Questions tagged [trademark]
A trademark is a sign, logo or design of some kind that distinguishes a particular product or service (or its provider or source) from others.
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It is a 'fair use' of trademark if a book's advertising refers to a famous book series?
For instance can a book based on (or about) ancient mythologies be advertised as 'for fans of the Percy Jackson books'?
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When a historical name is trademarked, will the trademark be considered 'weaker' than an invented name?
Like the names of important people of medieval Europe, names of planets of the Solar System and its moons or geographical features etc.
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Can a public domain character be subject to trademarks?
Can a fictional character that is out of copyright protection still have trademark protection? What uses of such a character are permitted or not permitted? Please provide a current real-world example....
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Trademarking modifications to common phrases
Let's take the common phrase "bite the bullet". If I want to trademark "bite the mullet", is there any barriers to that?
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If I am sure that I have an argument for fair use, can I use shadowed silhouettes of copyright or trademark characters on the cover of my book? [closed]
I have a very specific idea for a book cover that involves using shadow silhouettes of copyrighted/trademarked characters. It is a non-fiction book about character arcs. The title and cover of the ...
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Is it OK to make some 3D art as CC0 or CC BY-SA if it contains a trademark/logo?
If I create a 3D model that I want to distribute as CC0 or CC BY-SA but it contains a logo or trademark that I'm not the owner is it OK to do so?
Lets say for example that I make a 3D Coke can with ...
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Can Musk threaten X11?
Twitter, recently changed hands and became owned by Elon Musk, who decided to change its name to "X".
There's the FOSS X11 desktop environment being developed for various Unix and Unix-like ...
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Does a registered trademark end if the owner throws it away?
If somebody registers a trademark for their company name and the name of its flagship product, and uses this names for a while, but then one day decides to stop using it and publicly announce they ...
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How similar do trademarks have to be to be infringement? [duplicate]
I received a marketing email from Lenovo with the slogan "Different is better." This seems quite similar to Apple's "Think different," to the point that had I seen the slogan out ...
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Can you have a Facebook group with a trademark company's name?
Can you force a Facebook group to change their name if it matches your trademark? One group I am in is thinking about changing their name because of this and it is a group of current and former ...
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Is an exact match necessary to prove trademark infringement?
For the sake of example, let's use Robert E. Howard's character "Conan, the Barbarian". The author died in June 11, 1936, Cross Plains, Texas, United States.
As seen above, it's been almost ...
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Removal of branding constituting trademark infringement
A common brand of commercial refrigerators used in stores in my country all have the following sticker on them (emphasis mine):
Trademark Infringement
The [Brand Name] trademark on this product is ...
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Does the renaming of the German 'ebay Kleinanzeigen' to 'Kleinanzeigen' mean they loose any trademark to their name?
So ebay Kleinanzeigen is a company that owns a website for classified ads. People can post classified ads there and search the website to buy things from classified ads. I suppose ebay has the exact ...
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If I create a fictional brand name in a movie script and then copyright the script can the fictional brand name be considered my trademark?
Let's say I write a movie script. The movie gets made and it does well. In the script a fictional brand exists with a specific, un-trademarked name. Now let's say someone created a real brand that had ...
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The Nice Classification, what exactly does it refer to?
I need to know if the Nice Classification (for trademark registration) determines the activities carried out by the brand itself, or if it refers to the areas in which the brand cannot be used by ...
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Is an edited version of a trademark covered through the original trademark in the UK?
Is a shortened or edited version of a trademark covered by the initial trademark.
Take the following for example:
If someone were to use this name or logo while removing the 'studio', would this be ...
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Can copyright be made on to a specific word or name? [duplicate]
I wanted to use two words 'HAKAI' and 'BEERUS SAMA' in my design but when i posted them the site took it down and said it has been ended early due to content concern. What is the actual issue here? ...
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YU-GI-OH! name IP protection?
What is the TM and IP status for Yugioh?
Related to question Will the YU-GI-OH! card copyright ever end?, is the name 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' name protected?
This resource Justia suggests TM protection for video ...
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selling custom made jacket with other company logo on it, is that legal in CA?
A trader buys an original brand jacket, adds some custom images and texts to the jacket, then sell it online with the original brand logo still on it. Is that legal?
I know that people sell custom ...
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Why aren't programming languages infringing IEEE's POSIX trademark?
POSIX is a standard for operating system API, trademarked by IEEE. It ensures "source-code" level compatibility between operating systems and applications. It receives triple designation and ...
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Can I use MasterCard and Visa logos as examples in a scientific publication?
I have a peer-reviewed paper about to get published, in an experimental psychology topic. (The journal is Memory.) In one of the figures in the paper I used MasterCard and Visa card logos as examples (...
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What counts as word mark (or trade mark) violation? [closed]
I'm trying to create my own website, and on the landing page, I'm planning to have the words:
Your Content Matters.
Whether it be blog posts, how-tos, buying guides, or more, I’m always here to make ...
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Why is it really bad to publicly talk about a case you are involved in on social media?
I was inspired to ask this question due to these related Reddit AMA
I’m Jaime Rogozinski, Founder of WallStreetBets and I’m suing Reddit. AMA.
Help me understand the trademark battle for ...
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Trademark as part of open source code namespace
I've been using open source projects and libraries for long time. Recently I come across a case which mixes trademark and copyright. Looking at an example of Eclipse Foundation trademark policy I see ...
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Can Oracle sue JSON users?
As we know,
Oracle owns the Java and JavaScript trademarks from its purchase of Sun.
Java and JavaScript are 2 completely unrelated programming languages.
JSON is the abbreviation of "...
