Every Friday at Club NAP (in Amsterdam): DJ Fassbook. Like?

Tori LaConsay lives in Atlanta, USA. In the East Village to be exact. A small community. In december 2008 Tori painted a love letter to her neighborhood on a sign on a main road. The sign read: “You Look Nice Today” followed by a little heart. Recently, Tori’s friends have been sending her links to the H&M UK website; H&M appears to be using the sign on pillowcases and doormats. After reporting this, H&M responded [...]

One cannot envy the trademark department of Lego. On one hand every trademark claim on the brick has been firmly rejected. On the other hand, the brick is a rather popular element to use in the design of all different types of products. Nevertheless, Lego succeeded recently in a package case in Belgium. Not on the base of infringement of the 3D trademark of Lego but on the basis of infringement of a law on [...]

Beer brewer Heineken has opened a telephone line for tips on bar owners that sell ‘strange beers’. With this telephone line Heineken opened a massive hunt for bars that have an exclusive contract with them, but also sell different brand beers. In an internal letter Heineken stated that “tracing strange beer has top priority”. All staff, from account managers to truck drivers are asked to call in any odd ‘activities’. Accordig to the brewer at [...]

SOPA has been big news this week. SOPA, you say? SOPA (The Stop Online Piracy Act) is a U.S. bill that expands the ability of U.S. law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. The bill provides the possibility to request a court order to bar advertising networks (read: Google) and payment facilities (read: PayPal, VISA, Mastercard, etc.) from conducting business with infringing websites, and search engines from linking to [...]

Of course we all knew the app iPoo with the slogan “what you do-do When You poo-poo”. An app to fill in the last precious moments during a day. Now there is another iPoo, namely a toilet. And of course in the shape of the Apple logo. A clear trademark infringement? The designer does not share this opinion: “Some people think it looks like the Apple logo, but I disagree. If you see an Apple [...]

© photo by Ana Ramalho

Did you ever drop something in the water by accident, and the water splash turns out to be a famous logo? What are the odds? MarkMatters.com stumbled upon these great works of art. Come on. How cool is this?

No doubt that revolutionary design will be copied. The question whether the well-known Bodum glasses (left) are revolutionary is the subject of a court action in the Netherlands (and a cancellation action with the Ohim). The alleged copycat Ten Berg (glass under) stresses that the glass of Bodum consists of basic shapes. The double sides of the glass have only a technical function and are therefore not protected according copyright and design law. The court [...]

Soon after the passing away of iconic Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the Chinese company In Icons offered a – we must say – realistic figure of Jobs. For $99,- (on eBay already offered for $1.500,-) the ‘doll’ came with several accessories (like an iPhone) so that you can replicate the Apple keynotes given and different famous Jobs poses. But it was to be expected: the figure has been taken of the market. The Chinese company [...]