Trademark Police Can Be School Yard Bullies–Like Amazon!
© Cheryl Hodgson 2008 | Posted On August 4, 2008
A number of years ago, our client registered and used the domain <amazonnetworks.com>. He launched a website and used “Amazon Networks” continuously for his computer networking services.His first web page at this URL pictured the Amazon River.The association of the Amazon River was to denote his business as a powerful force to be reckoned with. His use was “arbitrary,” i.e., he applied a common term arbitrarily to unrelated goods or services. Read:APPLE is a great example of Arbitrary Use.
Unknown to our client at the time he launched his business, another start up was thinking of the same metaphor of the word “Amazon.”By coincidence, AMAZON launched its site selling books, and eventually music, completely unrelated to our client’s rights for computer services.Years later, our client received a “cease and desist” letter from Amazon, claiming he was infringing Amazon’s rights.
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Technorati Tags: AMAZON, Apple, bully pulpit, domain names, Intellectual Property, trademark infringement, trademark registration
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Domain Hijacking is Brandjacking!
© Cheryl Hodgson 2008 | Posted On July 30, 2008
Each week, nearly 3500 domains are hijacked from rightful owners. Your company could easily fall victim to brand and domain theft, which if left unchecked can seriously impact the value of your trademark, as well as the bottom line value of your business. Brandjacking is one of the fastest growing crimes throughout the internet.
One of our clients was recently the victim of brandjacking, leading us to send out this advisory to assist others. Brandjacking is the unauthorized registration or use of a trademark in a domain for competitive purposes. Our client’s site, which provided advertising and registration for seminars and work shops, was taken down, and her customers were being diverted to a “landing page” filled with competitive Pay-Per-Click (”PPC”) ads. The new “owner” used a phony name, a non-existent address, and a third party’s phone number, and was already making money from our client’s domain.
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Technorati Tags: brand protection; ppc, Branding, brandjacking, cybersquatting, domain name, parked pages, trademark, typosquatting; UDRP
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Copyright Orphan Works Act — Are all Copyright Owners to Become Orphans?
© Cheryl Hodgson 2008 | Posted On July 15, 2008
Two bills introduced in the House and Senate in SB 2913 (the “Shawn Bentley Orphans Works Act of 2008, Senate Bill 2913 and H.R. 5889 (“Orphan Works Act of 2008”) threaten to dismantle copyright protection under the guise of protecting users of works whose owners can not be found. The burden is shifted to copyright owners, and all the benefits to those who steal from them. One way of reading the bills is “Steal now, pay a little, if ever caught.” One provision, already labeled the “Dark Archive” conjures up images of the need for Jedi intervention to prevent copyright protection from a permanent move to the “Dark Side.” Are copyright owners destined to share the same fate that befell Anakin Skywalker , better known as “Darth Vader?”
I am the current President of the California Copyright Conference, (“CCC”), and we are proud to announce a joint position paper with the Association of Independent Music Publishers (“AIMP”) on this important issue. The final report is the result of a collaborative effort from a panel of distinguished experts who bring together differing viewpoints on copyright matters. The unanimity of the voice with which they have chosen to speak underscores the reason all copyright owners should read and understand the issues. [View Report ].
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Technorati Tags: art law, artist rights, copyright law, copyright legislation, Entertainment Law, music publishing, orphan works
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Talent Managers: Arbitration Clauses in Contracts Can Limit California Labor Commission Decisions
© Cheryl Hodgson 2008 | Posted On July 14, 2008
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision involving the California Talent Agency statute may stem the tide of cases by artists before the California Labor Commissioner seeking to invalidate the terms of agreements with managers and agents. Preston v. Ferrer, U.S. Sup. Ct Decision . The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a clause in the contract requiring private arbitration of disputes between the parties. As a result, the Labor Commissioner’s ability to take jurisdiction to invalidate the agreement was negated.
For years, managers have lived in dread of the often one- sided rulings by the Labor Commissioner invalidating agreements with managers on grounds the manager “procured or attempted to procure” employment without a talent agency statute. A mere shred of evidence of attempting to procure employment has often been sufficient to tip the scales in favor of the artist.
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Technorati Tags: Arbitration, California Labor Commissioner, Entertainment Law, Music Law, Personal Appearance Contracts, Personal Managers, talent agent
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Imagine Telling Investors the Good Will of Your Business Has Been Lost or Damaged!
© Cheryl Hodgson 2008 | Posted On June 5, 2008
Maintain and Police Trademark Registrations or this could happen to you!
A parts manufacturing company in the Bay Area called me in to review and summarize the status of their brand protection and copyrights. That included their logo and other trademarks.
