12/26/23, 9:45 PM Trademark Bullying – are you being bullied?

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October 25, 2013 | No Comments
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What is trademark bullying?
About Us
Bullying, in general, means an act of intimidating a weaker Calendar
KnowLaw Blog person to do or not to do something. This term is quite familiar
to most of us, especially in the context of school, colleges, October 2013
workplaces, etc. Bullying seems to be an epidemic and has M T W T F S S
Contact Us
1 2 3 4 5 6
invaded the trademark industry as well. Normally, well-informed 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Cookie Statement (US) clients and/or attorneys do not engage in this behavior. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Cookie policy Trademark bullying, in our own words, means a form of threat, 28 29 30 31
instigation, or communication initiated by, in most cases, a
« Sep Nov »
registered trademark owner against others who generally may
not be registered owners, to do or to stop doing something that
Recent Posts is, without any reasonable cause, likely to or is infringing the
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trademark of registered trademark owner. This includes but not
limited to sending notices, making phone calls, emails and other
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forms of communications in an attempt to threaten and or
Indian judgments –
persuade others to do or not to do something that is by
Trademark Law Practice Areas
unreasonable assumption likely to or to cause infringement.

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be registered in India?
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In other words, trademark bullying is when fairly large About Us
companies, corporations unfairly or illegitimately threaten small
companies with legal action for purported trademark KnowLaw Blog
infringement. In most cases, small companies are unable to
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afford to defend their cause and drop their use of the trademark
in question.
Cookie Statement (US)
This seems to be a challenge in foreign countries and USPTO
Cookie policy
has specifically been working with stakeholders, law firms and
congress to keep this in check. In fact, USPTO has been
collecting surveys from stakeholders in this regard.

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12/26/23, 9:45 PM Trademark Bullying – are you being bullied? | Sevenelementz®- Law Firm in Chennai | Trademarks | Copyright | Patents | Designs | Geo…
Trademark bullying remains a tough nut to crack – both in terms
About Us of definitions (more on efforts to achieve this in the upcoming
issue of WTR) and solutions to the (for some perceived)
problem. Yet it is a critical issue to address – as long as the
Sevenelementz trademark community remains split, it will be hard to
Legal Associates meaningfully address public perceptions on perceived brand
LLP is a full- overreach. While consensus still seems some way off, the
service law firm positive is that it is at least an issue on which practitioners are
founded in 2011 (usually) prepared to make their stance known – the starting
rendering wide point of any productive dialogue.
range of intellectual property
services in addition to business, This is slowly catching up in India and some companies are
civil and criminal litigation. actively engaged in sending notices to small businesses and
threatening them with legal action.

Some Notable Trademark Bullying Cases

a) Jenzabar Case

In a most recent case in United States, Massachusetts Court

directed the plaintiff Jenzabar to pay $500,000 in attorney fees
over the unrelenting attack on the defendants who are
documentary filmmakers. Jenazabar, plaintiff, filed a law suit
against the documentary filmmakers and subsequently lost the
lawsuit, but only after engaging in extensive and costly
discovery and depositions, then appealed on a ridiculous and
obsolete theory. They then lost the appeal. And, now a court
has thankfully ordered Jenzabar to pay $511,943.12 in
attorneys’ fees and expenses for pursuing such frivolous legal
strategies, clearly designed to silence free speech, rather than
for any legitimate trademark purpose. The court is pretty clear
on this in slamming the company for its efforts and awarding
such a large amount.

b) The Monster Energy vs Vermonster

Monster Vs. Vermonster

Monster Vs. Vermonster –
Classic case of trademark
bullying

Image source: http://www.energyfiend.com/poll-monster-

energy-vs-vermonster-beer

Eventually the court dismissed the case as

a) There was a clearcut difference between both the marks

a) monster energy b) vermonster

b) One was a energy drink and another one was a beer.

What to do when someone bullies you? Contact a qualified

trademark lawyer.

All infringement notices cannot be termed as trademark bullying

or threats. Ideally, when you receive a notice from a lawyer or
a company notifying you of any infringement and asking you to
do or refrain from doing something, it is in your best interest to
get in touch with a trademark lawyer/attorney who has
seasoned knowledge and experience in trademark litigation and
let your lawyer handle the same.

Do not get wrong advises from friends, nonqualified persons, or

jump into a conclusion that you are not infringing and decide to
ignore the notice. Ignoring an infringement notice which has
valid grounds may land you in trouble, as, at the least, they can
get a restraint order against you from a competent court and
claim damages (compensation) for your act, which can easily be
avoided if handled before the case is lodged.

If your trademark attorney feels it is a mere threat, at most, a

well-drafted counter-reply would be more than suffice.
However, if they still want to pursue further and take things to

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12/26/23, 9:45 PM Trademark Bullying – are you being bullied? | Sevenelementz®- Law Firm in Chennai | Trademarks | Copyright | Patents | Designs | Geo…
the court, your lawyer can defend you and get the case
dismissed with costs.

Feature Image Source: http://northalabamamediaconvergence.blogspot.in/2013/04/keep-calm-and-

stop-bullying.html

Categories: Intellectual Property, Trademark

| Tags: bullying, bullying in india, false claims, illegal notices,
infringement, threatening, trademark, trademark bullying,
trademark threats

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