Blogs on Patent & Trademark cases

TRADEMARKING THE OLYMPICS – WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM THE I.O.C.

As athletes from all around the planet strive for gold in London, there are a few lessons we can all learn about what it means to be an “Olympian.”All across the United Sates and the world, the term “Olympics” is one of the most aggressively protected trademarks. There is a lot to learn from the way the Olympic Committee protects their mark from dilution and infringement.

Recently, the Committee was criticized for demanding a British butcher to take down his sign depicting the Olympic Rings shaped from sausages. Also, the domain owner of Ravelympics.com was made to change it to Ravelry.com. And though such zealous tactics may seem extreme to some, this type of vigilance may be necessary to ensure a mark remains in force for millennia to come. Examples of marks losing their exclusive protection and becoming generic include Thermos, Xerox, and Kleenex. These all began as exclusive trademarks which can now be used by the general public do to a lack of proper TM enforcement.

Trademarks are an investment and you should treat them as such. Although your mark may not be steeped in as much tradition and history as the time honored games, there is only one way to ensure they one day will. Protect your marks from infringers and start by registering them in the countries where you do business. This will ensure that your brand remains yours alone. You are the gold standard for what you do, so make sure other’s don’t get a free ride with the good will and reputation your efforts built.

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Trademarks: USC v. USC… USC wins

By refusing to hear the University of South Carolina’s appeal, the Supreme Court ended a 13-year-old dispute over interlocking letters “SC”. Prior to this appeal, the Federal Circuit held the University of Southern California and not South Carolina is the proprietor of intellectual property rights in the mark. Their ruling stands.

Trademark law protects identifiers of origin. Put more simply, the reason you know shoes bearing the “swoosh” emblem are Nikes and not something else is because of trademark law. Nike has registered the “swoosh” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office limiting other company’s ability to fool buyers by placing it on their products.

Consumer confusion is what Trademark Law was meant to defend against. This week, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear South Carolina’s appeal. The lower court concluded although diehard fans could tell the difference between the South Carolina “SC” and Southern California “SC,” casual fans could get confused. The fact that one school used block letters and the other curved was not enough to prevent this from happening.

For more questions on this or other Intellectual Property matters, please contact our office.