trademark

Lance Armstrong Foundation sued by holder of design patent for BARKSTRONG pet collar

In an apparent retaliatory lawsuit, Chris Ohman has sued the Lance Armstrong Foundation ("LAF") for infringing a design patent to its "BARKSTRONG" dog collar design. In his complaint, filed in the Northern District of Oklahoma last week, Mr. Ohman claims to own patent rights to the use of the LAF's signature LIVESTRONG mark on pet collars , and accuses "LIVESTRONG" pet collars sold by the LAF of infringement. The lawsuit appears extremely questionable in light of the fact that the Patent Office expressly denied Mr. Ohman design patent protection for collars with the word &… Read more

Skeletons in the crimson closet: Facebook's latest Harvard scuffle

This post was updated at 6:17 PM PT to correct the title of Aaron Greenspan's book.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg never finished his stint as an undergraduate at Harvard, opting instead to move to Palo Alto and eventually become the world's youngest billionaire. But his days in Cambridge, Mass. continue to resurface, as allegations and accusations about Facebook's earliest days grow into ivy-covered drama.

The latest: Whether Facebook can really claim it owns the term "facebook." A former classmate of Zuckerberg's, having run into problems promoting a self-published book that uses the company … Read more

Apple picking on NYC green living trademark

There are many ways to slice--or draw--an apple, but the Cupertino, Calif., computer maker is once again claiming right to its own methodology.

Just as we were enjoying a reprieve from Apple trademark cases, a new one arose this week with the company challenging New York City's trademark application for a logo it's using in a new green living campaign.

The Big Apple's GreeNYC campaign features an emblem--an apple with a stalk and leaf--that has started to appear on city bus shelters, hybrid cabs, and even Whole Foods shopping bags, according to a story first reported by Wired.… Read more

Google loses Gmail trademark appeal in Europe

A European body has again told Google that it cannot have trademark protection to use the Gmail mark throughout the European Union.

The European Union's trademark regulation agency denied Google's appeal in late February. The ruling concluded that the mark is too similar to the G-mail trademark owned by German businessman Daniel Giersch. Giersch runs an electronic postal delivery business that goes by the name G-mail, which is short for "Giersch mail."

"There is a likelihood of confusion," the agency wrote.

Google representatives in the U.S. did not respond to an e-mail seeking … Read more

'Scrabulous' debate may rewrite the rules of the game

"I'll go on a hunger strike!"

So said one adamant Facebook user in the wake of the news that game manufacturers Hasbro and Mattel were trying to do something about the wildly popular, unquestionably addictive online game known as Scrabulous.

The game, which rose to fame when its creators turned it into an embeddable Facebook application, is a word game that's a whole lot like the classic board game Scrabble. It uses a playing board with "bonus" spots just like Scrabble. In fact, the rules are identical to Scrabble's.

The companies in charge … Read more

RIM seeks patent for angled BlackBerry keyboard

Just when you've gotten to the point where you can type on your BlackBerry upside down in the dark, they're thinking about changing the keyboard.

A patent application filed on behalf of Research in Motion was recently revealed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and it describes an "angular keyboard" where the keys are set at a 45-degree angle to the base of the unit.

Anybody who has spent hours dashing off e-mails on a BlackBerry would have to learn a whole method of text input, but the payoff might be felt in the … Read more

Chinese court dismisses trademark suit against Google

A court in China has dismissed a trademark lawsuit filed against Google, according to a report on ChinaCourt.org that was translated into English and posted on Pacific Epoch.

A Beijing company called Gu Ge Technology sued Google China earlier this year, claiming that its Chinese name, "Gu Ge" was confusingly similar to its own name.

However, the Haidian People's Court in Beijing threw the suit out because Google China began using the name April 12, 2006, seven days before the other company registered its name.

Is IMDb expanding into social networking for music?

The folks over at Trademork have uncovered a trademark filed by the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) for the name "SoundUnwound." In the description, IMDb lists the potential future service as:

"Providing information regarding, and in the nature of, social networking services; online social networking services designed for people with a common desire to meet other people with similar interests; Social networking services for music enthusiasts."

While IMDb is currently limited to movies, TV shows, and other visual mediums, it's also expanded into a resume service as well as offering video games. The company is owned … Read more

Open-source IP: Lessons from Marc Fleury

I woke up to this post from Marc Fleury (Founder of JBoss), and found his comment about what intellectual property to protect in an open-source project to be very telling:

[P]rotecting IP in OSS [open-source software] is extremely important. The only "private" property that exists in OSS are 1- brand 2- URL. Both are obviously related but really you need to protect your brand name, in other words REGISTER your trademarks, use them, declare they are yours and enforce the trademark, meaning protect against infringement. Other products, specifically based on your product should not include your name. Consultancies will be able to say they know and work with your "product name" but they cannot ship products using your trademark. Educate yourselves on brand IP, that is a big asset in OSS.… Read more