Archive
AMI loses ‘my’ trademark battle
AMI Insurance has lost its battle to trademark 15 common insurance terms with the prefix “my”, such as “my insurance”.
The trademark were approved for registration by the Intellectual Property Office last year.
But rivals AA Insurance, IAG New Zealand, Tower Insurance and Vero Insurance united to appeal against the decision to the High Court at Wellington in June.
They claimed the terms were generic to the industry, and were not distinctive enough to qualify as a trademark and could confuse consumers.
Justice Joe Williams said in his judgment that a large number of “my marks” had been registered in relation to goods and services, such as “My Money”, a trademark for a Bank of New Zealand account and Sky Television’s “My Sky”.
But these did not use generic product names, unlike the words AMI was seeking to register, Justice Williams said.
AMI’s application was the first in the insurance industry to try to trademark generic industry terms, including “my insurance, my car insurance and “my house insurance”.
read more: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/5969673/AMI-loses-my-trademark-battle
Simon Cowell drops attempt to trademark Rhythmix
Simon Cowell has abandoned his attempt to trademark the name Rhythmix, after weeks of pressure from a Brighton-based children’s charity of the same name over a The X Factor girl band.
A public standoff between the Rhythmix charity and the music mogul came to a head on Wednesday, with Cowell agreeing to withdraw a formal application to trademark the name.
Producers at The X Factor changed the Rhythmix girl group’s name to Little Mix in October when the row first erupted. Mark Davyd, the chief executive of the charity, welcomed the move and said it was an end to The X Factor’s attempt to “bully the charity into submission”.
A spokeswoman for Syco, Cowell’s entertainment business which co-produces The X Factor, said: “Syco are happy to withdraw the application for the trademark, as initially offered at the time of the name change to Little Mix.”
The Rhythmix charity pointed out in an open letter to Cowell on Tuesday that his firm had not withdrawn its attempt to trademark the name, despite agreeing to rename The X Factor group. Late on Tuesday the mark “Rhythmix” was still listed among Syco’s other trademarks, including The X Factor, Il Divo and Got Talent.
A spokeswoman for Syco said that the show’s lawyers wrote to the charity on 26 October offering to give them the trademark, which the charity refused. “We remain happy to withdraw it and we do not intend to use this name at any time in the future,” the spokeswoman said. “We conclude this matter is closed.”
read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/nov/09/x-factor-simon-cowell-rhythmix
Lockheed Wins ‘Paveway’
Lockheed Martin Corp., the world’s largest defense contractor, won a U.S. agency ruling that prevents Raytheon Co. from obtaining a trademark on the name “Paveway” for laser-guided bombs.
Paveway is a generic term, a board at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia, said in a Sept. 27 decision that rejected Raytheon’s request. Both Lockheed and Waltham, Massachusetts-based Raytheon make bombs with the name.
Raytheon, the world’s largest missile maker, had sought exclusive rights to the name after Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed began supplying laser-guided bombs to the U.S. Air Force and Navy and international customers, Lockheed said today in statement. Lockheed had filed notice of opposition to the registration request in 2005.
The agency’s decision “fully recognizes Lockheed Martin as one of two U.S. government-qualified sources for paveway II precision guided systems,” Joe Serra, a senior manager for precision guided systems at Lockheed, said in the statement.
The case is Lockheed Martin Corp. v. Raytheon Co., Opposition No. 91174152, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Alexandria, Virginia).
Trademark Infringement : GTL
Jersey Shore star wants to make sure his GTL trademark is intact, which means suing a random ass guido-themed lifestyle company for ripping off The Situation’s brand.
The lawsuit has been filed … but does it have merit?
Neck Brace and Sunglasses
Don’t cry, Mike … it’s gonna be alright dawg.
Sitch’s cease and desist letter to a website called MyGTLFuel (dot) com claims they’d better quit exploiting his trademark or legal action will be a-comin’.
The site, which sells everything from energy shots to tanning lotion, hasn’t gone anywhere yet, as its owner, Dana Valentino, says there’s no trademark.
According to Valentino, Sitch applied for the “GTL” trademark, but doesn’t legally own it … yet. He wants to settle this amicably but NOT close up shop.
Read more http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/10/situation-sues-over-gtl-trademark-infringement/
Local.com Granted Patent for Providing Localized Shopping Information
Local.com Corporation, a leading online local media company, today announced that the company has been awarded patent number 8,032,427 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office covering a system for providing localized shopping information.
Issued on Oct. 4, 2011, the patent describes a system by which consumers are provided with online information for specific products sold by local retailers using location-based information to determine relevance. The patented system also provides for the display of relevant advertising along with the sought-after local shopping information.
According to BIA/Kelsey, approximately 97 percent of consumers who use the Internet have used it to research goods or services they purchased offline.
“Consumers are increasingly using mobile devices and apps to research products that are ultimately purchased at brick-and-mortar retailers. As a result of this, we believe that location-based services will play a growing role in connecting retailers with ready-to-buy consumers who are searching for those products,” said Heath Clarke, chairman and CEO, Local.com. “We believe this new patent, acquired as part of our acquisition of Krillion, provides Local.com with important new intellectual property in this space.”
“Tweet” Trademark
James Eliason, CEO of Twittad, said in an interview that Twitter would drop a lawsuit it filed against his company last month that sought to nix Twittad’s registered trademark of the word “tweet.” In return, Des Moines-based Twittad would transfer its registered trademark of “tweet” to Twitter, he said.
(People “tweet” by posting a message of up to 140 characters on Twitter, an online messaging service.)
Twitter’s battle over the “tweet” trademark was the subject of a Wall Street Journal article last month.
Eliason declined to say whether Twitter paid Twittad, citing a confidentiality agreement between the companies.
“We’ve arrived at a resolution with Twittad that recognizes consistent use of Tweet while supporting the continued success of Twitter ecosystem partners like Twittad,” Twitter spokeswoman Lynn Fox said in a statement.
Eliason said Twitter would restore Twittad’s account on Twitter so that it can resume business. Twittad helps a network of 27,000 other Twitter users to get paid to tweet advertisements on Twitter.
Eliason, who runs other Web start-ups, said Twittad would continue to use its original tagline: “Let your ad meet tweets.”
In its legal filings last month, Twitter argued that “tweet” was already “famous” as a Twitter term before rivals filed trademark application and that Twitter is the rightful owner.
The suit held that another company’s getting the tweet-related trademark “threatens to block Twitter from its registration and legitimate uses of its own mark.”
Patent, Trademark, Copyright
This is a daily report on global news about patent, trademark, copyright and other intellectual property topics. Updates with Corbin Fisher item in Trademark section.
Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) — Whirlpool Corp., the world’s largest appliance maker, said it won a six-month stay of litigation in a refrigerator-technology patent infringement lawsuit brought in Trenton, New Jersey, by South Korean rival LG Electronics Inc.
The postponement was related “to progress in separate proceedings challenging the validity of LG’s patents” in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Whirlpool, based in Benton Harbor, Michigan, said in an Oct. 7 statement.
Consult Tiger Intellectual for register Trademark Malaysia
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