Protecting brands

Client: “I want to take the brand name of the MP3 category leader, reverse it and register it as a trade mark. Can I do that?”
Most lawyers would automatically say no.
Instinctively, because it smells wrong, and surely is a clear indication of bad faith.
As has now been reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, that’s not [...]

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Microsoft has opened its second flagship retail store (bottom left), and some are saying that these are copies of the Apple stores.
Similarities are lots of open space and broad, clean tables with equipment for customers to try.
Perhaps Microsoft was inspired by the design of Apple stores, which have certainly been successful in showcasing Apple products.
The real issue [...]

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You may have seen the recent newspaper story about Apple Inc opposing the new Woolworths logo (pictured).
Currently Apple has 13 trade mark oppositions on foot in Australia.
Some of these look like obvious attempts to hop onto Apple’s iPod and iPhone bandwagon. Even before the trainwreck of iSnack 2.0 (which thankfully Kraft have decided to change).
There’s the [...]

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Air-o-matic, the owners of the computer and mobile phone application Pull My Finger are claiming trade mark infringement by competitor, iFart, for use of the phrase Pull My Finger in advertising.
Pull My Finger and iFart joined the Apple App Store at around the same time, and both achieved some success. Late last year iFart became [...]

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Wired magazine reports that Apple has claimed in court that no reasonable person would believe its iPhone ad.
Apple is being sued by San Diego resident William Gillis for misleading advertising. Mr Gillis claims that the new iPhone 3G is not “twice as fast for half the price” when compared to the original iPhone.
Interestingly, Apple’s defence [...]

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The inventor of the iPod is a 52 year old British man, Kane Kramer.
During patent litigation with Burst.com, who were claiming a share of Apple’s iPod profits, Apple flew Kramer to the US and paid him to give evidence about his 1979 invention, showing that Burst.com’s claims were flawed.
Kramer patented the invention worldwide but couldn’t [...]

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Seven’s television advertisement for its TiVo digital TV recorder (click to see ad) looks very similar to Apple’s iPod advertisement (click to see ad).
The Apple ad features album cover art building up into a city before being sucked into an iPod. The TiVo ad features a similar animation, replacing cover art with TV screenshots.
The Sydney [...]

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Apple and CBS are facing a trade mark infringement claim by manufacturer Man & Machine over their use of the name Mighty Mouse.
Man & Machine claims that their rights pre-date Apple’s because they sold a waterproof mouse (pictured) called the Mighty Mouse in 2004 – at least a year before Apple launched its product.
But they [...]

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