Chubby Checker Files Ridiculous Trademark Infringement Suit
Chubby Checker (real name Ernest Evans) – the singer famous for The Twist dance craze in the 1960s – and certain corporations that he controls have filed a lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard Company and Palm, Inc. The suit concerns a no-longer-available app named “The Chubby Checker”.
The app purported to allow women to calculate the size of a man’s penis based on his shoe size. According to webOS Nation, the app was downloaded only 84 times before it was removed in September 2012. Yet press reports state that the plaintiffs are seeking damages of $500 million for trademark infringement and unfair competition!
ICANN to Help Trademark Owners Prevent Cybersquatting
In an interview in today’s San Francisco Chronicle (“Rod Beckstrom, CEO of ICANN, talks about new domain names“), the CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers stated that ICANN will create a global marks database to help protect trademark owners against cybersquatting.
The database will be developed in conjunction with ICANN’s forthcoming implementation new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom is quoted in the Chron article as saying (emphasis added): (more…)
Lamebook v. Facebook: Trademark Infringement or Protected Parody?
Lamebook is a site that features particularly lame or funny (and sometimes vulgar) Facebook posts. That company has brought suit against Facebook, seeking a declaratory judgment that Lamebook is not infringing Facebook’s trademark.
Several months ago, Facebook asked Lamebook to change the name of its service, alleging that the company’s name both infringes and dilutes Facebook’s famous mark. A letter from Facebook’s counsel lays out the elements of these allegations. (more…)
“Tea Party” Activists Seek Government Help re Trademarks
Protesters at the Philadelphia Tea Party on April 18, 2009
This is just too delicious: One group of “Tea Party” activists – known for opposing federal government intrusiveness – has brought suit against the registered Tea Party political party in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (South Florida Tea Party, Inc. v. Tea Party). (more…)
“Finding Rin Tin Tin” Sniffs Out Trademark Fair Use Defense
Cover from “Finding Rin Tin Tin” DVD
Those of a certain age will recall watching “Rin Tin Tin” on TV as kids. The venerable canine recently was the subject of a trademark infringement suit (Rin Tin Tin, Inc., et al. v. First Look Studios, Inc., et al.). The defendants prevailed because of the trademark fair use defense.
Rin Tin Tin was a German Shepherd dog found in France during World War I. He became famous through movies and remains well-known to this day.
Plaintiffs breed German Shepherds descended from the original Rin Tin Tin and manage related business endeavors. Rin Tin Tin, Inc. obtained federal trademark registrations for “Rin Tin Tin” pertaining to puppies and dogs of the Rin Tin Tin lineage. (more…)
Gay Marriage Fight Leads to Trademark Smackdown
ProtectMarriage.com (left) and Courage Campaign Logos
It appears that at least some gay marriage foes need to learn a thing or two about trademark law.
On January 12, ProtectMarriage.com sent Courage Campaign a cease and desist letter, alleging that Courage Campaign’s Prop 8 Trial Tracker logo infringes ProjectMarriage.com’s trademark and copyright in its logo.
Licensing Trademarks? Think about Domain Names, Too
The December 2009 issue of les Nouvelles, a publication of Licensing Executives Society International, has an interesting article about the interplay between domain name disputes and trademark licensing.
“WIPO Domain Name Cases Offer Trademark Licensing Lessons,” by Hee-Eun Kim, an LLM student in Munich, Germany, starts by describing the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and the role of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in resolving disputes under the UDRP. (more…)
Hotels.com Loses Major Trademark Battle
On July 23, 2009 the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided, in In re Hotels.com, L.P., that Hotels.com was not entitled to a federal registration for its service mark HOTELS.COM. (For a brief overview of trademarks and service marks, see Trademark Protection in One Easy Lesson.)
Background: Hotels.com sought to register its mark for the services of ?providing information for others about temporary lodging; travel agency services, namely, making reservations and bookings for temporary lodging for others by means of telephone and the global computer network.? The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) refused the registration on the ground that the mark is a generic term for these services (generic terms, by definition, are incapable of indicating the source of goods or services). (more…)
Trademark Protection in One Easy Lesson
A trademark or service mark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of goods (trademark) or services (service mark).
(Throughout the remainder of this post, the term “trademark” is intended to include service mark, as well, except where specified otherwise.)
The owner of a trademark has the right to prevent others from using the mark or a confusingly similar mark. (more…)
How Much Can My Product Look Like Another Company’s Product?
