Three competitive corporations – Google, Voss, and Macy’s brands – have all had impactful events happen within their companies recently involving trademarks and copyrights. IP lawyers continue to fight to protect industry intellectual property as new ideas are continually added to the marketplace.
Google, the world’s most implemented Internet search engine, received Patent 8,937,727 on January 20, which covers its latest innovation, a “portable handheld device with multi-core image processor.” According to the patent, the housing of the device contains a roll of print media, a printing mechanism, a blade for cutting the print media, as well as a digital camera and a microcontroller for decoding the data signal and converting it into pixel data.
While Google is protecting their newest innovation, Voss of Norway ASA battled in court with Perlage Systems Inc., a Seattle-based maker of beverage-related products. Their dispute was evidently regarding the cylindrical shape of a pressurizable cocktail shaker. Norway’s Voss claimed the cocktail shaker infringed trademarks on its clear cylindrical water bottles. While the terms of the settlement were not disclosed in court papers, the filing did stipulate that the dismissal of Voss’s claims is with prejudice, therefore barring further infringement claims.
Macy’s is also in a trademark violation struggle. They filed an infringement suit in December 2011, accusing Strategic Marks LLC of Irvine, California, of making unauthorized use of brands associated with now-defunct department stores such as Seattle’s Bon Marche; Marshall Field of Chicago; Boston’s Filene’s and Jordan Marsh; Brooklyn, New York’s Abraham & Strauss; and Robinsons-May, Bullock’s, and The Broadway, all from Los Angeles. “Strategic Marks responded to the complaint by saying its use of the marks fell into the law’s ‘fair use’ provisions, and that Macy’s has abandoned the marks by failing to use them,” explained Victoria Slind-Flor on Bloomberg.com. “According to the website, the goods Strategic Marks sells are typically T-shirts emblazoned with the defunct stores logos.”
Fortunately, for startups and small businesses that don’t have billions to spend on teams of lawyers, they can still get the help and advice of intellectual property lawyers regarding trademarks, copyrights, patents, and/or trade secrets can from innovators like UpCounsel, whose virtual legal marketplace of vetted, rated & reviewed attorneys on-demand makes it easy for businesses of any size to get affordable legal services.
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