James Halpin, The Citizens' Voice; Kielbasa rivalry heats up with trademark infringement suit
"The owner of an award-winning Nanticoke kielbasa shop has filed a federal lawsuit alleging a competitor is illegally infringing on the business’s trademarked name.
John T. Vishnefski, owner of Tarnowski’s Kielbasa Inc. at 579 E. Main St., alleges in the complaint that Nanticoke resident Mark Tarnowski is violating his trademark by running an unaffiliated business called Tarnowski Bros. Kielbasa at 14 E. Union St."
Showing posts with label federal trademark law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label federal trademark law. Show all posts
Friday, April 24, 2020
Thursday, January 23, 2020
State Fair Corny Dog Icon Fletcher’s Wins Messy Family Trademark Battle; Eater Dallas, January 21, 2020
Eater Dallas; State Fair Corny Dog Icon Fletcher’s Wins Messy Family Trademark Battle
"Perhaps most damningly, the judge ruled that Fletcher’s Original State Fair Corny Dogs was able to produce evidence that it was actually losing business because of the confusion caused over Fletch’s name. “Fletcher’s submitted evidence showing that it has lost potential business at several venues because Fletch was selected when the venue thought it had hired Fletcher’s,” the order reads. “Based on all of this evidence, Fletcher’s has met its burden of demonstrating irreparable harm.""
"Perhaps most damningly, the judge ruled that Fletcher’s Original State Fair Corny Dogs was able to produce evidence that it was actually losing business because of the confusion caused over Fletch’s name. “Fletcher’s submitted evidence showing that it has lost potential business at several venues because Fletch was selected when the venue thought it had hired Fletcher’s,” the order reads. “Based on all of this evidence, Fletcher’s has met its burden of demonstrating irreparable harm.""
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
FAU sues grad for using an owl logo in tutoring business; The Palm Beach Post, Decemeber 10, 2019
FAU sues grad for using an owl logo in tutoring business
"In the lawsuit filed this week in U.S. District Court, FAU officials claim Neil Parsont intentionally named his business Owl Tutoring and is using an owl logo to confuse students into thinking his private lessons are affiliated with free Owl-to-Owl Tutoring offered at the school."
"In the lawsuit filed this week in U.S. District Court, FAU officials claim Neil Parsont intentionally named his business Owl Tutoring and is using an owl logo to confuse students into thinking his private lessons are affiliated with free Owl-to-Owl Tutoring offered at the school."
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Trying to Trademark a Meme? OK Boomer; The New York Times, November 19, 2019
, The New York Times; Trying to Trademark a Meme? OK Boomer
"In light of the phrase’s popularity, it’s
not likely that any of the applications will be approved, said Josh
Gerben, a trademark lawyer and founder of Gerben Law Firm, who noticed the filing by Fox Media on Monday.
“I
think they are all very likely to meet the same fate, which is the
U.S.P.T.O. will issue what is called a widely used message refusal,” Mr.
Gerben said in an interview on Tuesday, adding that the definition of a
trademark “has to identify a single company or individual as a source
of a product or service.”
Once something like a meme goes viral and is widely used by people, it cannot legally function as a trademark, he said."
Friday, November 22, 2019
Lawsuit: Target's Good & Gather line infringes trademark of Georgia woman's business; USA Today, November 22, 2019
Nicquel Terry Ellis, USA Today; Lawsuit: Target's Good & Gather line infringes trademark of Georgia woman's business
"A Georgia woman has filed a federal lawsuit against Target claiming the retail giant stole her trademark when it launched its Good & Gather flagship food brand in September.
Emily Golub, founder of the Atlanta-based Garnish & Gather, said the name, logo and products sold in Target's Good & Gather line are too similar to the business name she trademarked in 2014 and could create confusion in the market."
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Backcountry.com breaks its silence amid trademark lawsuit controversy to apologize and say “we made a mistake”; The Colorado Sun, November 6, 2019
Jason Blevins, The Colorado Sun; Backcountry.com breaks its silence amid trademark lawsuit controversy to apologize and say “we made a mistake”
"“To be fair, this is not about Marquette Backcountry Skis. It’s about the small nonprofits, it’s about the guides and the small businesses they targeted. This has all been about the lawsuits filed against the people in front of me and the ones coming for the people behind me,” [David] Ollila said. “What we’ve witnessed here is that it takes 25 years to build a business and a reputation and it can be lost very quickly with these poor decisions. I wonder how the market will react to this. I wonder if they can be forgiven.”...
