Overlawyered » trademarks http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Komen breast cancer charity http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/komen-breast-cancer-charity/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/komen-breast-cancer-charity/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:40:20 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27303 On the trademark-assertiveness front, as readers of this site know, they’ve been no strangers to controversy. Perhaps as a gesture of goodwill toward critics they’d consider calling off the lawsuit threats against other legitimate charities that attempt to use the color pink?

Tags:

Related posts

]]> http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/komen-breast-cancer-charity/feed/ 13 “Village Voice To Stop Suing Over ‘Best Of’ Lists” http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/village-voice-to-stop-suing-over-%e2%80%98best-of%e2%80%99-lists/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/village-voice-to-stop-suing-over-%e2%80%98best-of%e2%80%99-lists/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:53:54 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27301 “The Village Voice is giving up on a scheme to force rivals to pay for permission to use the phrase ‘best of.’” [Paid Content]

Tags: ,

Related posts

]]> http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/village-voice-to-stop-suing-over-%e2%80%98best-of%e2%80%99-lists/feed/ 1 “The saddest trademark case of 2011″ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/the-saddest-trademark-case-of-2011/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/the-saddest-trademark-case-of-2011/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 05:33:44 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26664 Eric Goldman is not a fan of the parties’ handling of Fancaster v. Comcast, Inc., in which two companies are battling over noncompeting uses of a business name that neither has been able to turn into much of a success. That hasn’t kept them from shoveling a lot of money at lawyers over three and a half years.

Tags:

Related posts

]]> http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/the-saddest-trademark-case-of-2011/feed/ 1 “SOPA: An Architecture for Censorship” http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/sopa-an-architecture-for-censorship/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/sopa-an-architecture-for-censorship/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:09:53 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26370 The proposed law is being promoted as a way of blocking piratical “rogue” sites, but once it’s up and working, and internet providers have begun automatically blocking sites from a list continually updated by the government, it won’t stop with copyright and trademark infringers. Extending the interdiction to other sorts of sites will be a relatively simple and straightforward matter:

With the legal framework in place, expanding it to cover other conduct — obscenity, defamation, “unfair competition,” patent infringement, publication of classified information, advocacy in support of terror groups — would be a matter of adding a few words to those paragraphs.

How long before a sentimental Congress yields to demands to block suicide- or anorexia-promotion sites, or perhaps those accused of glorifying the taking of illegal drugs or profiting from depictions of animal cruelty? [Julian Sanchez, Cato, more; earlier] More: Stephen DeMaura and David Segal, Roll Call (potential use against political candidates), Bill Wilson (ALG), The Hill, Stanford Law Review, “Don’t Break the Internet”.

Tags: , , ,

Related posts

]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/sopa-an-architecture-for-censorship/feed/ 8 Chick-Fil-A vs. “Eat More Kale,” cont’d http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/chick-fil-a-vs-eat-more-kale-contd/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/chick-fil-a-vs-eat-more-kale-contd/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:33:56 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26225 Paul Alan Levy finds it hard to sympathize with either side of the much-noted trademark dispute, and notes that before the restaurant chain sicced its lawyers on him, Vermont t-shirt silk-screener Bo Muller-Moore had himself sought to trademark the “Kale” version of the slogan: “why should Muller-Moore be able to prevent other members of the public from making T-shirts with the same slogan?” [CL&P, earlier]

Tags:

Related posts

]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/chick-fil-a-vs-eat-more-kale-contd/feed/ 0 “Chick-fil-A Is Worried You Can’t Tell Kale From ‘Chikin’” http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/chick-fil-a-is-worried-you-cant-tell-kale-from-chikin/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/chick-fil-a-is-worried-you-cant-tell-kale-from-chikin/#comments Sat, 03 Dec 2011 05:37:08 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26043 The slogan “Eat More Kale” gets a Vermont t-shirt silk-screener in trouble with the fast-food chain. [Gothamist]

Tags: ,

Related posts

]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/chick-fil-a-is-worried-you-cant-tell-kale-from-chikin/feed/ 3 Update: “Kellogg Settles ‘Toucan Sam’ Dispute With Archaeologists” http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/update-kellogg-settles-toucan-sam-dispute-with-archaeologists/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/update-kellogg-settles-toucan-sam-dispute-with-archaeologists/#comments Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:56:00 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25750 A happy ending (kinda) to the cease-and-desist battle that began when the giant food company decided the toucan on the Maya Archaeology Initiative’s logo was too reminiscent of its Froot Loops mascot. [Kevin Underhill/Forbes via Musing Minds, earlier]

Tags:

Related posts

]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/update-kellogg-settles-toucan-sam-dispute-with-archaeologists/feed/ 6 Notre Dame to Kansas high school: drop that fighting leprechaun logo http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/notre-dame-to-kansas-high-school-drop-that-fighting-leprechaun/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/notre-dame-to-kansas-high-school-drop-that-fighting-leprechaun/#comments Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:47:52 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25239 “Chapman High School, whose athletics teams have been known as the Fighting Irish since 1967, has been formally asked by the University of Notre Dame to change its leprechaun logo due to the college’s trademark on the image.” [Yardbarker]

Tags: ,

Related posts

]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/notre-dame-to-kansas-high-school-drop-that-fighting-leprechaun/feed/ 14 October 11 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-11-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-11-roundup-2/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:41:52 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25028
  • UK panel declines to ban “I like gin” tea ad [Campaign]
  • Do pics of tree-shaped air fresheners violate trademark rights of product marketer? [PoL]
  • Man’s EU trademark for “Keep Calm and Carry On” raises hackles [Maria Bustillos, The Awl]
  • When was the last time Congress chose to repeal a law restricting employers? Surely more recently than with the Portal to Portal Act of 1947 [Fox, Jottings]
  • NYC: “City’s Top Lawyer Details Payouts of $561 Million in Lawsuits” [NYT]
  • Calif. Gov. Brown vetoes attorney-backed bill widening fee entitlement where claimed damages not recovered [CJAC]
  • Ira Stoll has been assembling a list of cost-free measures to help the economy, #17 is the proposed EPA-curbing Cement Regulatory Relief Act, #13 is “Eliminate requirements for legal ads in print newspapers in connection with business formation.” [Future of Capitalism]
    • Tags: , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-11-roundup-2/feed/ 1     “Cereal Maker Claims Non-Profit’s Bird Looks Too Much Like Toucan Sam” http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/cereal-maker-claims-non-profits-bird-looks-too-much-like-toucan-sam/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/cereal-maker-claims-non-profits-bird-looks-too-much-like-toucan-sam/#comments Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:57:58 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24464 “The Maya Archaeology Initiative is fighting back against claims by Kellogg North America that a bird depicted in MAI’s logo is too similar to ‘Toucan Sam,’ the fictional spokesbird for Froot Loops cereal.” In a response to the cease-and-desist letter from Kellogg lawyers, the Central American cultural philanthropy “noted the differences between the two toucans, including coloration, beak shape, and the fact that MAI’s bird is based on birds that actually exist in nature.” [Lowering the Bar](& welcome TechDirt readers)

    Tags:

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/cereal-maker-claims-non-profits-bird-looks-too-much-like-toucan-sam/feed/ 4