HomeAway sued rival for alleged trademark infringement

photo homeaway.com

 According to Austin-in-business-journal, birdhouse logo used by vacation rental listing company Home Away Inc. is the focus of a trademark infringement lawsuit filed against San Fracisco-based rival Airbnb.

The article reports that the dispute centers on Airbnb's first national ad campaign that includes Home Away's birdhouse logo.

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Microsoft applied for trademark on 'Mod'

photo Amit Chattopadhyay

 According to PULSE 2.0, Microsoft applied for the "Mod" trademark with the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office on December 9th.

 There is speculation that Microsoft is hopeful to use 'Mod' as a replacement for 'Metro'.
The reason is that Microsoft officials conceded that the company would no longer be using "Metro" because of a naming dispute with the German partner Metro Group ,just before launching Windows 8, in August 2012.

 Microsoft also applied for trademarks like "Windows Mod", "Office Mod", and "Microsoft Office Mod". It is unknown whether Microsoft will commercially use the trademark name or not.

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Disney filed a trademark suit over 'Frozen'

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney filed a trademark suit over the word ‘Frozen’ which is a title of its new released animation movie. 

Disney's 'Frozen' (left) and Phase 4 Studio's 'Frozen Land' (right)

Disney claimed that the Phase 4 film inc. changed their film to ‘Frozen Land’ and they get the benefits from Disney’s ‘Frozen’. The lawsuit said that Phase 4 was aware of Disney’s ‘Frozen’ and Disney is seeking for an injunction and destruction of all DVDs for Frozen Land.

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Korean Companies Rarely File International Patent Applications

According to Business Korea, many Korean companies prefer filing their trademarks separately in specific countries without going through the Madrid system. The Madrid system is widely used in Europe, for its convenience and it drastically reduces costs and time.  Korea also became a member country of the Madrid Union in 2003 because of its advantages.  However, there are not many cases of Korean companies using the system.

According to the article, it is estimated that 300-500 cases are registered per year by local companies through the system, which is a minuscule number compared to the figure for trademarks filed by overseas firms. 

Korean companies prefer filing their trademark separately in specific countries without going through the system because of Madrid System’s “concentrating attack” phenomenon which affects registered trademark when there is any change occurs in a trademark of the original country. 

Click here for the detailed information

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Starbucks loses trademark suit over 'Double Shot'

▲ Starbucks' DOUBLESHOT and Namyang's French Cafe Double Shot on display stand

Starbucks sued Namyang, Korean dairy products company, over the term ‘double shot’ in November 2012, and the court made final judgment on 24th December 2013.

According to Sbscnbc News, the court said that ‘double shot’ is already used through in coffee industry and it can’t be trademarked by a company. Starbuck started to sell ‘Starbuck Double Shot’ since 2006 and it filed the case when Namyang started to sell their new coffee product named ‘French café double shot’.  

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U.S bicycle company Specialized drops copyright suit against a small bike shop

Global bicycle company Specialized dropped the trademark suit against a small bike shop in Canada. Velo News reported that the CEO of Specialized visited the bike shop and apologized.

Specialized sued the bike shop ‘Café Roubaix’ for using ‘Roubaix’. They claimed that the company owns the trademark on the word Roubaix and they demanded changing the name of shop. This case got attention through social media, and the CEO, Mike Sinyard visited Canada and make apology.   

 “I just want to say a big apology for this whole thing,” Sinyard said in the Café Roubaix video on Cafe Roubaix' facebook. 

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Korea Intellectual Property Office signs MOU on IPRs with China

According to the article on kipo.go.kr, a new forum for cooperation on intellectual property rights (IPRs) between Korea and China has opened. Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) signed MOU with China on December 9^th. 

This MOU agreement provides a new opportunity for both Korea and China to cooperate in the IPR field. It includes new areas beyond the existing cooperation, including the commercial use of IPRs. The two countries also signed MOUs to extend work-sharing through the Patent Prosecution Highway and for e-exchanges of priority documents, KIPO added.

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Korean music copyright profit top 5 in 2013

Park, Jin-Yong (JYP) performing on TV Show

Park, Jin-young, a famous singer, songwriter, dancer, actor and the CEO of JYP Entertainment, is ranked first place on music copyright profits this year. According to the article on NewDaily, songwriter Jo, Young-soo is placed second and music producer Teddy of YG Entertainment placed third.

Park Jin-young has been writig and composing songs since 1994. He composed and wrote over 500 songs including ‘Lie’ of GOD, ‘Tell me’ of Wonder Girls and ‘Heart beat’ of 2PM.

