In any trademark lawsuit, the plaintiff must show more than the similarity of the trademarked image or phrase to prove infringement. The senior user (the first company to use the trademark) must also prove customer confusion and intent. Customer confusion is based on the reasonable belief that customers in your target audience would have trouble
Zippo is in a trademark battle with Lorillard, the third biggest tobacco company in the nation, over the Blu brand name. As of now, the name “Blu” is being used to identify both a type of Zippo lighter and a popular brand of electronic cigarette. Zippo claims that they filed a trademark on the name
In 2000, Glock Inc., the American branch of the Austrian handgun manufacturer, began a series of trademark infringement lawsuits against toy manufacturers. The defendants in the vast majority of these cases were manufacturers or distributors of toy guns and blank firing guns. Bruni, Sportsman’s Guide, Gamo USA, Academy Toy Company and Daisy all fell under
Former frontman for the Misfits, Glenn Danzig, is suing the current Misfits bassist Jerry Only over the trademark for their iconic symbol, known as the “Crimson Ghost” or the “Fiend Skull”. According to Danzig, he and Only signed a contract in 1994 agreeing to share trademark and merchandising rights for Misfits memorabilia. Recently, Danzig realized
The Mongols of Southern California are in the fight of their lives to retain their iconic image, but they believe the judge in their case is prejudiced against them. In October 2008, a U.S. District Court Judge forbid club members and their families from wearing the Mongols logo, a Mongolian soldier’s profile wearing sunglasses, or
A business in the throes of a trademark infringement dispute will likely be successful in defending their mark if they meet the requirements of the Lanham Act: they are the rightful owners of the trademark, the infringing company is using the mark without their permission, and the use of the mark is causing consumer confusion.
Once an individual or organization uses a mark commercially, they are entitled to common law rights and can sue others for trademark infringement if necessary. Of course, registering a trademark endows the owner with certain legal advantages that a common law mark would not afford: A registered mark is less likely to be infringed upon,
An individual or organization can produce a mark strikingly similar to a registered trademark, as long as the mark’s intent is humorous, in which case it is protected as parody. However, parody protection is a very ambiguous area of intellectual property litigation, because insulting parodies can still incite lawsuits. A mark is most likely to
An unregistered trademark lacks many means of protection against infringement. However, simply registering a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on your own does not always mean that the mark will be completely protected, because you may make common errors that open your mark up to infringement. The legal process of trademark
Hypothetically, a group of neighbors starts a small company that only operates for a few hours each week and puts out a product with a potentially infringing mark. However, they only produce a very small amount of this product and sell just enough to cover their production costs. Even though the hypothetical small business with
