Burberry Plaid on Coffee Shop Chairs Results in Legal Action

April 2, 2012

The décor in the Armenian coffee shop chain, Jazzve, includes chairs covered in fabric that looks like something familiar — Burberry’s iconic tartan plaid. Jazzve’s decorating choice has resulted in Burberry filing a trademark infringement suit against them. The suit follows a cease and desist letter from Burberry that was sent last November. If you [...]

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Facebook Adds Mention of “Book” Trademark to User Agreement

March 29, 2012

If you’re one of the 800 million registered Facebook users, it’s likely that you haven’t read the social media site’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities lately. If you haven’t, it includes this sentence under a section called Protecting Other People’s Rights: “You will not use our copyrights or trademarks (including Facebook, the Facebook and F [...]

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Nissan Bringing Datsun Brand Back

March 28, 2012

Last week’s blog post about the revival of the “choice of a new generation” trademark brought our attention to the planned revival of the Datsun brand name. For those of you old enough to remember, automaker Nissan Motor Company sold cars in the US under the Datsun brand until 1986. The name “Datsun” was an [...]

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Kraft’s New “Mondelēz” Name

March 26, 2012

Kraft Foods Inc. announced that it will change the name of its snack food business to Mondelēz later this year. Mondelēz (pronounced mohn-dah-LEEZ’), according to the company’s official news release, “is a newly coined word that evokes the idea of “delicious world.” “Monde” is derived from the Latin word for “world” and “delez” is a [...]

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Update on Chrysler’s “Imported from Detroit” Trademark Suit

March 23, 2012

Last March, automaker Chrysler Group LLC filed a lawsuit to stop retailer Pure Detroit from selling t-shirts displaying the phrase “Imported from Detroit,” which has been featured in award-winning Chrysler ad campaigns. Chrysler owns the trademark for the phrase in a number of classes. Crain’s Detroit Business has reported that both companies have now agreed [...]

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What Happens When a Trademark Registration Lapses?

March 21, 2012

In the case of Pepsi’s lapsed “Choice of a New Generation” trademark, the lapsed trademark ended up being picked up by another company, Better Oats, which is owned by MOM Brands (formerly Malt-O-Meal). Better Oats is now using the tag line, which had been used by Pepsi from 1984 -1991. The Pepsi trademark was cancelled [...]

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This Week in Louis Vuitton Pattern Imitations: Geek Chic

March 20, 2012

Thanks to Gizmodo, we have a quick add-on to our Louis Vuitton logo story from last week. In addition to U Penn’s imitation Vuitton “toile monogram” used in its IP conference marketing material, now there’s a nerd version of the iconic pattern being used on t-shirts. Available on Threadless, this version of the pattern replaces [...]

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Hobbit Pub Facing Trademark Challenge in the UK

March 15, 2012

Visitors to a pub in Southampton, England may be nearing their last chance to down drinks with names like Gandalf, Bilbo, Frodo and Legolas. That’s because the pub, known as The Hobbit, is in a legal battle with Middle-earth Enterprises, which owns the rights to the bulk of writer J. R. R. Tolkien’s work. Middle-earth, [...]

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WIPO Report: 2011 Was Record Year for International Trademarks

March 14, 2012

The number of international trademark applications filed under the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks hit an all-time high in 2011, according to a WIPO press release. More than 42,000 applications were filed last year — a 6.5% increase over the number of applications filed in 2010. Where [...]

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Parody or Trademark Infringement?: Louis Vuitton v. Penn Law

March 12, 2012

Recently, fliers promoting a symposium on fashion and IP law held by The Penn Intellectual Property Group (PIPG) at the University of Pennsylvania Law School featured an imitation of Louis Vuitton’s signature “toile monogram” print, replacing the famous “LV” initials with “TM” for “trademark.” Take a look: Is that a clever design or is it [...]

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