IP Memes: Ten Most Wanted — and Other Hot IP Issues

July 19, 2004 on 10:45 pm | In Current Affairs |

One of my new projects is writing for Technolawyer’s IP Memes newsletter (the IP Memes weekly newsletter “consists of technology-related intellectual property “memes” — IP issues that have just begun to surface and may soon become important legal issues. IP Memes enables corporate counsel, intellectual property lawyers, and interested others to learn about and react to new developments in intellectual property law.” It is just one of the weekly newsletters TechnoLawyer publishes. If you are a lawyer interested in technology…you should join (it’s free!!!). See www.technolawyer.com for more details.

This week it was my turn to be the IP Memes editor…here are my IP Memes…

IP Memes: Ten Most Wanted — and Other Hot IP Issues

THE GOOGLES OGLE GOOGLE’S GOO
The owner of the Web site located at www.googles.com (”The Googles of Goo” — a children’s Web site) recently filed a cancellation proceeding with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board seeking the cancellation of Google’s GOOGLE® trademark registration (Reg. No. 2,806,075). Martin Schwimmer (Trademark Blog) speculates on the coincidental timing of waiting until Google was releasing its IPO prospectus. Trademark Blog Post & The GOOGLE® Registration & Googles.com’s TTAB Filing

TEN MOST WANTED
As discussed in a couple of recent IP Memes issues, the EFF’s Patent Busting Project requested public nominations of patents deserving to be on the “Ten Most Wanted” list. Earlier this month, the EFF has announced the winners — Acacia Research, Clear Channel Entertainment, Acceris, Sheldon F. Goldberg, Ideaflood, Neomedia Technologies, Test.com, Nintendo, Firepond, and Seer Systems. A complete list of the patents and their subject matter can be found on the EFF site. No word on who the first posse is going after, but the EFF is actively seeking prior art. EFF’s Ten Most Wanted Page

DOUGHNUT TRADEMARK GLAZED OVER?
Krispy Kreme recently filed suit against Entenmann’s (George Weston Bakeries, Inc.) in North Carolina alleging trademark infringement. Krispy Kreme is alleging that Entenmann’s is infringing its “Original Glazed®” trademark (Reg. No. 2,452,758), as well as its trade dress (”the appearance on doughnut boxes a series of colored dots spaced uniformly on a field of white”). Entenmann’s recently started distributing donuts labeled “Original Glazed” reportedly in boxes bearing little blue diamonds on a white background. Boston Globe Article & Phosita IP Blog Post & A T-Shirt Bearing the Krispy Kreme Trade Dress

STEAKBURGERS® AT STAKE
They may be “original,” but hardly “glazed” … Steak ‘n Shake is suing Burger King over infringement of Steak ‘n Shake’s various trademarks including the term “Steakburgers.” These Steak ‘n Shake Steakburgers marks have been in use since 1973. Burger King caught Steak ‘n Shake’s eye (and attorneys’ attention) when it recently began marketing and selling an “Angus Steak Burger.” The District Court judge (St. Louis) denied Steak ‘n Shake’s request for a TRO, and has sent the parties to mediation. No word on Kraft’s opinion in the matter [A.1. Makes Hamburger Taste Like Steakburger®]. Foodservice Industry News Article & Franchise Law Blog Post & The Steak ‘n Shake Steakburgers & The Burger King Angus Steak Burger

A POL BY ANY OTHER NAME
Think that the Kerry-Edwards campaign’s Web site is kerryedwards.com? Think again. Turns out that an Indiana resident (and bail bondsman) named Kerry Edwards registered the domain name in 2002. CNN reports that the campaign offered him $150,000 for it, and CBS reports that the campaign decided not to buy it because Mr. Edwards wanted too much for it. Looks like it is still for sale … get out your checkbooks. CNN Article & CBS MarketWatch Article & TechLawAdvisor Blog Post & The Real Kerry-Edwards Site & The Bush Cheney Site (to be “fair and balanced”)

BLOGS, BLAWGS, AND IP BLAWGS
EDDix (who “does research and publishing exclusively in the electronic document discovery space”) recently announced its list of what it thought were the 50 top law blogs (blawgs). The list is actually a pretty good view of many of the top blawgs out there. The “EDDix 50″

Intellectual Property Law Blogs in the EDDix 50 Include: Denise Howell’s Bag and Baggage Blog, Dennis Kennedy’s DennisKennedy.Blog, Sabrina I. Pacifici’s beSpacific Blog and Martin Schwimmer’s The Trademark Blog

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