2017 WIPS Seminar in India!

WIPS IP Seminar will be held in 4 different cities in India in May. 

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Oxford City vs Oxford T-Shirt Company for Trademark Infringement

from brand website: www.oxfordtshirtco.com

A Chancery Court judge ordered Oxford T-shirt Co. to stop selling products advertising the Double Decker Arts Festival. The City of Oxford filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, claiming Oxford T-shirt City Official insisted that Oxford T-shirt had committed trademark infringement by selling the Double Decker Items.

from @Oxford T-shirt co. official Facebook 

The city attorneys sent a letter to Mike and Bridge Tatum on Monday to demand the company stop selling the products related to the Double Decker festival.

However, according to City officials, Oxford T-Shirt ignored the order, and were still selling the merchandises and even advertising the T-shirts on their official Facebook page on Monday night.

The city insists that even though the company did not use the identical words of trademark, “injunctive relief is appropriate where the meaning is so similar that under the circumstances its use reasonably calculated to deceive and result in injury.”

In north Mississippi "Double Decker" has held a special meaning for over 20 years. 

The temporary restraining order will be effective until May 5th.

To read more, click HERE

REFERENCES

extracted from

http://www.oxfordeagle.com/2017/04/25/city-files-lawsuit-against-t-shirt-company-for-trademark-infrigment/

MARS sues CHOCOLATIER for Trademark Infringement

www.madison.com

 Syovata Edari was at peace after she quit her career as a criminal attorney last year and open her own chocolatier. But that was changed when she knew that candymaker Mars Inc., filed trademark infringement claim against her and her chocolate company, "CocoVaa".

CocoaVia is a supplement made by Mars Symbioscience

@Cocoavia

MARS Claimed that "CocoVaa" is too similar to MARS' "CocoaVia" product, a diertary and nutritional supplement.
“It’s like connecting a vitamin with a candy. Their names might be similar but they just don’t go together,” Trademark attorney Craig Fieschko said. “It’s like Delta. There’s Delta faucets, Delta Airlines, Delta Dental. Nobody connects them.”

Mars’ lawyer did not return a request for comment. Fieschko said that making the suit very expensive for Edari could be part of why Mars didn’t contest her trademark during the 30-day window.

REFERENCE:
extracted from
www.madison.com

Turning Trash into Treasure - Coca Cola Chandeliers

What can we do with the famous Coca-Cola contour glass bottle which was patented in 1915 by the Root Glass Company? To put them in recycle bin is the best way? Actually, Kathleen Plate, a recycled glass artist came up a unique idea! 

www.icreativeideas.com

She made chandeliers from Coca-Cola bottles to put in the environmental-friendly restaurants. All of them are hand made and so beautiful! Now this unique chandeliers became one of the icons for this restaurant!

To read more, please click HERE

REFERENCE: 
extracted from
www.icreativeideas.com

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URBAN OUTFITTERS Pays $530K For Infringing On Its Fabric Copyright

Appeals court orders The U.S. Fashion brand Urban Outfitters to pay a Los Angeles fabric manufacturer $530,000.

Flickr.com @Karen 

According to the Los Angeles Times, Unicolors Inc. insists that Urban Outfitters infringed on its fabric copyright with the sale of a dress at Free People stores that had a complicated palm frond and feather print.

Image from WWD.com 

Unicolors’ copyrighted design left/ the Free People design right.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Urban Outfitter’s argument 

by insisting that the lower court was overly subjective of the fabric 

when they made decision. and 'a striking similarity' between two works may give rise to a permissible inference of copying.

 Thus, The Ninth Circuit affirmed the underlying ruling in its entirety, and ordered Urban to cover the costs of the appeal litigation.

None of them are able to be reached for comment.

References: 
extracted from

http://wwd.com/business-news/legal/urban-oufitters-on-hook-for-530k-after-reckless-fabric-copying-10859575/

Apple applies a Battery Charging System Patent on Small Sport-Type Headphones.

In 2009, APPLE revealed a highly-advanced battery charging system patent. 

They are keeping this patent alive and active.

And today, 

According to the US Patent & Trademark Office 

 APPLE's applied for the continuation patent wherein they've added a new set of patent claims.

And, This is for the headphones!

 Image from PatentlyApple

The patent describes these headphones as: "larger wireless audiophile-type headphones" and "small sport-type headphones." 

From this, we can guess that Apple wants to cover Beats headphones as possibly being redesigned to accommodate this new battery charging invention!

To review all of the additional patent claims for this invention update, click here.and to read the detail about this article, click here

References
extracted from

 http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2017/04/apple-revisits-a-battery-charging-system-patent-to-include-small-sport-type-headphones-and-more.html

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TESLA and ADIDAS Tangle over 3 stripe design

TESLA filed a trademark application for a horizontal stripes design, and this trademark is similar to the "E"part of TESLA's branded image. However, ADIDAS recently filed a notice of opposition over TESLA's proposed logo, insisting the logo infringes the 3-stripes, trademark of ADIDAS. which was first registered in 1969.

