After she became dissatisfied with the services of home remodeling contractors that she had obtained through an Internet referral website, Victoria sued the referral business for breach of contract, fraud, misrepresentation, and negligence.
Intellectual Property
Sculptor Slays Government Goliath
Some 20 years ago, a World War II veteran and prominent sculptor won a government competition to sculpt a memorial to Korean War veterans in Washington, D. C. His creation depicts a platoon of stainless steel, larger-than-life foot soldiers arranged in what has come to be called “The Column.” Five years later, another veteran, an amateur photographer, took photographs of the memorial. One of these photographs eventually was used by the federal government on a widely distributed postage stamp, for which the government paid the photographer $1,500.
Protection for Parodies
It is the very nature of parody to present two opposing messages: that the parody is, in fact, the genuine article that is being parodied, and that it is not the original, but is instead just a parody. When used to promote a product, the parody may transgress federal trademark law if it succeeds in the first objective but not in the second. In that case, the parody will have created customer confusion, which is a critical element for a claim of trademark infringement.There was a recent victory for parody in the marketplace when a federal court rejected claims of trademark infringement and trademark dilution brought against the imitator. On one side was Louis Vuitton Malletier (LVM), the maker of luxury handbags, luggage, and even some pricey pet accessories. Some of LVM’s trademarks go back to the 19th century.
Distinctly at the other end of the spectrum was the upstart defendant Haute Diggity Dog (HDD), purveyor of dog toys and beds which play on the names of luxury items. Among HDD’s offerings were “Chewnel No. 5” and “Dog Perignonn.” You get the idea.
Baseball Strikes out on Stats
Millions of sports fans participate in fantasy sports games in which the participants “draft” the names of real professional athletes and compete against other teams based on the actual statistical performances of the athletes during their seasons. In the case of baseball, until several years ago a fantasy sports company licensed the use of the names and information about big league players from the Players Association for Major League Baseball (MLB). When that deal expired, the Association instead gave an exclusive license to an online arm of the MLB, which operated its own fantasy baseball business.
Can You Trademark a Flavor?
When a pharmaceutical company filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) for a trademark for the orange flavor used in its antidepressant tablets, it was trying to break new ground. Certainly, there are precedents for trademarks apart from the traditional forms consisting of words and logos. There are trademarks derived from the use of certain colors–think of the familiar pink fiberglass insulation or an orange home improvement store. There are even some trademarks associated with certain smells and sounds, such as sewing thread with a floral fragrance, strawberry-scented lubricants, and the familiar chimes used by one of the major television networks. But the attempt to trademark a flavor ran into obstacles that the company was unable to surmount.