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When a game's EULA specifies that all user generated content is the property of the game's publisher, which party is responsible for IP infringement?
In recent years there's been an increasing trend of games companies claiming exclusive rights to all user generated content for the game and that the user/modder forfiets all rights of authorship over ...
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Why does Japanese entertainment make such backhanded references to brands (e.g. WcDonalds instead of McDonalds)?
There's tons of examples. To name a few:
MgRonald's and Sentucky Fried Chicken (instead of McDonald's and KFC) in Hataraku Maou-sama
Attack Family (instead of Smash Brothers) in Jaku Kyara Tomozaki-...
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Is your child's name subject to copyright/trademark law?
If I name my son "Nintendo", and my son goes on to make headlines doing bad things, I can imagine the company named "Nintendo" wouldn't be too happy. Similarly if I named my kid &...
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Can I use the name Winky Dink in my book titile? [closed]
I want to write a book about an experience with my siblings that affected my whole life and I wanted to title it "My Winky Dink Syndrome" or "Winky Dink and Me"
Winky Dink and You ...
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Are there legal cases related to trademark infringement for using names inside a work?
Are there any legal cases regarding trademark infringement when a name is used inside a work? E.g a video game containing a location named using a trademarked name.
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Is a similar name and synonym to existing brand a trademark infringement?
A company named Blackboard exists, with trademarks on the name. I would like to use the brand name "Greenboard." Is there any possibility of trademark infringement if I use this name?
I don'...
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How generic a trademark has to be to receive less protection?
When more generic a trademarked name is, the less protection it will get. E.g. names taken from mythology and folklore (or real world cities/locations) can possibly receive less protection, but how ...
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Claiming a copycat version of a well-known, out of print board game is similar to the original
Under intellectual property law, is it permissible to create a version of an out-of-print board game that is protected by copyright, but not by patent, by changing its design elements (cards, game ...
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Can mythological names be trademarked and become associated with an entity (eg. a company)?
Can the names of creatures, deities (gods), locations, etc. be trademarked and become associated with a specific entity (so it receives protection against dilution)?
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"Jingle bells, Batman smells, etc" -- any copyright or trademark problems in that now-famous song lyric?
"Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin's laid an egg" -- any copyright or trademark problems, per se, in that now-famous song lyric?
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Rights around using other company logos in my app [duplicate]
I have a question regarding the use of logos. I have an app where users can input information about their data sources. For example, they might list that they have a customer database on MySQL, where ...
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Do the wider protections received by "famous trademarks" also apply unregistered marks?
Famous (or widely known) trademarks receive wider protections, such as protection against dilution (such as when a famous name of food product is used to sell skin care products). Does this apply to ...
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Using a trademarked word in the same business domain as the top-level domain (TLD) for typosquatting
In this example, the names are fictional.
I have a fruit store called "aple" (with one p, which is commonly misspelled and is not a dictionary word). My real domain is "aple.store"....
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Can a trademark be enforced if a different company was already using it? [duplicate]
Lets say that I own "Iron Chimpanzee LLC" and have been selling furniture with it in Florida for years. I never got a trademark. One day, a guy in Alaska decides to open a new furniture ...
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Do I have any legal options if a game is released with the same name as one I already publicly have under development?
I have had a game in development since October 2020. There is an audit trail in the form of public GitHub code commits showing how long I have been using the name. Unfortunately I had not yet done any ...
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How to confirm if I can legally use a pedagogical mnemonic?
The field of education uses many mnemonics, such as CUPS, RACE, KWL, the CRAAP test, SQRRR, etc. Most of these were originally created by academics, and introduced in academic journals.
Many years ago ...
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Are Donations Enough to Validate Trademark?
Suppose a business does the following:
claims one of their brands is an unregistered trademark
gives away 100,000 free T-Shirts to random entities using the brand mentioned in Step1 above
accepts a $...
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Am I allowed to use the word "meta" in the name of my product or startup?
I am programming an app and want to call it "metaApp". Am I getting sued soon by Meta a.k.a. Facebook? Or is the word "meta" a commonly used word and ok? (In the case of Apple, it ...
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Can Pepsi use Coke's logo to advertise its own product on its website?
Can Pepsi display Coke's logo on it's website for comparison sake? For example, tastes just like coke - with the coke logo next to it? I'm assuming this is permitted due to the fair / nominative use ...
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How to not infringe copyrights from Nintendo?
I am thinking about developing a free Pokedex App with pokémon information (pokémon data and images) for Android, but I do not want to infringe any copyright or use trademarks because I want no ...
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Is the list of characters from a video game considered a fact?
If yes, what uses of a list of character names are non-infringing (on copyright/trademark) according to the Feist v. Rural ruling? E.g. can the character names be included in a dictionary?
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What are the provisions for mentioning the trademark or trade name of source code orobjects licensed in open source software for proprietary software?
I'm making software that will be proprietary software, which contains some source code or objects from several different open source licenses such as BSD 3-clause, MIT, MPL, Apache, and GPL 3.0, can I ...
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Can an original image of the god Anubis on a t-shirt infringe trademark or copyright?
I sell t-shirts online. One of them features a picture of the ancient Egyptian god Anubis (my original art). Some people who viewed it said Anubis is a trademarked for clothing and I may be infringing....
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Can a writer write a novel about a fictional Dota player?
Can a writer/author write a novel about a fictional Dota (or any other video game) player, mentioning the game's name and possibly names of the fictional characters of the game? Would this be ...
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I just got a facebook trademark infringement notice by email from Meta [closed]
I am the owner of https://*******onfacebook.com . Its a free tool to find mutual friends between two or more people.
I made a facebook account to promote this website on many FB groups about mutual ...
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