World Cup Fans Carded For Trademark Infringement

thomas-serer-r-xKieMqL34-unsplashEvery four years, people around the globe gather in front of their televisions to watch the World Cup. National pride swells, and old rivalries are renewed (with the aggression hopefully limited to the pitch). Countries like England, Italy, and Mexico take a pause from being world leaders and become the Three Lions, Gli Azzurri, and El Tri (respectively) for four weeks. Fans relive memories of head-butts and Hand(s) of God, and tell tales of bygone heroes with names like Pele, Eusebio, Beckenbauer, and Cruyff. It wouldn’t come as any surprise to find that fans around the world might be posting pictures of flags or even the World Cup logo to social media in their fervor. But fans doing so may soon find themselves in the crosshairs of soccer’s governing body, and dealing with the repercussions of trademark infringement.

FIFA has asked Twitter to send takedown notices to over 100 users who have used the logo of the 2014 World Cup as their profile’s avatar image. Twitter policy states that in instances when there is a “clear intent to mislead others through the unauthorized use of a trademark,” they will suspend the account and notify the user. However, in instances where Twitter determines that the user account “appears to be confusing users, but is not purposefully passing itself off as the trademarked good or service,” Twitter will allow the user the chance to clear up any potential confusion. While it seems likely these offenders are simply enthusiastic fans, FIFA has proven itself zealous in defending its brand, even in its commercial partnerships.

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Securing Intellectual Property? Commercialize Your IP to Gain Funding

history-in-hd-2MUqdhKBMzw-unsplashWe can’t stress the importance of securing intellectual property (IP) enough. Securing satisfactory protection of a company’s or person’s IP is an essential step in turning ideas into real business assets with a very real and usable market value. It is also the first step in deterring any potential infringements that may come your way. Surprisingly, there are even more benefits from securing your IP that may include access to new markets and the creation of a unique brand. But securing IP is not enough.

If you want to make the most of your IP and leverage everything you can get from it, it may behoove you to commercialize your IP. A huge hurdle for many small businesses is securing adequate funding to secure the IP, but commercialization of an invention is the next step–and often a whole new challenge. This is where entering a joint venture or other arrangements with third parties may seem appealing. It’s even more tempting when you consider that only half of all startups survive the five year mark.

Startup funding usually comes from personal resources such as personal loans, friends, and family. Such funding sources are rarely, if ever, adequate for the development of a prototype that must be manufactured and sold–especially in such a short span of time. This is where commercialization comes in. Commercialization from a third party brings in funding that will help keep a business afloat and get the product made efficiently.

This shows that as you develop your own IP you have the incentives to protect and exploit it for yourself and your business’s well-being. When you have the means to effectively manage your IP, you have the ability to commercialize your inventions. This also involves knowing how to license its know-how, marketing for creating a brand, and even as far as knowing how to develop other contractual arrangements such as sales of your product which can give you all those additional benefits we mentioned in the beginning. For now, know that those with expertise in securing protection can increase your startups valuation and help get funding through commercialization.


For more information on intellectual property check out Traklight’s resources. Think you have intellectual property? Take our free quiz to assess your risk. 

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Intellectual Property Best Practices: 10 Steps to Maximize Your IP

lindsay-henwood-7_kRuX1hSXM-unsplashIntellectual property (IP) is the untapped potential of a business that, if left unharnessed, is completely wasted, but when properly managed can be a goldmine. Yet time and again startups and entrepreneurs, despite having a basic understanding of IP, tend to avoid creating an effective IP strategy. An average startup with financial constraints will not prioritize IP protection in the belief that its resources are better spent elsewhere on more concrete and tangible goals such as sales, product development, and expansion. But just because a lot of IP is intangible does not mean its value is any less important. If anything, the present economy values it more. A good IP strategy for startups goes a long way towards longevity and success in the marketplace.

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Proposed Defend Trade Secrets Act for Federal IP Protection

The stealing of trade secrets is such a big problem that the government has been going around in circles trying to fix the issue. With concerns made clear from the Obama Administration and attempts to use international diplomacy to stop trade secret hacks, Congress seems to finally be stepping up to provide more federal IP protection.

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Louis Vuitton Goes to Court with Lawsuit Over Trade Secrets

Trade secret lawsuits are not uncommon, but a recent lawsuit has caught the attention of the mainstream media. Louis Vuitton North America has gone to court in New York, alleging that a former VP transferred sensitive files from her company laptop onto external storage devices before resigning to take a position with Coach, a luxury handbag company that is looking to move in a more upscale direction.

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Patent Office Revokes Trademark Protection for Redskins Name

project-290-BajUXIzm87U-unsplashThe Washington professional football franchise has come under increasing scrutiny over the past few years for its continued use of the nickname “Redskins,” with critics deriding the use of a pejorative term as the team name and castigating team owner Dan Snyder’s unwillingness to even consider changing it.  A recent ruling by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) may force the issue.

The USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board voted 2-1 to rescind six trademarks related to the team name and past logos, stating that the name “Redskins” is “disparaging to Native Americans,” although the team’s current logo is still protected. The case was first brought to the board in 2006 by members of four Native American tribes. In its ruling, the board cited that its mandate was to determine whether the name was offensive to the people that it referenced at the time that they were registered, without consideration for whether the name is offensive to the population at large. The now-cancelled trademarks had been filed between the years of 1967 and 1990.

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Taking the Scary Out of Startup: Why Startups Succeed, Part 8

 

Company Formation

Previously on our Taking the Scary Out of Startup series, we discussed how ideas are just the start. Once you decide to move forward with that idea, you must start form your company. This should be one of the first stems, and is not just “nice to have.” Operating without a business entity can put your personal wealth and assets at risk. When I was in law school (remember I have a law degree but I am not a practicing attorney), our business law professor loved to say that any attorney who recommends a sole proprietorship to run a business sets themself up for malpractice.

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