while German trademark law does contain a 5 year user requirement, a German registration does not expire after 5 years as the article implies (German trademarks have 10 year terms, same as the U.S.).  If challenged in a cancellation proceeding, Torvald would have the opportunity to show that he uses or authorizes the use of the LINUX mark in Germany.  However, the article is a report of this original article in German (which I cannot speak) and maybe it gets it right.  There is apparently no reference to Tux the penguin in the article.  More on Tux here.

SPEJBL and HURVINEK are famous marionettes in Prague.  This article from  Prague Post Online reports that a dispute regarding the ownership of their names has now been resolved in favor of the creator’s estate.  More on SPEJBL here and here.  Puppetry links here.

A little bit of a puff piece via the Sydney Morning Herald but still a clever demonstration as to how color can designate origin and function as a trademark.  Eco-Bananas has been granted a trademark in Australia for its red tips made of wax placed on the end of its bananas.  The article indicates that there are 74 color trademark registrations in Australia, including one owned by Kraft for silver for cream cheese.

We previously reported that the NFL sued former Oakland Raider John Vella who had named his chain of sporting good stores RAIDERS LOCKER ROOM.  Yahoo now reports that the case has been settled and the stores will be re-named JOHN VELLA’S LOCKER ROOM.  Playboy v. Welles, the relevant caselaw on one’s ability to trade on one’s past, here.

The ICEE mark is owned by an entity itself owned by several of the ICEE product regional distributors, including plaintiff ICEE Distributors and defendant J&J Snack.  J&J began selling ICEE frozen tubes in Plaintiff’s territory.  Plaintiff received an injunction on both breach of contract and trademark dilution grounds.  The Fifth Circuit affirmed the injunction on the contract grounds, however it held that Plaintiff had no standing to bring the dilution claim, as it was an exclusive licensee and not the trademark owner.  For the decision, click here and use ICEE as a search term.