Trademark Law

iPad Name Also Claimed by Fujitsu and Bra Maker

Fujitsu is consulting its lawyers about its legal rights to the iPad name. The Tokyo technology company applied in 2003 for a trademark on its iPad, a handheld device that helps store clerks verify prices and check real-time inventory, the New York Times reports. The Times describes the device this…

Jan 28, 2010 5:33 PM CST

Florida Personal Injury Firm Sues Over Strangely Similar Website

Lawyers at the Florida personal injury law firm Gordon & Doner stumbled on a surprising online find: There were two versions of its website. The Florida law firm did something about it—they filed a trademark infringement suit against the Web host for the knockoff site and the still-unknown copier, the…

Jan 26, 2010 4:50 PM CST

Google IDs Defenses in YouTube Suit, Faces New Smartphone Name Claim

Attorneys for Google Inc. and Viacom Inc. are sharpening their legal weapons as they prepare for a federal court battle over an asserted $1 billion in damages over thousands of unauthorized third-party postings of copyrighted movie and television videos on YouTube. In letters to a Manhattan federal judge that were…

Jan 9, 2010 12:28 AM CST

Suit Claims Search Engine’s ‘Bing’ Name Infringes Trademark

A small St. Louis design company claims in a lawsuit that Microsoft infringed its trademark when it called its new search engine Bing. The suit was filed in St. Louis circuit court this week by Bing! Information Design, according to Ars Technica’s One Microsoft Way blog, IDG News Service and…

Dec 18, 2009 1:26 PM CST

The North Face Sues The South Butt for Trademark Infringement

The North Face Apparel Co. has filed a trademark infringement suit against a teen who started a company called The South Butt to help pay for college. The North Face’s tag line is “Never Stop Exploring” while The South Butt sells products with the tag line “Never Stop Relaxing,” according…

Dec 15, 2009 12:46 PM CST

IRS and Foreign Countries May Jointly Audit Some Corporations

After collecting millions of dollars in unpaid taxes from Americans with secret bank accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the Internal Revenue Service is expanding its overseas enforcement efforts. The tax agency is working with its counterparts in other countries to develop a plan for conducting joint audits of multinational corporations,…

Dec 11, 2009 5:30 PM CST

Supreme Court Won’t Decide Challenge to Redskins Name

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal that claims the trademark for the Washington Redskins name should have been denied because it is racially disparaging. The legal issue was whether a trademark challenge based on offensiveness can be dismissed for being filed too late, the Wall Street…

Nov 16, 2009 4:40 PM CST

Playboy Sues Lawyer Who Posed for Mag, Claims She Can’t Be ‘Lawyer of Love’

Playboy magazine has sued a Chicago divorce lawyer who posed nude for the magazine and once wrote its “Lawyer of Love” advice column, claiming she has no right to the column’s name. Playboy claims lawyer Corri Fetman waived any rights to the “Lawyer of Love” phrase in her freelance agreement…

Nov 11, 2009 2:07 PM CST

Law Firm & Ex-Associate Litigate Badmouth Blog Battle in State & Federal Court

A war of words between Levinson Axelrod and ex-associate Edward Harrington Heyburn is now in litigation. The New Jersey-based personal injury law firm filed an order to show cause in state court in Middlesex County Superior Court last week, seeking a shutdown order concerning the website in which Heyburn criticizes…

Nov 10, 2009 8:54 PM CST

UK Lawyers Set to Stock Supermarket Shelves for Client, Delaying Case

Lawyers with the British law firm Pinsent Masons will be stocking supermarket shelves at Asda, delaying a trademark dispute involving the U.K. supermarket chain. Asda’s counsel, Hugh Cuddigan, asked the High Court to push back a January trial date because Pinsents lawyers were going to be busy stocking shelves over…

Nov 4, 2009 5:33 PM CST

Trademark Concerns Derail Auction of Motorized Recliner That Isn’t a La-Z-Boy

Bidding had reached more than $40,000 on a motorized recliner seized after its owner was accused of driving the chair home from a bar while drunk. But the eBay auction of the “Motorized La-Z-Boy Chair” was halted after La-Z-Boy complained that the recliner was not one of its products, according…

Nov 3, 2009 6:51 PM CST

Ex-Associate Badmouths Former Firm in Legal Blog

It isn’t what an attorney would generally recommend to a client. But attorney Edward Harrington Heyburn says he was willing to risk litigation when he created a legal blog that badmouths partners at the New Jersey law firm at which he formerly worked, Levinson Axelrod. His Levinson Axelrod Sucks blog…

Nov 2, 2009 7:35 PM CST

Chamber of Commerce Sues ‘Yes Men’ for Fake News Conference (See Video)

A group of pranksters called the Yes Men is facing a lawsuit for impersonating the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at a news conference. The chamber is suing the Yes Men for trademark infringement, unfair competition and false advertising, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire blog. The suit (PDF…

Oct 27, 2009 2:32 PM CDT

Google ‘Adwords’ Don’t Violate Trademark Law, Adviser Tells EU Court

In an opinion that could point the way for a first-of-a-kind court ruling in the European Union, an adviser to the European Court of Justice says the use of a competitor’s trademark as a keyword by companies advertising on Google doesn’t violate trademark law. The issue is at the heart…

Sep 22, 2009 8:42 PM CDT

Pfizer Wins Injunction Banning N.Y. Man’s ‘Viva Viagra’ Missile Stunt

A federal judge has sided with Pfizer in an unusual trademark dispute over its erectile disfunction drug Viagra, granting a permanent injunction banning a New York man from towing a 25-foot missile replica emblazoned with “Viva Viagra” in front of the drug manufacturer’s Manhattan world headquarters. In addition to U.S.…

Sep 10, 2009 4:57 PM CDT