Actor loses trademark suit against sheriff candidate Andy Griffith

From Yahoo! News: "Judge: Sheriff Andy no harm to actor":

A man who changed his name to Andy Griffith and ran for sheriff did not harm the actor who played Mayberry's folksy sheriff on the "Andy Griffith Show," a federal judge ruled.

District Judge John Shabaz on Friday dismissed the lawsuit brought by Andy Samuel Griffith, who played Sheriff Andy Taylor on the popular 1960s TV series.

The suit claimed William Harold Fenrick violated trademark and copyright laws and the actor's privacy after he changed his name last year to Andrew Jackson Griffith. The suit was filed the day after the independent candidate came in a distant third in his race for Grant County sheriff in southwestern Wisconsin.

True Religion jeans accuses Wal-Mart of infringing trademark

From the LATimes.com: "True Religion jeans accuses Wal-Mart of infringing trademark":

True Religion Apparel Inc., a maker of $300 jeans worn by celebrities including soccer star David Beckham and actress Angelina Jolie, said Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Sam's Club warehouse chain was illegally selling clothing with its trademark.

The infringing apparel is presented in "a confusingly deceptive manner" and is of "inferior quality," True Religion said in a complaint filed Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles.

Wal-Mart is accused of trademark infringement and unfair competition, according to the filing, which seeks unspecified damages.

The clothing is "priced in such a way that the implication to the buying public is that these items are indeed genuine," True Religion said in its complaint...

Reed Elsevier Loses Bid to Trademark `Lawyers.com'

From Bloomberg.com: "Reed Elsevier Loses Bid to Trademark `Lawyers.com' in the U.S.":

Reed Elsevier Plc, owner of the LexisNexis databases, lost a U.S. appeals court bid to trademark the phrase ``lawyers.com'' for its online legal information service.

Reed Elsevier's Martindale-Hubbell unit has run the lawyers.com Web site since 1998 and has been seeking trademark protection since then to limit others from using the lawyers.com name to confuse consumers.

The appeals court upheld a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision to reject the application. The agency had said the phrase was generic, pointing out that others use variations, such as Massachusetts-lawyers.com, medialawyer.com and truckerlawyers.com. Reed Elsevier argued that its site had ``acquired distinctiveness.''

OC man wants to trademark names of communities

From the San Diego Source: "OC man wants to trademark names of communities":

An Orange County man has filed applications to trademark the name of the enclave where he lives as well as several other communities.

Joseph Lewis Aguirre filed claims on 15 community names in hopes of using them and their symbols for marketing, clothing and other products, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He has sought to use the names of Ladera Ranch, Rancho Santa Margarita and Coto de Caza where he lives...

Sam Stone, a trademark attorney in Orange County, said if the name of a place is used in a trademark, the owner of the trademark cannot prevent others from using that name as long as it is used to describe the geographical location...

The Copyright Saga Over Sanitizing Movies

From USA Today: "The saga over sanitizing movies":

Film editors were back in the cutting room just a few months after a federal appeals judge ruled last year that they could no longer edit movies to make them acceptable family fare.

Thanks to what they say is a loophole in copyright law that allows cuts for educational purposes, some of the companies that were ordered to turn over their inventory to Hollywood studios instead are scrubbing more movies, and other firms are getting into the market.

Film editors say the education clause can be used to get around the July 2006 ruling by Judge Richard P. Matsch that sanitizing movies on DVD or VHS tape violates federal copyright laws. The ruling was thought to have marked the end of a three-year legal battle between several film editing companies and 16 Hollywood directors started by a Colorado CleanFlicks store...

A Connecticut Tobacco Farmer Tries to Trademark ANNA NICOLE SMITH Name

From ABC News: "Anna Nicole Gold Rush Continues":

Connecticut farmer Craig R. Miner has applied for the trademark of the late Anna Nicole Smith's name. According to trademark attorneys, he probably won't be allowed to make money off of her famous name...

"What's clear is that someone not authorized by the estate has no right to trademark that person's name," says Paul van Slyke, an attorney who helped the Elvis Presley estate successfully sue the Velvet Elvis, a bar in Memphis.

All states have laws that protect the right of publicity. "During a person's lifetime, we all have a right of publicity — nobody can use our identity, signature, picture and voice to advertise commercial products or interests," says van Slyke.

Many states have postmortem statutes that extend that right after a person's death, most notably, the Elvis Presley statute in Tennessee, a law the late singer's estate lobbied the legislature to enact...

Keith Urban countersues Keith Urban

From the Tennessean: "Keith Urban countersues Keith Urban":

Keith D. Urban, the painter, has filed court documents claiming that the lawsuit filed by the famous singer Keith Urban about the painter’s Web site is baseless and a tool to intimidate him.

In February, country musician Keith L. Urban filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Nashville accusing the Wayne, N.J., painter, who owns www.keithurban.com, of federal trademark infringement and violation of the anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, among other things. The suit didn’t specify monetary damages, but wants the site address transferred to the singer and an injunction barring the painter from operating a site that suggests any relationship between the two...