I'm sure many of my readers will be familiar with the (in)famous exchange of letters in the case of Arkell v. Pressdram, 1971. Those who aren't will find the details at the link. (Profanity alert: lawyers aren't always polite!)
I was reminded of that well-known case by this tweet yesterday, largely by the inclusion of a word that I've censored (given that this is a family-friendly blog, most of the time). Clickit to biggit.
I wonder if they'd also assert an equal IP right to the entire slogan, including the censored word? That would make just about as much sense! It's also like the computer games company that tried to trademark the expression "space marines" (despite its having been in use since the 1930's), or the comic publishers that trademarked the term "superhero".
Suffice it to say that I think the LA Police Foundation deserves the mockery.
Peter
For a classic of the genre see Groucho Marx's letter to Warner Brothers (which was, as it turns out, a publicity stunt) for A Night in Casablanca. Here's an excerpt:
ReplyDelete"I just don’t understand your attitude. Even if you plan on re-releasing your picture, I am sure that the average movie fan could learn in time to distinguish between Ingrid Bergman and Harpo. I don’t know whether I could, but I certainly would like to try.
"You claim you own Casablanca and that no one else can use that name without your permission. What about “Warner Brothers”? Do you own that, too? You probably have the right to use the name Warner, but what about Brothers? Professionally, we were brothers long before you were. We were touring the sticks as The Marx Brothers when Vitaphone was still a gleam in the inventor’s eye, and even before us there had been other brothers — the Smith Brothers; the Brothers Karamazov; Dan Brothers, an outfielder with Detroit; and 'Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?' (This was originally 'Brothers, Can You Spare a Dime?' but this was spreading a dime pretty thin, so they threw out one brother, gave all the money to the other one and whittled it down to, 'Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?')
"Now Jack, how about you? Do you maintain that yours is an original name? Well, it’s not. It was used long before you were born. Offhand, I can think of two Jacks — there was Jack of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” and Jack the Ripper, who cut quite a figure in his day.
"As for you, Harry, you probably sign your checks, sure in the belief that you are the first Harry of all time and that all other Harrys are impostors. I can think of two Harrys that preceded you. There was Lighthouse Harry of Revolutionary fame and a Harry Appelbaum who lived on the corner of 93rd Street and Lexington Avenue. Unfortunately, Appelbaum wasn’t too well known. The last I heard of him, he was selling neckties at Weber and Heilbroner."
I suspect the author of this cease and desist notice wasn't counting on their victim to have guts. Most people roll over when presented with such a notice because they are fearful of a lawsuit...and the attendant legal costs. Be interesting to see if there is any follow up to this succinct reply.
ReplyDelete