This post discusses how much one company’s product can look like another company’s product without creating intellectual property problems. It largely copies a Quora answer that I wrote recently. Please see How much can my product look like another company’s product without infringing the other company’s intellectual property rights in that product? (more…)
DBA – Notice, but No Protection
This post discusses the purpose of a DBA (which is an abbreviation for “doing business as”). This expands upon a Quora answer that I wrote recently. Please see Can someone use my DBA if I operate as a sole proprietor?
Terminology
To start, I will note that business people frequently use the term “DBA”. It is short and easy to say, and people readily understand it. (more…)
Which Types of Intellectual Property Can Protect an Idea?
This post explains why the various types of intellectual property (“IP”) cannot protect a mere idea. However, IP may protect items that one creates based on such an idea.
I first wrote about this subject on Quora. Please see Which types of intellectual property protection can I receive for my idea? (more…)
What are Novelty and Non-obviousness?
Novelty and non-obviousness are requirements for a utility patent to be granted in the United States.
This post explains the meaning of novelty and non-obviousness. I have based this on my answer to a Quora question. Please see What exactly defines novelty and non-obvious in regards to patenting?
USPTO on Novelty and Non-obviousness
I have copied, below (emphasis added), portions of what the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says about these criteria. For more information, please see General information concerning patents. (more…)
What is the Origin of the Copyright Symbol (©)?
This post about the origin of the copyright symbol (©) is based on my answer to a Quora question. See Why are the symbols of “©” and “®” used to identify copyrights and registered trademarks?
Copyright Symbol as Part of Copyright Notice
The copyright symbol “©” can be part of a copyright notice under current copyright law. See 17 USC Section 401(b). (For more information about copyright notices, see Copyright Protection in Once Easy Lesson .) (more…)
Trade Dress Protection for Look and Feel
In How Can I Protect the Look and Feel of My Website?, I explained that the “look and feel” of a website – or a smartphone – can be protected as trade dress or by a design patent.
This post examines a recent case that discusses the elements of trade dress protection in detail. That case is Ingrid & Isabel, LLC v. Baby Be Mine, LLC, decided by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. (more…)
How to Perfect an Intellectual Property Security Interest
Copyright Office Document Cover Sheet
Last week I explained what a security interest is and how it can be perfected, i.e., made effective against third parties. (See What is a Security Interest, and Why Should I Care?) This post discusses how to perfect an intellectual property security interest.
To recap, a security interest is an interest in an asset (the “collateral”) intended to secure performance of an obligation. Typically, that obligation is payment of a debt. Perfection typically consists of filing, with one of more secretaries of state, documents that identify the debtor, the creditor and the collateral. (more…)
URS – ICANN Offers Uniform Rapid Suspension against Cybersquatters
I have written several times about ICANN’s longstanding Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). This post discusses a more recent way to thwart some cybersquatters, namely, URS – Uniform Rapid Suspension.
According to ICANN explains, URS exists to “provide rapid relief to trademark holders for the most clear-cut cases of infringement“. Furthermore, URS is cheaper and faster than UDRP. (more…)
The First Sale Doctrine: If I Own It, I Can Sell It
Copyright and trademark owners typically like to exercise their legal rights as broadly as possible. There is however, a well-known limit to those rights called the “first sale doctrine“.
Actually, they are two separate but similar doctrines. One pertains to copyrights, the other to trademarks:
- Copyrights – 17 USC Section 109(a) states, with certain exceptions, that the owner of a lawfully-made copy of a work may sell or dispose of the work. Consent of the copyright owner is not required. So, for example, if you legitimately possess a book or a CD, you may sell it or give it to someone else or throw it into a trash bin.
- Trademarks – The trademark first sale doctrine is a product of case law rather than statute. In Sebastian International, Inc. v. Longs Drug Stores Corporation, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit wrote: “[W]ith certain well-defined exceptions, the right of a producer to control distribution of its trademarked product does not extend beyond the first sale of the product. Resale by the first purchaser of the original article under the producer’s trademark is neither trademark infringement nor unfair competition.” The exceptions include, for example, stolen or counterfeit goods or goods that have avoided the producer’s quality control systems.
Gingrich Domain is Newtered – But the UDRP Probably Won’t Help
In How to Defeat a Cybersquatter, I wrote about using ICANN’s comparatively quick and inexpensive Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) to defeat cybersquatters. The domain name NewtGingrich.com recently was squatted upon – but I doubt that Newt will be able to use the UDRP successfully to recover that domain.
