Archive
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 Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 (Bernama) — Berjaya Books Sdn Bhd, the operator of Borders Malaysia, now owns the Borders Trademark Malaysia in perpetuity within Malaysia following the successful acquisition of the brand.
The company said its parent company, Berjaya Corporation Bhd (BCorp) had acquired the licence to use Border’s trademark on a perpetual basis from the liquidators of Borders Group Inc., USA.
read more from : http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=617846
Trademark Dispute
Houston macaroni and cheese joint Jus’ Mac has found itself embroiled in a trademark dispute with McDonald’s since the word Mac is similar to some of McDonald’s products, such as the Big Mac.
Jus’ Mac owner Kimberly Alvarez filed a trademark application for Jus’ Mac in October 2010 and has since amended the trademark to include “A Mac N’ Cheese Eatery,” to hopefully avoid any confusion with McDonald’s. The parties are attempting to reach a compromise, but Alvarez admits she’s in no position to challenge the enormous chain.
In an email message to the Houston Chronicle, McDonald’s spokeswoman Angelica Rosas said, “McDonald’s considers its trademarks to be a very important asset. We hope to find a mutually acceptable resolution to this matter.”
read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/23/mcdonalds-trademark-jus-mac_n_977559.html
Trademark Infringement | Chanel
Chanel Inc. has filed a sweeping cyberpiracy and trademark infringement lawsuit in Nevada against 399 websites the company accuses of selling counterfeit items bearing the luxury retailer’s name.
The suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas seeks unspecified damages from unnamed operators of websites that the New York-based fashion house alleges operate from China, the Bahamas and other overseas jurisdictions where trademark enforcement is lax.
Lead attorney for Chanel, Stephen Gaffigan of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was out of the office and unable to immediately respond Wednesday to messages seeking comment.
The suit was first reported by the Las Vegas Sun.
The complaint takes the trademark infringement battle beyond a fight to stamp out street corner knock-offs.
It seeks an order to seize or disable website domain names and an injunction barring defendants — identified only as “partnerships and unincorporated associations” — from selling counterfeit goods including handbags, wallets, shoes, boots, sunglasses, scarves, T-shirts, watches and jewelry bearing the Chanel name.
Gaffigan is also the lead lawyer in similar cases in federal court in Las Vegas involving retailers Tiffany (NJ) LLC, and Louis Vuitton Malletier, S.A.
The Tiffany lawsuit filed April 18 targets 223 unnamed website operators, including several that are also named in the Chanel case.
The Louis Vuitton lawsuit, filed May 9, identifies 182 websites as defendants.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges offending websites use Chanel-sounding or Tiffany-sounding names and keyword optimization methods to show up atop Google and Yahoo search engine lists.
The plea to the court calls domain names such as chanelOnline.com, replica-coco-lv.com, tiffanyand-co.com and chanelhandbags-outlet.net “identical or confusingly similar to” actual Chanel and Tiffany names.
Trademark Registration CHARM
Microsoft filed for U.S. federal trademark registration for the word ‘CHARM’ last week — the very week the company unveiled a feature in its still-in-development Windows 8 operating system called, as it happens, “charms.”
The trademark application identifies “CHARM” as “computer programs; graphical user interface software; operating system programs.”
Though the document does not appear to mention Windows 8, it was revealed at Microsoft’s Build conference for developers last week that “charms” are a series of five icons that can be swiped in from the side of the screen in Windows 8’s user interface.
Trademark in Malaysia or Singapore : RedQ
Qantas has successfully trademarked the name “RedQ” in an expedited application to IP Australia, suggesting it may be soon to unveil its new premium Asian-based airline.
It also trademarked “RedQ Executive Flyer” as a name associated with a loyalty scheme.
Although a Dallas company has held a trademark for “RedQ” associated with pressure valves since the early 2000s, the ownership of the “RedQ.com” domain name has recently been transferred to an Australian intellectual property lawyer. Until recently, the site was owned by a firm providing outsourced customer service solutions.
The Australian equivalent domain name, RedQ.com.au, was also registered a week ago by the same lawyer.