2NE1 'In the Club' wrote and composed by Teddy

Teddy, who was a member of '1TYM' wrote and composed songs of 1TYM, 2NE1, BigBang and other singers of YG Entertainment.  

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Creative Card Commercial from Youtube

This commercial of Hyundai Card was just released.

The background music is re-make version of ‘Like that’ by Leo Kekoa. A parrot is singing the song to try new and unexpected things for better and funnier life. The Background music and cute parrots in various situations make this commercial effective and interesting.

Visa card’s commercial is focused on convenience. A model is traveling and paying everything with Visa Card. This commercial shows that travel can be much easier if we are with Visa!

This KB card in Korea commercial’s theme is Hunminjeongeum (訓民正音, Korean script). Their new 4 types of Hunminjeongeum card have different benefits for user’s lifestyle. And it’s interesting that the man in this commercial as the King Sejong the Great, is the last descendant of King Sejong the Great. King Sejong the Great created Hunminjeongeum (Korean alphabet).

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Apple didn't violate Samsung patents, says S. Korea court

On December 12th, a court in Seoul court ruled that Apple didn’t violate some of Samsung Electronics’ patents. 

Samsung Electronics was seeking to block sales of certain Apple phones and table computers in South Korea.

Samsung had claimed in Seoul that some Apple products had infringed on three of its patents related to the messaging technology used on mobile devices.  The company said Apple’s iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 smartphones had violated two of the three patents.

However, the Seoul Central District Court rejected all of Samsung’s claims against Apple, for 100 million won, in damages and a ban on sales in South Korea of older iPhone and iPad models.

Click here for the detailed news article from New York Times.

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Pop star Ariana Grande facing copyright lawsuit over her song 'The Way'

Ariana Grande and her recording company and other have been sued for copyright infringement by Minder Music, HollywoodReporter said.

The British company, Minder Music, claimed that the phrase in their song ’troglodyte’, "What we’re gonna do right here is go back, way back, back into time.” was used in Ariana’s song ‘The way’ without any permission. In ‘The way’, Ariana repeats "What we gotta do right here is go back, back into time."  

Minder Music is seeking a declaration of willful infringement, a permanent injunction, statutory damages of $150,000 per infringement, and further attorneys' fees, the article added.

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WIPS Published Korean 3 Smartphone Companies' Patent Portfolio: Samsung, LG, and Pantech

Samsung became the world’s leading smartphone company in a short time with its semiconductor technologies and its strong hardware technologies.

LG and Pantech have secured their part in Korean domestic market despite of Samsung’s dominant monopoly-like power.

LG raised its sales revenue while Samsung was facing number of disputes. Patent is the figure of each company’s technological efforts and strategies.

To see these three companies’ technological development, WIPS analyzed Samsung, LG and Pantech’s patent portfolios during the last decade based on its online patent search engine, WIPS Global.

The report compares the capabilities of mobile technologies, especially smartphones. Through the Patent analysis, we could conclude companies’ current patent status, patent strategy, and so on. 

Click Here for ethe Full Report: http://customer.wips.co.kr/mail/newsletter/2013/1202/3mobile_120613.pdf

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Bob Marley estate sues a restaurant over 'One Love' phrase

SPIN magazine reported that the Bob Marley estate sued a restaurant named Raising Cane’s for using the phrase ‘One Love’ as its trademark.

The article said that Cane’s has been using the phrase since late 2001 on their menus, merchandise and other promotional materials and it registered the use of the phrase. Because of Cane’s registration, Marley’s ‘Marley One Love’ was denied to be registered by US Patent and Trademark Office. The Marley’s is claiming that Cane’s registered the phrase without consulting and they requested damages, attorney’s fee and profits from chain.

Raising Cane’s has released the statement about this lawsuit. Click here to read on SPIN.

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Korea-Japan Copyright Forum on DEC 11 in Tokyo, Japan

MikeBlogs

Korea Ministry of Culture, Sports andTourism reported that the 5^th Korea-Japan Copyright Forum will be held in Tokyo, Japan on December 11^th.

In this event, ‘proper ways to use copyrighted works and protection’ will be discussed. People who are in charge of copyright policy and experts from Korea will attend this forum and have time for presentation and Q&A session after the presentation. This opportunity will be helpful to compare and understand each other’s copyright management system.  

