On June 13th 2012, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), revealed the applications for new generic Top-Level Domain names (gTLD) in a press release and conference. In his opening address, President and Chief Executive Officer of ICANN Rod Beckstrom stated that the “internet is about to change forever”, and that the gTLD […]
Apparently, $60 Million. The trademark battle between Apple Inc. and Shenzhen Proview Technology (which I previously covered here) has come to an end. The value of the name “iPad” in China is now known, even before the tablet can be stocked on store shelves in the Mainland. A few days ago, the Guangdong Higher People’s […]
When hearing the word BBM, most people reach instinctively for their BlackBerry, and its instant messaging service, BlackBerry Messenger. However, there is also a company called BBM Canada, formerly known as the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement, which provides impartial ratings data and analysis to Canadian broadcasters and advertisers. BBM Canada sued Research in Motion (“RIM”), […]
The Japanese restaurant ‘Fuku’ (pronounced foo-koo), which recently opened a new West Palm Beach location, ran into a snag while attempting to register their trademark. The Florida Department of State Divisions of Corporations rejected the application on the basis of subsection 2(a) of the Lanham Act, which states that a mark that “consists of, compromises […]
When suspected Montreal “body parts” killer, Luka Magnotta, was detained in Berlin on June 4 following an international manhunt, only one small piece of a complex legal web was resolved. In addition to the ongoing murder investigation, digital issues involving web hosting of explicit content and concerns about trademark denigration have been thrust to the […]
Zut alors! Christian Louboutin is not having a good year with the judicial system and must be seeing red! I have previously covered Christian Louboutin’s dispute with Yves Saint Laurent in the US, with respect to YSL’s use of the red-soled shoes. Christian Louboutin suffered a blow when he was denied a preliminary injunction […]
The trademark dispute over the “iPad” name rages on in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) between Shenzhen Proview Technology and Apple Inc. However, the Cupertino-based producer of the ever popular iPod, iPhone, and of course the iPad won’t let its legal issues in China get in the way of the brand’s overall expansion into […]
On February 28th 2012, the Navajo Nation filed a lawsuit against Urban Outfitters Inc. and its subsidiaries in the District Court of New Mexico for ‘trademark infringement, trademark dilution, unfair competition and commercial practice laws violation and for the violation of The Indian Arts and Crafts Act’. The basis of the Navajo Nation’s complaint was […]
At the heart of the Rosetta Stone v Google lawsuit is whether the sale of trademarks as search keywords for sponsored links makes Google liable for trademark infringement. Recently, the United States Court of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit in Rosetta Stone Ltd v Google, Inc reversed a significant portion of a Virginia district court decision […]
A recent report by the UK Intellectual Property Office [IPO] draws attention to trade mark cluttering. Trade mark cluttering occurs “where firms hold trade marks that are overly broad or unused raising search costs for later applicants.”