What do Brittany Spears, Tiger Woods and Samsung all have in common? They all, through self-infliction, have caused tremendous damage to their brand. While its normal (and often unavoidable) for the brand of a celebrity or a company to lose value over time, causing self-inflicted damage to your brand during its heyday can be catastrophic and cost millions. Worse still, any attempt to reverse the damage – once done –
Category: Intellectual Property Law
Political Candidates: Play That Funky Music – But Be Prepared To Stop
As reported by Breitbart, a cavalcade of musicians have come forward in recent months to protest the unauthorized use of their songs by Presidential candidate Donald Trump. The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Queen, R.E.M., Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and the Estate of George Harrison are but a few of the artists that have raised objections. Can these artists, however, force Donald Trump to stop? And does playing recorded
“Bad Boy of Pharma” Martin Shkreli Faces Copyright Lawsuit over Wu-Tang Clan Album
Pejoratively called the “Bad Boy of Pharma” after his company raised the price of Daraprim, a drug often used by AIDS patients, by more than 5000% overnight, Martin Shkreli has attracted a great deal of bad publicity. The BBC opined that he “may be the most hated man in America”. Hillary Clinton accused him of “[p]rice gouging”, while Donald Trump said “[t]hat guy is nothing. He’s zero. He’s nothing. He ought to be a
Let them Eat (Birthday) Cake and Sing!! $14 Million Settlement Reached in “Happy Birthday” Copyright Case
While many of us have known that every time a bell is rung an angel gets its wings, very few of us have known that for decades Warner Music has been receiving money every time the song “Happy Birthday” was sung as birthday candles were being blown out across America. But there is now good news for birthday clowns, family restaurants and the thousands of others who have collectively paid upwards of $50 million in
APPLE FOUND TO BE A WILLFUL INFRINGER; SLAPPED WITH $626 MILLION ADVERSE VERDICT IN PATENT LITIGATION
As reported by CNN Money, a jury recently awarded $626 million in damages against Apple in a case involving its FaceTime and iMessage software. VirnetX filed the lawsuit against Apple, claiming that Apple’s software infringes several of its patents that purportedly cover security technology used in real-time communications over the Internet.
Capri Sun®, Shape-Trademarks and Patent Expiration
Previously, we wrote about the ongoing legal battle between Deutsche SiSi-Werke Betriebs GmbH, owners of the CAPRI SUN® brand, and Faribault Foods over Faribault’s laminated fruit juice pouches. In particular, we wrote about how SiSi-Werke’s registration for its laminated pouch trademark had become incontestable, and what impact such incontestability would have on Faribault’s ability to argue that the CAPRI SUN® bran
Potential Dispute Brewing Between BMW and Google Regarding “ALPHABET” Trademark
As reported by The New York Times, Google recently announced “Alphabet” as the name of its new holding company that will own the Google search business and several smaller holdings. Apparently unbeknownst to Google, however, German automaker BMW uses the “ALPHABET” trademark, as well as the alphabet.com domain name, in relation to services that it provides to corporations with vehicle fleets.
CAPRI SUN®: A Case Study in Marketing and Trade Dress Registrations
Sold in over 100 countries, CAPRI SUN® brand fruit juice beverages are popular the world over. Since the mid-1980s, Deutsche SiSi-Werke Betriebs GmbH-the brand’s German-based parent company-has maintained a trade dress registration for the design of the brand’s well known flexible laminated pouches. (See U.S. Reg. No. 1418517).
“TRUMP” THE BRAND AFFORDS DONALD TRUMP INSTANT RECOGNITION AMONGST AMERICAN VOTERS
He is riding high in the polls and was front and center in the first Republican Presidential Debate. Some consider him an arrogant blowhard, while others believe he is the “straight talker” that the country desperately needs. Perhaps no presidential candidate elicits such an extreme response to his or her very name. You may love him or hate him, but there is little doubt that you know him.
Cecil the Lion (Beanie Baby) “Dead in his Tracks?”
With great fanfare, Beanie Baby® toy manufacturer Ty Inc. has announced the creation of a “Cecil the Lion” Beanie Baby® – purportedly to raise funds for animal conservation efforts.
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