Big Indiana Bass: The Impending Legal Battles

If you've been checking out any of those YouTube videos featuring castable umbrella rigs the past week, especially any that entail the moniker "Alabama Rig^TM" or "A-Rig^TM" in their title and that don't directly reference that particular bait brand, then?you've probably seen the posts in the comments section from Slick Lures, LLC co-owner Tammy Poss?warning of illegal name use and threatening lawsuits. So while the actual patent is still pending, the trademark for both those names has been issued by the USPTO, and the warning shots are being fired.

While?her use of some of the terms are confused/confusing, the basic premise is still there. Trademarks protect names, titles, short phrases and other symbols that distinguish the source of one product (or service) from another. Copyright, a term she sometimes uses in her posts, actually refers to protection of material creations, things like the specific content on my blog, a song by an artist, or a novel or story by an author.

So why trademark protection? According to the writings of the U.S Supreme Court,?"[T]rademark law, by preventing others from copying a source-identifying mark, 'reduce[s] the customer's cost's of shopping and making purchasing decisions,' for it quickly and easily assures a potential customer that ? the item with this mark ? is made by the same producer as other similarly marked items that he or she liked (or disliked) in the past. At the same time, the law helps assure a producer that it (and not an imitating competitor) will reap the financial, reputation related rewards associated with a desirable product."

Part of owning a trademark also entails proper usage and defense of that trademark.?For example, the?terms?'aspirin', 'cellophane', and 'elevator' were all trademarks at one point afforded protection under federal laws. However, over time and due to improper use, the marks slipped into the public domain.?As such,?it is?best to think of trademarks as adjectives and not nouns.?When a trademark holder uses his mark, it should be along with a generic term. They should ask for a Xerox photocopy, not a Xerox, or for a pair of Nike shoes, not for a pair of Nikes.

Anyway, they've got their hands full trying to protect the use of the two terms, and possibly an even bigger challenge if and when the patent gets issued.?We recently saw Z-Man file a lawsuit on March 28, 2011, alleging that Phenix's Vibrator jig infringed the patent and trade-dress rights of the ChatterBait lure, a lawsuit they successfully won. And several of the YouTube videos have already been removed by the mere threat of infringement and litigation. Yet the larger battles have yet to be waged in this arena. You'll probably be hearing a whole lot more over the coming months in this regard, especially once the patent is granted.

Source: http://www.bigindianabass.com/big_indiana_bass/2012/02/the-impending-legal-battles.html

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