A large percentage of the purchase price paid for the company several years earlier was listed as a company asset under “good will” This figure, which amounted to millions of dollars, was assigned to the goodwill and brand.
If registrations of trademarks are not maintained on a regular basis, legal protection is lost. Moreover, rights can be diminished or lost without an effective program to monitor the marketplace, and act to enforce rights against infringers. [See Previous Post ].
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Technorati Tags: accounting, brand equity, brand management, intangible assets, Intellectual Property, policing your mark, risk management, trademark registrations
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Brand Management in the 21st Century–It’s the Brand–New Game.
© Cheryl Hodgson 2008 | Posted On June 4, 2008
Valuing trademarks and good will in company financial statements is more than Accounting 101. It may well be a fiduciary obligation for the officers.
So what if your business is not the size of McDonald’s, or likely to engage in scandals the likes of Enron. Why should you care about the need to accurately value good will as an asset of the business? More important, what actions must your company take to oversee and protect the stated value, particularly where outside investors are involved?
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Technorati Tags: brand equity, brand management, good will, Intellectual Property, Sarbanes Oxley, tradmarks
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Generic Terms Part 2: Turn on the Lights in Your Brand Space and See who else is there!
© Cheryl Hodgson 2008 | Posted On May 4, 2008
One of my first important trademark clients as a young lawyer was TACO TIME®, an early entrant into the franchise market, which was started in the early 1960’s in Eugene, near the University of Oregon campus. The company had secured a federal registration for their mark TACO TIME®. Then for the next 20 years, they didn’t pay much attention to the other companies that had entered the market. Without expert counsel, they had allowed many other registrations to slip through without objection at the Trademark Office. There were several dozen trademarks for restaurants containing the word “taco” together with another word, including a recent entrant into the market, TACO TOWN. This company had adopted the same lettering style, as well as the same “cactus” in between the words as had been used by TACO TIME since its inception and was seeking a federal trademark registration.
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Technorati Tags: generic terms, McCarthy on Trademarks, police your mark, TACO TIME, trademark protection, trademark registration
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XEROX® uses the Zipper—A Valuable Lesson: Avoid Brand Genericide with Proper Trademark Usage.
© Cheryl Hodgson 2008 | Posted On April 26, 2008
Genericide Means the Death of a Brand
Rule No. 1: A generic term is not protectible as a trademark.
Already have a headache? Take an aspirin . Yes, once a trademark, now a fallen victim to genericide.
Several important concepts as to “generic” usage and its impact upon brand equity should be learned. We will have some fun in this and the article to follow with some examples, some of which will surprise you.
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Technorati Tags: aspirin, brand equity, generic terms, small business advice, trademark infringement, trademark registration, trademark usage, XEROX, XEROX trademark
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The Brand Dream Team: Four Horsemen for a Great Trademark Portfolio
© Cheryl Hodgson 2008 | Posted On April 13, 2008
Jim Cramer, a founder of www.thestreet.com, and well known Wall Street sage, is host of CNBC’s wildly successful MAD MONEY. Last year when things were still “flying high” Jim dubbed the four seemingly unstoppable tech stocks including RIMM and APPLE, but two of the “four horsemen.” The four horsemen had momentum, but also had underlying intrinsic value. They were the trend that couldn’t be bucked, and symbolized what was right in the tech sector. The four horsemen for developing a strong brand for your business have these same qualities. They are capable of leading your marketing to higher and greater places, increasing the value of your company, and adding financial value to the brand you seek to build.
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Technorati Tags: Advertising, brand management, Branding, business valuation, Marketing, Trademarks
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Let the Trademark Search Begin— Girls Named TIFFANY Love Jewelry Too!
© Cheryl Hodgson 2008 | Posted On April 9, 2008
Selection of a great trademark requires investigation. In a recent post, I likened investing in the wrong trademark to the foolish act of building a house on land you don’t own. How does this happen? Simple! In a rush of excitement to launch a new product or business, it’s easy to forget that selection of a trademark is not the same as naming a baby.There can be dozens of beautiful young baby girls named Tiffany, happily growing up in different parts of the world, or even the same community happily meeting each other from time to time.
Even when two girls named Tiffany are in the same class in school, last names are sufficient to help tell them apart. While Tiffany is a beautiful name, it’s not available as a trademark for most product lines. Let’s suppose one young Tiffany grows up, and decides to start a jewelry line called TIFFANY. After all, her name is “Tiffany.”She should be able to do so, shouldn’t she?
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Technorati Tags: Branding, Marketing, TIFFANY, trademark, trademark registration, trademark selection
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