“This boycott isn’t about a word,” [Jon Miller] said. “What is happening is that a corporation has a stranglehold over our culture in a battle over a word they literally don’t even own.”"
"“To be fair, this is not about Marquette Backcountry Skis. It’s about the small nonprofits, it’s about the guides and the small businesses they targeted. This has all been about the lawsuits filed against the people in front of me and the ones coming for the people behind me,” [David] Ollila said. “What we’ve witnessed here is that it takes 25 years to build a business and a reputation and it can be lost very quickly with these poor decisions. I wonder how the market will react to this. I wonder if they can be forgiven.”...
“This boycott isn’t about a word,” [Jon Miller] said. “What is happening is that a corporation has a stranglehold over our culture in a battle over a word they literally don’t even own.”"
Sunday, January 6, 2019
Supreme Court to decide if trademark protection can be denied to ‘scandalous’ brands; The Washington Post, January 4, 2019
Robert Barnes, The Washington Post; Supreme Court to decide if trademark protection can be denied to ‘scandalous’ brands
"The Supreme Court agreed Friday to review a new
front in the battle over free speech and will decide whether trademark
protection can be refused to brands the federal government finds vulgar
or lewd.
The case involves a decision of the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to deny trademark registration to a
clothing line called FUCT.
The U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit struck down the century-old ban on
protecting “scandalous” and “immoral” trademarks as a First Amendment
violation, and the Department of Justice wants the Supreme Court to
reverse the decision...
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Lawyers for Velcro use music video to offer thanks for angry feedback on trademark plea; ABA Journal, June 12, 2018
Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal;
[Kip Currier: Interesting to see this "music video about a trademark plea" by VELCRO Brand Fasteners. During a guest lecture on Trademarks and Patents for undergraduate students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information earlier this week, I mentioned VELCRO as an example of a company trying to avoid the fate of becoming a "generic mark" through "genericide".
As Tom Kulik writes in a 7/2/18 article, "Losing Your Brand Identity: How To Commit Trademark Genericide Without Really Trying", for Above The Law, "acceptance that rises to the level of identification with the specific good or service (as opposed to the source of such goods or services) is the death knell for trademarks."
Examples of generic marks include Aspirin, cellophane, escalator, trampoline, and zipper.
I first became aware of VELCRO's genericide-avoidance efforts when I spoke with a VELCRO Representative working at the company's booth for the 2016 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's National Trademark Expo in Washington, D.C. I was able to find in my 2016 National Trademark Expo Swag Bag the informational pamphlet VELCRO passed out at the Expo:
I was invited by the VELCRO Rep to take the VELCRO Hook and Loop Challenge...
Using 3 different types of VELCRO of varying strength...
The back of the pamphlet and the VELCRO Rep explained the varied uses for which the different types of VELCRO are
deployed...
I mentioned that I teach IP Law at Pitt and the VELCRO Rep nicely gave me 3 samples to take back to show.
The white-and-green-striped VELCRO rolls (in the upper right section of the above photo of the 3 samples) are freebie samples that the VELCRO booth persons were also passing out to National Trademark Expo attendees.]
"Those aren’t lawyers on Velcro Companies’ new music video thanking the public for its angry feedback. They are actors playing lawyers.
But in-house lawyers were involved in the making of the video, Corporate Counsel reports. And they believe the company’s “Don’t Say Velcro” campaign has been successful, even if some people did have a negative, F-bomb-loaded reaction to its plea to save its trademark.
Velcro wants people to use VELCRO® Brand (as an adjective, as in “VELCRO® Brand fasteners) when referring to its product, and to use “hook and loop” when referring to scratchy, hairy fasteners made by other companies.
Velcro released an initial video last September in which actors playing lawyers explain in song that the Velcro patent has lapsed and the company will lose its trademark if the word is used to refer to all hook-and-loop fasteners. Some actual in-house lawyers also made appearances in the original video."
