Oneida Group, Inc. v. Steelite International U.S.A. Inc. is a demonstration of how our jurisprudence is essentially useless in deciding trademark ownership claims. The dispute is over ownership of the trade dress in the highly successful “Botticelli” and “Nexus” tableware patterns, part of Oneida’s “Sant’ Andrea” line: The tableware is considered premier and sold...
Read more →I just watched the most recent episode of Mad Men, “The Strategy.” The “strategy” is for an advertising campaign for the Burger Chef chain of fast food restaurants. Here’s the closing shot of the episode, with Pete, Peggy and Don sitting in a Burger Chef: Anyone eaten at a Burger Chef lately—anyone? According to Wikipedia, there...
Read more →Go read this story: “Firefly Hat Triggers Corporate Crackdown.” It’s a situation that is just so misguided. I’ll note that I’m taking the facts in the article as true; perhaps, as is often the case, there is more to the story. But the article tells the story of a hat, this hat:
Read more →drawing and specimen for plaintiff’s trade dress registration Plaintiff Lauren Brenner started Pure Power Boot Camp, a military-style exercise facility. She hired the defendants and they decided to start a competing business called Warrior Fitness Boot Camp. The defendants behaved despicably; while still her employees they had one’s client/girlfriend promote Warrior Fitness to Pure...
Read more →Tecnimed SRL v Kidz-Med, Inc. is a manufacturer-distributor dispute with a bit of a twist – the agreement was clear about who owned the trademark (the manufacturer), but it didn’t address who owned the trade dress for the product. Tecnimed is an Italian company that makes a non-contact thermometer for taking a child’s temperature. Kidz-Med...
Read more →I previously blogged about a dispute between Bodum USA and La Cafetière over the sale of French press coffeemakers. Corporate entity Bodum bought out one of the shareholders, Martin. The purchase agreement included future restraints on Martin’s use of the conveyed trademarks and, it argued, on the trade dress in the pot configuration itself. ...
Read more →The concept of “intellectual property” is often used as a generic category, particularly in contracts. So what does it mean for an amusement park? The “Hard Rock Park” was an amusement park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This isn’t going where you think; it’s not about the HARD ROCK marks. The park had been...
Read more →Sometimes assigning the trademark isn’t enough. In the 1950’s, Société des Anciens Etablissements Martin S.A. (“Martin”) owned the design patents for and distributed the “Chambord” and “Melior” French press coffeemakers. In 1983, Viel Castel, a majority shareholder of Martin, and Jrgen Jepsen Bodum established Bodum, Inc. (“Bodum”). Bodum had the distribution rights to the...
Read more →Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
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