Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Sesame Street Not Happy With STX's "Happytime Murders" Movie

The wholesome and longstanding children's program Sesame Street is suing the studio STX over STX's "Happytime Murders" movie.  "Happytime Murders" is definitely not G-rated.  Apparently, Jim Henson's son, Brian, directed the movie which depicts Muppet-type characters in unsavory ways.  For example, some of the Muppet-like characters are prostitutes, others criminals of questionable character.  "Happytime Murders" is an adult film wherein the "actors" (including the Muppet-like characters) engage in various adult situations (sex, drugs, violence, etc.).  While STX claims that it worked with Jim Henson Co. (Jim Henson created many of the Sesame Street characters), it seems that Sesame Street (actually, the plaintiff is Sesame Workshop, a nonprofit organization) was not pleased with STX's use of the tagline "No Sesame. All Street."  This is what appears to have prompted Sesame Workshop to sue STX for trademark infringement.  Sesame Workshop claims that the tagline is a deliberate attempt to confuse consumers into believing that Sesame Street endorses or is otherwise associated with the movie. 

One of the claims by Sesame Workshop is dilution.  I have written about dilution before here.  Generally, dilution is defined as the lessening of the capacity of a famous mark (the mark must be "famous" in order to earn protection against dilution) to identify and distinguish its goods.  It involves two types of unauthorized use:  Blurring and Tarnishment.  Blurring is the whittling away of  an established trademark's selling power through its unauthorized use upon similar products.  Tarnishment is the linking of a mark to products of an inferior quality or when the mark is portrayed in an unwholesome or embarrassing context. 

For a refresher on trademark basics go here.




Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Craft Beer Pun Redux

You may recall my blog about the thinning of the possible names for craft beer.  Well, it seems there is another way that a craft brewery can find itself on the wrong side of a trademark dispute.  A brewery in Auburn, California, Knee Deep Brewing Company, has a "Breaking Bad"-themed IPA (Indian Pale Ale for those not hip to brew designations).  Knee Deep's Breaking Bud IPA earned a bronze at the Great American Beer Festival in 2016.  Alas, one of Breaking Bad's production companies, Sony Pictures Television ("Sony") was not as enamored with Knee Deep's concoction and sued the brewery for trademark infringement and trademark dilution. 

According to the statement released by Knee Deep's CEO, the lawsuit came as a complete surprise because Sony representatives had expressed appreciation for the "call out" to the show in 2015 or so.  He also went on to explain that Knee Deep and Sony explored the possibility of a more formal partnership between the brew and the show, but ultimately decided not to do so.  He also makes clear that the name of the IPA was a joke and any dispute should have been raised by Sony in 2015, not via lawsuit in 2018.

If what Knee Deep's CEO claims is true, that may mean that Sony's lawsuit just got harder.  It certainly would lend credence to the argument that Sony acquiesced to Knee Deep's use of the name, and therefore, would be estopped from asserting its claims now.  Stay tuned.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

From Comic Con to Coachella

Well, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival recently took place in Indio.  As expected, plenty of entities tried to use the "chella" suffix for their products or events.  Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival ("Coachella") did not find this form of copying flattering.  For example, the Palm Desert Whole Foods announced a concert and tasting event it called "Wholechella."  That caught the attention of Coachella who immediately sicced its attorneys on Whole Foods.  Whole Foods took the path of least resistance and changed its event name to the Pre-Fest Beer Garden.

Similarly, Sean "Diddy" Combs tried to organize an event (a Bermuda Dunes bash) and named it "Combschella."  Then there was the "Hoodchella" for a rap festival and "Filmchella" for a movie festival.  All of these "chellas" raised the ire of Coachella and had to change the name of their event to remove the reference to "challa." 

In addition to being aggressive in protecting its trademark, Coachella also protects its turf.  For example, Coachella's artist contracts includes a "radius clause" which prohibits artists performing at Coachella from performing at music festivals or other events within a five-state radius of California from December to May.  Well, the organizers of "Soul'd Out Music Festival" who could not book some artists because of the aforementioned radius clause were not amused.  Soul'd Out is in Portland, Oregon and was not happy that it could not book artists who were playing at Coachella.  So, Soul'd Out sued claiming that the radius clause was a violation of antitrust laws.  Stay tuned.