Trademark Attorney, Lawyer: Trademark Registration & Trademark Infringement

Chateau Grand Traverse Sues Grand Traverse Distillery Alleging Trademark Infringement

Michigan trademark infringement alert:

The Traverse City Business News is reporting that Chateau Grand Traverse, a Michigan winery, has filed a federal lawsuit against vodka producer Grand Traverse Distillery alleging trademark infringement over the distillery's use of the "Grand Traverse" name.  The dispute arises from the winery's opposition to the Distillery's Trademark filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for registration of the mark "Grand Traverse Distillery" on the principal registrar. 

The winery claims trademark rights in the name since it has used the mark "Chateau Grand Traverse" since 1977 and had recently filed and was granted trademark registration in late 2007. Grand Traverse Distillery filed for its trademark protection July 2005.  However, trademark rights date back to the date of first use in commerce. 

This is an interesting lawsuit in that both companies deal in the manufacture and sale of alcohol beverages which Chateau Grand Traverse says has led to confusion among customers.

Read the full article below...

Trademark Infringement Update: Scrabulous Infringing On Scabble Trademark Held By Mattel?

Trademark infringement is serious business for both large and small companies: 

You know Scrabble. Created in 1933, the classic wordplay board game has been a favorite worldwide for decades. So when Calcutta-based developers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla created a Scrabble knock-off application called “Scrabulous” for the social networking site Facebook, people started signing up like crazy. As of today, Scrabulous has 600,000 daily users but that’s only a quarter of the number of people who have signed up to play it. Hasbro Inc., which owns the trademark and copyrignt rights to the crossword game in the United States and Canada, and Mattel Inc., which owns the rights elsewhere, believe the online game, developed in India, infringes on their copyrights and trademarks.

You’d think Hasbro & Mattel, who together own the world-wide trademark and copyright rights to the game, would see an opportunity here and find a way leverage these social media passionistas to further promote their product. Sadly, they don’t see it that way and have issued a cease and desist order trying to get Facebook to take the game down.

From a legal standpoint, Hasbro / Mattel are well within their rights and, in fact, as Shel Israel points out in a response to Matt Dickman’s excellent post on this topic last week, companies must consistently go after trademark infringement cases to make future charges stick. Moreover, if the Agarwallas had simply printed a copy of Scrabulous and sold it as a board game, there would be little controversy about whether it constitutes a trademark infringement or a copyright violation.  Technorati Tags: trademark, copyright, hasbro, mattel

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