Gingrich Communications had owned NewtGingrich.com since 2004, but apparently forgot to renew the domain name in August 2011. By December 2011, it was owned by American Bridge 21st Century, a progressive Political Action Committee. (In the interim, it was owned by entities in Chihuahua, Mexico.)
Don’t Use Social Media if You Have Something to Hide
A client sells high-quality collectibles manufactured from authentic sports-related materials (game-used balls, uniforms, arena flooring, stadium seats, etc.). The company ensures that all materials are licensed by the applicable university or professional sports organizations so it can use the organizations’ names and trademarks in promotional activities. Some competitors do not pay for the required licenses, however – and one of these recently was caught as the result of a Groupon promotion.
How to Defeat a Cybersquatter, Part 2: Going to Court
In How the UDRP can Defeat a Cybersquatter, I wrote about ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. The UDRP provides a quick, inexpensive way to recover a domain name from a cybersquatter (someone who has obtained a domain name that is the same as, or confusingly similar to, a trademark or service mark that you own). However, if you want to recover money, you will have to go to court.
Before proceeding further, let me be clear: I think lawsuits should be avoided whenever possible. As a trial lawyer told me many years ago, “Litigation is a terrible way to run a business.” Unfortunately, litigation sometimes is necessary.
What Must We Do if We’re Going to Be Acquired?
A successful exit by acquisition is one of the great thrills of entrepreneurship. That exit does not come easily, however. This post discusses, by category, the most important documents and information that you will need to provide during the acquirer’s due diligence process.
Corporate Documentation
- Articles of incorporation and bylaws, as amended
- Minutes of board and shareholder meetings and actions
- Share transfer ledger, including name and address of each shareholder
- Agreements pertaining to shares and shareholders’ rights (buy-sell, voting rights, etc.)
- List of holders of option or warrants and all applicable agreements
Recover Your Domain Name, and Perhaps Some Money, Too
From defendant Nahum’s website at the hijacked domain
Just over a year ago (Who is the Master of Your Domain? [or, How to Prevent Domain Name Hijacking]), I wrote about recovering a client’s domain name from a disgruntled former employee via ICANN’s Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy. A recent case from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (DSPT International v. Nahum) shows that under federal trademark law, an aggrieved domain name owner may be able to recover monetary damages, too.
Defendant Lucky Nahum worked for plaintiff DSPT International and worked with an outside supplier to set up DSPT’s website. Without telling DSPT’s owner, Nahum registered the website’s domain name in his own name.
What is a Sublicense Agreement?
This post is based on a LinkedIn question that I answered recently. (The Q&A no longer are available at LinkedIn, which has discontinued that feature.) Q. What is a sublicense agreement?
A. A license is an agreement by which the owner (the licensor) of something (in the case of the LinkedIn question, a trademark) grants, to someone else (the licensee), rights that are less that all of the rights to that thing. “Licensing 101“, and the download to which it refers, provide basic information about licensing. (more…)
How to Assign a Patent Application to Your Startup
Detail from an illustration of a machine by Leonardo da Vinci
Your invention is so novel and non-obvious that you have submitted a patent application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Good for you!
Furthermore, you have formed a legal entity to turn the patent, once it issues, into a revenue stream. (See Should I form an LLC or a corporation?)
This post explains how you can assign the patent application to your new entity so your startup company can begin conducting business. (more…)
Legal Services
Dana Shultz retired from the practice of law in 2020. As a lawyer, Dana dispensed as much business advice as legal advice. Accordingly, although he no longer is practicing law, Dana occasionally provides business consulting services to owners of small businesses and mentoring services to business lawyers.
If you need legal representation, Dana provides referrals to experienced business lawyers.
The remainder of this page is being retained online for archival purposes.
This description of Dana Shultz’s legal services is an Advertisement under Rule of Professional Conduct 1-400, Standard 5 (now subject to Chapter 7 of the Rules of Professional Conduct that took effect on November 1, 2018).
Brief summary: I help clients to
- form their businesses,
- do their deals, and
- keep out of trouble.
Dana Shultz provides the essential legal services that startup and early-stage companies in the San Francisco (California) Bay Area typically need. You may read many Client Testimonials about Dana’s services. (more…)
How Can I Protect the Look and Feel of My Website?
This post discusses whether and how you can protect your website’s “look and feel“.
The reason you would want such protection: Your website has particularly effective visual and interactive elements that help promote your business. You would not want another website to copy those elements, thus make your website and your business less special.