“We’re asking you not to say a name it took 50 plus years to build,” one character sings. “But if you keep calling these Velcro shoes, our trademark will get killed.”"
Lawyers for Velcro use music video to offer thanks for angry feedback on trademark plea
[Kip Currier: Interesting to see this "music video about a trademark plea" by VELCRO Brand Fasteners. During a guest lecture on Trademarks and Patents for undergraduate students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information earlier this week, I mentioned VELCRO as an example of a company trying to avoid the fate of becoming a "generic mark" through "genericide".
As Tom Kulik writes in a 7/2/18 article, "Losing Your Brand Identity: How To Commit Trademark Genericide Without Really Trying", for Above The Law, "acceptance that rises to the level of identification with the specific good or service (as opposed to the source of such goods or services) is the death knell for trademarks."
Examples of generic marks include Aspirin, cellophane, escalator, trampoline, and zipper.
I first became aware of VELCRO's genericide-avoidance efforts when I spoke with a VELCRO Representative working at the company's booth for the 2016 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's National Trademark Expo in Washington, D.C. I was able to find in my 2016 National Trademark Expo Swag Bag the informational pamphlet VELCRO passed out at the Expo:
I was invited by the VELCRO Rep to take the VELCRO Hook and Loop Challenge...
Using 3 different types of VELCRO of varying strength...
 | ||||
| VELCRO Samples, 2016 USPTO National Trademark Expo, (c) James "Kip" Currier |
I mentioned that I teach IP Law at Pitt and the VELCRO Rep nicely gave me 3 samples to take back to show.
The white-and-green-striped VELCRO rolls (in the upper right section of the above photo of the 3 samples) are freebie samples that the VELCRO booth persons were also passing out to National Trademark Expo attendees.]
"Those aren’t lawyers on Velcro Companies’ new music video thanking the public for its angry feedback. They are actors playing lawyers.
But in-house lawyers were involved in the making of the video, Corporate Counsel reports. And they believe the company’s “Don’t Say Velcro” campaign has been successful, even if some people did have a negative, F-bomb-loaded reaction to its plea to save its trademark.
Velcro wants people to use VELCRO® Brand (as an adjective, as in “VELCRO® Brand fasteners) when referring to its product, and to use “hook and loop” when referring to scratchy, hairy fasteners made by other companies.
Velcro released an initial video last September in which actors playing lawyers explain in song that the Velcro patent has lapsed and the company will lose its trademark if the word is used to refer to all hook-and-loop fasteners. Some actual in-house lawyers also made appearances in the original video."
“We’re asking you not to say a name it took 50 plus years to build,” one character sings. “But if you keep calling these Velcro shoes, our trademark will get killed.”"
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
The Supreme Court Explains Trademark Registration, And It's The Best Ever; Forbes, July 10, 2017
Jess Collen, Forbes; The Supreme Court Explains Trademark Registration, And It's The Best Ever
"Much has been said and written in recent weeks about the Supreme Court’s defense of the First Amendment in the Slants case (Did The Supreme Court Slants Case Just Approve A Big FU To Trademark Owners?), by striking down provisions of federal trademark law. The court has also provided us with perhaps the most authoritative explanation of the history of United States trademark registration ever written.
Whether you run a startup, small business or a company on Forbes World’s Biggest Companies list, this should be required reading. Here below, an abridged discussion of trademark registration in this country, courtesy of Justice Samuel Alito of the Supreme Court of the United States (in own his words, and citing prior Court decisions and trademark law experts):"
"Much has been said and written in recent weeks about the Supreme Court’s defense of the First Amendment in the Slants case (Did The Supreme Court Slants Case Just Approve A Big FU To Trademark Owners?), by striking down provisions of federal trademark law. The court has also provided us with perhaps the most authoritative explanation of the history of United States trademark registration ever written.
Whether you run a startup, small business or a company on Forbes World’s Biggest Companies list, this should be required reading. Here below, an abridged discussion of trademark registration in this country, courtesy of Justice Samuel Alito of the Supreme Court of the United States (in own his words, and citing prior Court decisions and trademark law experts):"
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