What would the amount of royalties/damages be, if a a copyright has been infringed? This is the big question in a case between the US Postal Service and sculptor Frank Gaylord. Gaylord designed a stainless-steel Korean War Veterans Memorial, known as The Column. He won a copyright-infringement case earliers against the postal service for its use of the sculptures on a stamp issued in 2002, marking the 50th anniversary of the armistice. After a court [...]

Sports and humor are always close connected, in our opinion. But not with the Major League Baseball team The Atlanta Braves. Braves fans Everett and Allison Steele wanted to embrace an inside joke amongst the fan base. The Steeles noticed that on Twitter, “Atlanta Braves” is often misspelled: “Atlanta Barves”. Running along with this, they made parody t-shirts. Funny, huh? Well. the Braves organization was not amused. The Steeles received a strict letter stating that [...]

Last week the US Court of Appeal held that the signature red wax seal used on Maker’s Mark bourbon bottles (as shown left) is a valid trademark. The Kentucky distillery sued Diageo Plc in 2003 (!). The claim was that the Jose Cuervo bottle of vodka consisted of a trademark infringement as the label of this bottle shows a red wax seal. The response of Diageo was that the trademark claimed had “aesthetic functionality” and [...]

Jaguar Shoes is an independent venue in trendy East London. A place where many artists, musicians, etc. come together for a drink, exhibition etc. Jaguar Shoes has now ended up in a legal conflict (opposition) with Jaguar. In the press release of Jaguar Shoes all the famous trademark infringement cliches are pulled out. First of all the argument for which every big company should be aware of: the we-are-small-and-you-are-so-big-argument. The title of the press release [...]

Botox. The liquid gold of the 21st century. It makes you look 10 to 20 years younger and lose your facial expression while at it. Botox is a trademark by Allergan. The company opposed the registration of the names Botolist and Botocyl, applied for by cosmetic giants Helena Rubinstein and L’Oreal. Allergan claimed that the names were coat tail riding on the well-known trademark Botox. And they succeeded. Botolist and Botocyl are successfully kept from [...]

Did you buy the deal thing?

London hosts the Olympic Summer Games this year. The general ticket conditions of the Games state that it is forbidden to share photos of any of the events via social media. The conditions state: “Photos, videos and sound recordings of the Olympics may not be used for purposes other than for private and domestic purposes. Ticket holders do not have permission to use the images or sounds to broadcast or publish, including on social media [...]

New York’s Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America is the owner of the U-logo left. This logo is used as a certification mark: the logo is shown on products which are approved kosher. Currently, this organisation is fighting against a local coffee bar in New Zealand which uses the U-logo in their communications and on products (below). The fight is now before the trademarks office of New Zealand as the Union filed an opposition against the trademark of Underground. [...]

And there’s Madonna again. This time she is allegedly infringing a Sydney based artist’s signature. The logo on Madonna’s fragrance Truth Or Dare is very similar to the sign that R.J. Williams has been using on his art for over 8 years, and also has trademarked. “I guess I want to protect what’s mine”, claims Williams. The artist from Down Under sent a cease and desist letter to Madonna’s agent, asking the pop icon to [...]