However, Qantas does not appear to have registered the RedQ trademark in Malaysia or trademark in Singapore — the two locations most likely to form the base of the premium airline.
read more: http://www.ausbt.com.au/qantas-new-asian-airline-to-be-called-redq
Trademark to Apple in Thanks
Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, presented Steve Jobs and Apple with the trademark and domain for App Store as a gesture of thanks. Speaking in one of the many executive interviews and comments that have taken place since Steve Jobs announced that his resignation as CEO of Apple, Mr. Benioff said he gave away the domain and trademark because of help that Mr. Jobs had given him in 2003…… read more http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/salesforce.com_ceo_gifted_app_store_trademark_to_apple_in_thanks/
Trademark in Asia_
Trademark in Malaysia
Trademark in Singapore
Trademark in China
Trademark in India
Trademark_RIM challenges Apple trademark application
Research In Motion Ltd. has challenged Apple Inc.’s application to trademark WebKit, the brand name of a browser tool used across the computing industry.
The “opposition action” was filed with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office this month and Waterloo-based RIM has been granted until Nov. 22 to produce reasons behind the move. A RIM spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
Apple filed a trademark application in May 2010 for the software, which translates programming code so Internet browsers can display text on Web pages.
In 2005, Apple rendered WebKit open source, meaning its source code is freely available and a trademark would have no impact on who could use the technology.
But owning a trademark could give Apple a marketing edge because it would mean rivals wouldn’t be able to associate the WebKit name with their products. WebKit powers browsers, among them Apple’s Safari and Google Inc.’s Chrome, and is used in smartphones that run Android software.
read more: http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1046586–rim-challenges-apple-trademark-application
T-shirt seller sued over Steelers
Trademark Agent in Asia, include Singapore Malaysia China Thailand Brunei Indonesia Vietnam India Hong Kong, Taiwan
(Reuters) – The Pittsburgh Steelers and a school for disabled students are suing a company for selling T-shirts that allegedly infringe on the trademark of The Terrible Towel, a yellow-and-black cloth often twirled by the football team’s fans.
The lawsuit alleges that Eugene Berry Enterprise LLC filed a trademark application in May for “The Terrible T-Shirt” and had been selling the shirts emblazoned with those words and “A Pittsburgh Original,” court documents said.
Attorneys for the Allegheny Valley School, which owns the Terrible Towel trademark, asked the company to withdraw the application before its owner attempted to have more of the shirts printed, the documents said. It has been selling the shirts since February, according to the suit.
The suit, filed on Monday, alleges trademark infringement, unfair competition, fraud and other offenses. It seeks damages including profits from the T-shirts, attorneys’ fees and other expenses.
The late sportscaster Myron Cope invented The Terrible Towel in the mid-1970s. In 1996, he gave the trademark to the Allegheny Valley School, where his autistic son lived. The Steelers have an exclusive license to market Terrible Towel-marked items.
A spokesman for the Steelers and a spokeswoman for the school declined to comment. Eugene Berry Enterprise could not immediately be reached for comment.
source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/25/us-nfl-steelers-towel-idUSTRE77O7ZB20110825
Patent : Microsoft vs. Motorola
One of the many battles in the smartphone patent war went before the International Trade Commission (ITC) today as Microsoft began arguing its case that Android-based smartphones made by Motorola Mobility infringed on seven of Microsoft’s patents.
In a trial that began today before the ITC in Washington, Microsoft accused Motorola Mobility of using technology derived from Microsoft inventions and requested a halt
to imports of certain Motorola phones, Bloomberg reported. The ITC has the power to stop imports of products that violate U.S. patent rights.
It’s one of several lawsuits Microsoft and Motorola have filed against each other. And it’s the first to be heard since Google, which created the Android operating system, announced Aug. 15 that it plans to buy Motorola Mobility, at least in part because of Motorola’s stash of mobile-phone technology patents
Florian Mueller, a consultant who writes the Foss Patents blog and has been following this and other related cases closely, believes that “Microsoft in a pretty strong position here. There’s no doubt that Microsoft innovatved in various areas in the last 10 to 20 years in fields of technology in which Android also sort of operates.”
Most of the time, such patent infringement cases are settled for a certain dollar amount. And Microsoft has licensing deals in which mobile-phone manufacturers pay Microsoft a certain amount per unit as a licensing fee to use technologies derived from its inventions.
But settling seems less likely these days with the patent war among smartphone- and operating system-manufacturers growing fiercer, Muller said.
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