PHOTOGRAPHERCOURTESY OF TESLA

Although the two companies do not work in same business spheres, Adidas concerned  that some goods referenced in the Tesla registration are the same goods Adidas deals with, such as baseball hats and clothing.

Flickr @Attawee J

Therefore, the notice of opposition requested that Tesla’s application be denied.

To read more, please click: 
Tesla and Adidas Tangle over 3 strip design

REFERENCES

extracted from

Tesla and Adidas Tangle over 3 strip design

KFC Files Lawsuit to Protect Finger Lickin' Good Trademark

KFC filed a petition to block Brain Mastrosimone from using the slogan "Finger Lakin' Good" to promote his family of business; KFC claimed that it is too similar with KFC's famous "Finger Lickin' Good" slogan.

Flickr @Maruflsh

According to a spokesperson for KFC, “’Finger Lickin’ Good’ is one of KFC’s oldest and most important trademarks.” since initially filed for trademark protection of its slogan in the 1960s. Furthermore, KFC is insisting that using similar slogan can confuse consumers.

However, Mastrosimone says his logo does not look like that of KFC's, and the slogan is not intended to connect itself to the fast food chain like KFC. 

@https://fingerlakingood.farm/

Unfortunately, Mastrosimone does not have enough money to keep on fighting KFC in court and has claimed that this is just bullying by a large corporation. Now he has started a campaign called "GoFundMe" and selling t-shirts to raise money to offset legal fees.

For detail information, click: KFC FILES LAWSUIT TO PROTECT FINGER LICKIN’ GOOD TRADEMARK

REFERENCES

extracted from

KFC FILES LAWSUIT TO PROTECT FINGER LICKIN’ GOOD TRADEMARK

The Trademark Dispute Between SWATCH vs APPLE

SWATCH, a well-known Swiss watch brand, recently launched a new watch featuring NFC technology.

It is attracting people's attention because as a “traditional” watch brand, it was fist time that they have launched a product which features something more than just watch functions, which people think was an adventure.

However, the question is that the advertising slogan they used is similar to the phrase APPLE uses.

flickr.com @deniel

The slogan SWATCH used for their PR is “Tick different”.

In 1997, APPLE created the phrase "Think Different" which was against of IBM's "Think" slogan and they used it until 2002.

APPLE filed a complaint with Swiss Federal Court and with IGE(Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property) at the same time claiming that SWATCH’s words were plagiarized.

SWATCH insisted that it was not related to APPLE’s because this slogan was from “Always different, always new”, SWATCH’s own slogan since 1980.

SWATCH claimed that it is simply a coincidence and opposed APPLE insisting that SWATCH was to make inappropriate publicity effects.

The ill-fated relationship between SWATCH and APPLE

This is not the first time for the likes of APPLE and SWATCH.

In 2013, when APPLE was developing a smart watch and was about to sell it as a product named iWatch, SWATCH’s " iSWATCH" was already on the market so its similar name has been discussed. Finally, APPLE launched under the name APPLE Watch, instead of "iWatch. "

flickr.com @LWYang

APPLE's chances of winning

Officials say it is difficult for APPLE to win this lawsuit. For APPLE's victory, they need to demonstrate that at least 50 percent of consumers are able to remind APPLE when looking at SWATCH’s slogan, and it's not easy. We need to see whether APPLE and SWATCH will continue to join the ill-fated era again.

REFERENCES

extracted from

http://bgr.com/2017/04/11/apple-vs-swatch-tick-different/

2017 WIPS IP Seminar in India

#Seminar #India in May 2017

Do not miss the opportunity to network, share knowledge 
and listen to the latest updates from WIPS!

Mumbai

May 3rd @Hyatt Regency

Hyderabad

May 5th @Taj Krishna

Bangalore

May 9th @ITC Windsor

New Delhi

May 12th @The Park

For those who want to participate, please contact our representatives. (see poster)

Samsung ranked 3rd among foreign patent applicants in India last year, and Huawei placed 4th.

According to British patent media IAM, Samsung Electronics (905) ranked in third place among foreign applicants in India during FY 2015-16. Qualcomm(US-based chip maker) has filed the maximum number of 1,214 patent applications, followed by Philips (805).

Flickr.com @saumsung newsroom

Another biggest feature of FY2015 - 2016 is Huawei, which ranks fourth in foreign applications. This is the first time a Chinese company has been included in the top 10. IAM analyzed that although Huawei does not sell many products in India, it can expect profitability with a solid patent network.

Flickr.com @servicemobiles

As per the report, filing of patents, design and trademark applications recorded a double-digit growth in percentage terms in 2015-16.

Extracted from IPnomics.co.kr/ Moneycontrol.com