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Seoul International Copyright Conference 2013 @COEX, Seoul

eng.copyright.or.kr

Seoul International Copyright Conference 2013, organized and hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Copyright Commission was held at COEX, Seoul, Korea on November 26-27. 

Korea CopyrightCommission updated the news on December 4^th that the conference was successfully held and it was an opportunity to examine creative economy from the copyright perspectives and discuss proper ways to utilize shared copyrighted materials and open source software.  

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Food Sovereignty and Agricultural Patent

DuPont is an American chemical company that was founded in 1802.  In the 20th century, DuPont developed many polymers such as Nylon, Teflon, Lycra and Kevlar. 

Recently, DuPont is transforming into Agriculture Company.  One third of its sales come from agriculture part and the company is investing its half of the revenue into agricultural businesses.
Another agricultural biotechnology corporation, Monsanto invested almost 1 trillion dollars for R&D. 



Official Webpage of DuPont


Multinational companies like DuPont and Monsanto is investing agriculture due to its big market and its guaranteed profitability. 

The commercialization and industrialization of the agriculture is connected to ‘Food sovereignty.’  Seed Industry is the typical example which is the semiconductor of the agriculture. Therefore, many advanced countries are supporting the see industry. 

Monsato

Chung-Yang pepper is one of Korean famous pepper which Koreans are enjoys most.  Chung-Yang pepper’s patent has sold to Monsanto during the foreign exchange crisis in Korea. So, it became the pepper that needs to pay for royalty for Koreans.  According to Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Korea, Korea has to pay 8 billion won for the next 10-years.

We should seriously consider that patent influenced upon our food sovereignty. 

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2013 Patent Information Fair & Conference in Tokyo

2013 Patent Information Fair & Conference is held in Tokyo, Japan from November 6th to 8th.


©WIPS

Patent Information Fair & Conference is the Japan’s largest exhibition on the latest patent information as well as products and technology information relating to intellectual property. The Fair & Conference has co-hosted by Japan Institute for Promoting Invention and Innovation, Japan Patent Information Organization, Fuji Sankei Business and Sankei Shimbun.

Around 18 thousands guest has visited 2013 fair & conference. 
WIPS also participated the Patent Information Fair & Conference in Tokyo.



©WIPS

WIPS operated the exhibition booth during the fair and presented its products as a part of promotion.  WIPS had a time to share its on-line patent information search engine, WIPS Global and Korean-Japanese translation specialized patent information search service, PATBRIDGE.

During the Company Presentation, WIPS presented the Competitor’s patent trend analysis using WIPS Global and the Method of Korean Patent Information Search by DB.

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Worldwide Intellectual Property Service, WIPS' Transfer of Technology

Try WIPS Global Advanced FREE

More Individual, visual, specialized patent information system,

A new user-friendly patent search and analysis system, 

WIPS Global ADVANCED!

Technologies registered on WIPS website are the results of government lead research and development by research organizations including research institutes, universities. Those technologies need to be commercialized by transferring the technologies to the industry.  

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Hotfile.com Ordered to pay $80 Million to Hollywood movie companies

hotfile.com

Holleywood studios have won a copyright suit against a file sharing website Hotfile. (updated on 2nd Sep) And yesterday, December 3rd, Florida judge ordered 80 million dollars in damages and also shut down the site in 20 days, Wall Street Journa updated.

Hotfile was the most popular file sharing site on the internet. Users can upload files and can make profits from the files when it gets popular. Grokster, another file download site had been shut down by court decisions, the article added.

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Free font released for Small-Medium sized businesses

Korea Federation of SMEs (KBIZ) released new free font ‘K-BIZ Han-maum’ for all small and medium businesses.

Some businesses had legal punishment for using copyrighted font and they didn’t know there’s using range. This font has been created for saving money to purchase font programs and it will be helpful to the companies that need font programs for their advertisements materials.

to download this font, click below

http://www.kbiz.or.kr/cms/content.jsp?site=www.kbiz.or.kr&ch=union|ci|color

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Same brand name with different logo design, It's trademark infringement

kumkang.com

The Korean Court ruled that if 2 companies have same brand name with different design of logo and text, it’s trademark infringement because it may confuse consumers.

A clothing and shoes manufacture company KumKang sued a mountain-climbing equipment company BFL for using same brand name ‘Buffalo’ in 2012. KumKang has been used the name ‘Buffalo’ since 1993 and BFL started to use it in 2004 with different design logo and text. The court ruled 30 million won for damages and ordered BFL to stop using the name.

Read more details in Financial News  

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