Archive for January, 2007
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »More Olympic Trade-mark Issues
Friday, January 19th, 2007
Protecting the official trademarks of the Olympic Games is proving to be an ongoing challenge for the organizers of the Beijing 2008 Games, as well as the Vancouver 2010 Games. We reported some time ago regarding possible new Canadian legislation. Beijing organizers are now threatening legal action against pranksters that are using the Internet to poke fun at several of the official marks of the Beijing Games.
The website of the Vancouver Organizing Committee includes a 36-page list setting out the official marks of the Vancouver Organizing Committee and the Canadian Olympic Committee, including the Beijing Games marks that are currently being targeted. A portfolio of that size will likely generate some interesting new developments in trademark law as we draw closer to the 2010 Games.
Posted in Famous Marks, Protection & Enforcement | 2 Comments »
iPhone Gets Its First Busy Signal
Thursday, January 11th, 2007
It didn’t take long for Cisco Systems to take a run at Apple, Inc.’s newly unveiled iPhone. Cisco owns a U.S. Trademark Registration for IPHONE in association with “computer hardware and software for providing integrated telephone communication with computerized global information networks”. Cisco has filed a lawsuit against Apple in the U.S. alleging trademark infringement among other things. Cisco alleges that up to the night before Apple’s introduction of the iPhone on Tuesday of this week at Macworld Expo, Apple and Cisco were negotiating the terms of an agreement that would have permitted Apple to use the mark.
There appear to be other entities using the iPhone mark for VoIP services, some of which have also filed applications to register the mark in association with such services. Cisco, in its lawsuit, alleges that Apple is applying to register the iPhone mark in the U.S. via a related or alter ego company called Ocean Telecom Services LLC. of 2004 on a proposed use basis.
Apple filed an application to register the mark iPhone in Canada in October of 2004 on a proposed use basis. That application is currently being opposed by Comwave Telecom Inc. Comwave filed its own application for the mark iPhone in Canada, claiming use of that mark in Canada since June of 2004 for use in association with VoIP services.
Posted in Branding, Protection & Enforcement | 1 Comment »
Fruits of her Labour
Tuesday, January 9th, 2007
In true David and Goliath fashion, Michelle Messina, a Canadian director of an educational short film Fruitful Sex, was successful in obtaining registration in Canada for the mark FRUITFUL SEX, despite Fruit of the Loom’s opposition to such application (coverage here). Included in the claimed wares for the mark were T-shirts, which Fruit of the Loom apparently felt would be confusing with their FRUIT OF THE LOOM mark. Ms. Messina was apparently self-represented against Fruit of the Loom, owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Posted in Trade-mark Oppositions | 2 Comments »