Look and Feel as Trade Dress
Look and feel falls in the category of trade dress, i.e., visual appearance that signifies the source of a product or service. You may be able to obtain a federal trademark registration for the non-functional elements of the website’s look and feel and bring suit against infringers based on that registration. (more…)
How the UDRP can Defeat a Cybersquatter
Someone has obtained a domain name that is the same as, or confusingly similar to, a trademark or service mark that you own. How can you take the domain name from this “cybersquatter”? The UDRP (explained below) may come to the rescue!
When he registered the domain name, the cybersquatter (the Registrant) agreed to ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).
Under the UDRP, you (the Complainant) will be required to prove all of the following:
(i) The domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which you have rights.
(ii) The Registrant has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name.
(iii) The domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
Professors Confirm Limits on Startup Interest in Patents
Last November, I wrote You Can Have a Successful Business Even if You Don?t Have a Patent. Many of the points that I made in that post are reiterated in an article that will be published this summer in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal.
The article, “High Technology Entrepreneurs and the Patent System”, is available as a Free Download on the Downloads page. Among the findings presented in the article:
- Whereas life sciences companies see patents as critical, software and Internet companies rely more on copyrights and trademarks.
- Patents are used to reduce competition and to attract capital; they do not provide strong incentives to innovate.
- The major reason why companies do not apply for patents is that they are expensive to obtain and to enforce.
- Many companies find it is more important to be the “first mover” than to obtain patents.
Dana H. Shultz, Attorney at Law +1 510-547-0545 dana [at] danashultz [dot] com
This blog does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact a lawyer directly.
Fair Use, Trash Talk, and the DMCA
Over the weekend, I answered a LinkedIn question [no longer available there because LinkedIn ended its Q&A feature] about whether posting a copyrighted photo of another company’s product with disparaging comments about that product might be protected by the “fair use” defense to copyright infringement. I am reproducing the question and answer, in edited form, below.
Q. My website is copyrighted and the newest product is trademark and patent pending. The image was “clipped/copied” by an individual and placed on a website without my permission to do so. Am I right that this is not “fair use” of my work?
A. The “Fair Use” Defense: One Term, Two Different Meanings discusses the four elements of copyright fair use. The analysis always is highly fact-specific, so it is difficult to say whether use on cpaptalk.com qualifies for that defense, but I think there is a reasonable argument that it does.
When should I apply for a DBA?
This post continues the last post’s discussion of the fictitious business name (FBN – or, colloquially, the DBA for “doing business as”). I am writing this because of a client’s question as to when his company should apply for a DBA / fictitious business name.
California Business & Professions Code Section 17910(a) states that a Fictitious Business Name Statement must be filed within 40 days of the time when the registrant first used the FBN to conduct business in the state. (more…)
Beware the Unintended Franchise
We all are familiar with well-known? franchises, such as McDonald’s restaurants. What many people do not realize, however, is that a trademark license agreement, if it has certain characteristics, can be considered a franchise agreement under state or federal law, creating huge potential liabilities for the unwary licensor.
In California, Corporations Code Section 31005(a) says that a franchise exists if three elements are satisfied:
- A franchisee is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan or system prescribed in substantial part by a franchisor; and
- The operation of the franchisee’s business pursuant to such plan or system is substantially associated with the franchisor’s trademark, service mark, trade name, logotype, advertising or other commercial symbol designating the franchisor or its affiliate; and
- The franchisee is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee.
“High-touch Legal Services” Receives Federal Service Mark Registration
Last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office confirmed that the service mark “High-touch Legal Services” has received Registration No. 3,726,914. The registration pertains both to legal services and to blogs that feature the law and legal matters.
The mark is on the Supplemental Register, rather than the Principal Register, because “high-touch” is descriptive of the services that I provide but has not yet acquired secondary meaning. With this registration, I have the right to use the ? symbol and to bar use of confusingly similar marks. (more…)
Basketball Star Rescues 800 Domain Names from Cybersquatter
Chris Bosh
Cybersquatting is registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad-faith intent to profit from a trademark belonging to someone else. NBA superstar Chris Bosh recently won a major victory against a serial cybersquatter.
On September 24, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted an order requiring that Luis Zavala transfer all of his domain name holdings to Bosh. (A list of those holdings is available on this blog’s Downloads page as “Chris Bosh – Domain Names Awarded”.) This award is particularly significant because it is, to the best of my knowledge, the first time that a party has been awarded domain names that profit from third parties’ trademarks. (more…)
Louis Vuitton Wins $10.8 Million from ISPs
On August 28, a federal court jury awarded Louis Vuitton Malletier, S.A. $32.4 million in a suit against two Internet Service Providers and their owner. The suit alleged trademark and copyright infringement.
