Trademark
Copyright
Defamation
Privacy
TRADEMARK:
A global health care product company recently filed a trademark infringement suit against the American Red Cross. The company alleges that the Red Cross is infringing their trademark, the red cross symbol, by selling licenses to use the mark. The company registered the mark in the 1890’s and gave the Red Cross organization the right to use it so long as they didn’t compete with the company’s products.
A famous blue jean maker has reportedly filed nearly 100 trademark lawsuits against competitors since 2001. The suits claim that stitching on the pockets of the jeans infringes their famous mark. News reports of the situation claim that the jean maker missed the boom in jean sales by not updating their designs and that the lawsuits are an attempt to cash in.
An international fashion house has sued a small Las Vegas Company for Trademark infringement. The suit stems from a line of pet products the fashion designer says infringes their trademark. The lawsuit was thrown out on summary judgment. The judge said the Las Vegas company had the right under the parody defense to use the designers mark. The decision has been appealed and the case has cost hundreds of thousands to defend.
Chefs are making news in the kitchen and the courtroom. A recent New York Times article described a growing trend among restaurant owners suing other restaurants for theft of intellectual property. The claims involve trademark, trade dress and other forms of intellectual property infringement. A lawyer who represents restaurants and chefs says it’s about time they found the courthouse. The stakes are high and they should be protecting their investments.
A famous Rock Star and a famous department store met in court when the musician filed a right-of-publicity lawsuit against the store. The suit alleged that the store was selling tee shirts with his name and his picture but without his permission.
A Philadelphia jury awarded almost $19 million to an insurance brokerage as compensation for copyright infringement. The case involved copying of marketing documents by a competitor. The award was challenged and reduced but the defense costs alone were significant.
Two employees of a large US bank using the music but not the lyrics from a famous song drew allegations of copyright infringement not rave reviews. During a company meeting the two performed their version of “One” by U2 and received a cease and desist letter from the lawyers for the music publisher.
Sewing and suing don’t often mix but they did in a recent dust up between an embroidery hobbyist and an embroidery company. The company sued the woman for copyright infringement over some patterns she had created, posted and sold on the internet. The company says they were their intellectual property. In fact a group called the Embroidery Software Protection Coalition has sent nearly 1,500 threatening letters to people they say have purchased counterfeit embroidery designs.
A battle between two competing waste disposal companies ended up in court in Texas. The two waged a more than six year court battle that involved charges of defamation and interference with business relations. None of this would be covered by the standard GL policy.
One of the leading beer makers was sued by one of their distributors for defamation. The distributor had sued the brewer for breach of contract, it was during that litigation that the alleged defamation occurred. The brewer said they were simply defending themselves when they talked to clients of the distributor and answered questions by the media. The suit was reportedly settled for more than 50 million dollars.
In the latest round of the burger wars one fast food company was sued by their competition over a series of ads promoting their new sirloin burgers. The ads make fun of the competition’s Angus burgers. In denying the motion for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the ads from running the judge asked, “Where’s the beef?”
In a highly publicized incident, a major retail company was the target of hackers. The hackers got into the company’s database and stole private information on millions of customers. They used the information to create fake credit cards and rang up millions in charges. The company has been sued by their customers and a group of banks. The banks sued the retailer for the money they had to pay as a result of the fraudulent charges.
*Some of the above are claims AXIS PRO has handled. In others, AXIS PRO was not directly involved. Coverage for these claims is not to be inferred from this list but must always be determined in reference to a particular insurance policy, which is the controlling document, as well as the facts and circumstances of each claim and applicable law.