Louis Vuitton Wins at Trial
The jury concluded that:
- The ISPs knew, or should have known, that their customers were selling, online, counterfeit goods that infringed LV trademarks and copyrights.
- The ISPs willful contributed to sales of the counterfeit goods.
- The ISPs were not entitled to the “safe harbor” protections of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (see How Websites Can Avoid Liability for User-provided Content).
“Fair Use”: One Term, Two Different Meanings
“Fair use” is a legal term that does not necessarily mean what people often assumes it means (a free pass to use other people’s intellectual property). Indeed, the term has two different meanings, depending on whether copyrights or trademarks are at issue.
Copyright
Copyright protects works of authorship. See Copyright Protection in One Easy Lesson. The copyright owner has the exclusive right (as applicable) to reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, and make derivative works of the copyrighted work.
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized exercise of one of the exclusive rights by someone other than the copyright owner. Thus, for example unauthorized copying of someone else’s music or movie constitutes copyright infringement.
Watch Out for Asian Domain Name Scams!
Twice within the past 24 hours, a client has contacted me with concerns about trademark protection. In each instance, the concerns were caused by an e-mail that offered specified domain names in Asia. I will describe the e-mails in detail so you will know to be on guard if you receive anything similar:
- The subject line includes terms such as “copyright” or “intellectual property.”
- The text indicates that the sending company, an Internet domain registrar located in Asia, has received a request to register domain names with country codes in Asia that are similar to a “trademark” (more precisely, a domain name) that you own. For example, if you own <universalwidgets.com>, the e-mail might state that there are requests to register <universalwidgets.cn> and <universalwidgets.asia>.
- The e-mail then offers you an opportunity to protect your trademark by buying the Asian domain names yourself, rather than letting them be purchased by the third party. However, to take advantage of this opportunity, you must act quickly.
- The individual ostensibly sending the e-mail has an Americanized name, such as “John Zhou” or “Adam Hao”.
Small Claims Court: Litigation without Litigators
I am not a litigator (trial attorney), so I normally do not write about litigation. Recently, however, I have discussed several matters where small claims court seems appropriate. I will share some basic information about small claims cases in California.
The CA Courts’ Small Claims Self-Help Center provide extensive, detailed information. The most important point is that small claims court judgments are limited to ordering the payment of money. You cannot, for example, ask a small claims court to order that the defendant stop infringing a patent or trademark.
Intellectual Property Essentials for Start-ups
“Intellectual Property Essentials for Start-ups” now is available as a Free Download on the Downloads page.
Here are some of the questions that the document addresses:
- Which types of intellectual property (IP) should a start-up be aware of?
- How can we be sure to own IP created by independent contractors?
- Are there special considerations if the contractor is located overseas?
- It is pretty easy to register a trademark online; where might I go wrong?
- A provisional patent application is inexpensive and can be filed quickly; are there any risks I should keep in mind?
- Money is tight; can we use another company’s form of agreement rather than paying to develop one of our own?
- Open source software is hot; does it bring along any special dangers?
This blog does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact an attorney directly.
Facebook URLs: The Race is On
Facebook recently began allowing users to name the URLs for their pages. For example, my Facebook page is at www.facebook.com/danashultz. The option to choose a URL appears as soon as the user logs in.
(Not surprisingly, Facebook’s servers appear to be overworked at this time. The first two times I tried to reserve my URL, I was hung up on a “Loading….” message. The third time worked.)
It is easy to anticipate, however, that trademark infringement and cybersquatting will run rampant. If you believe that another Facebook user has chosen a URL that infringes upon your trademark, you can report an infringement of your rights.
Check out all posts about cybersquatting.
Dana H. Shultz, Attorney at Law +1 510-547-0545 dana [at] danashultz [dot] com
This blog does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact a lawyer directly.
Intellectual Property Blogs
Here are some intellectual property blogs that I like and some of the reasons why they impress me:
- Patent – Patently-O – Professor who says a lot without being too wordy or abstract.
- Copyright – Exclusive Rights – In-house attorney with a sense of humor.
- Trademark – The Trademark Blog – Private-practice attorney who provides case documents. Been blogging since 2002!
- Trade secret – Trade Secrets Blog – Law firm that includes an eye-catching graphic with almost every post.
This blog does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact an attorney directly.
