Trademark 101: two companies cannot use an identical mark for similar or related products. This is to avoid consumer confusion. The company that owns an earlier federal registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (”PTO”) generally prevails; the other must change the name of its product (with many nuances and exceptions, of course!).

Now everyone is talking about the Apple iPhone. But have you heard of the Linksys iPhone? Probably not until Cisco (Linksys’ parent company) filed a much publicized lawsuit against Apple over the mark “iPhone” two weeks ago. Cisco claims that it owns senior rights in the mark and that Apple cannot use the name.

Cisco’s complaint is available here

Cisco has owned a PTO registration for “iPhone” since 2000 (when it purchased the company Infogear). Apple owns foreign applications for the mark (in Asia, Europe and Australia). Cisco’s registration is for “computer hardware and software for providing integrated telephone communication with computerized global information networks” (Reg. No. 2,293,011). In December 2006, less than a month before the anticipated launch of the Apple Iphone, Linksys, a division of Cisco, released its iPhone handheld device.

The differences between the devices may play a role in resolving the dispute. Cisco’s iPhone products work with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services (like Skype), while the Apple iPhone is more like a conventional cell phone that uses internet connections, not to make calls, but to browse the web or check emails. The differences are subtle, but judges and the PTO have been known to allow identical marks to coexist in the telecommunications and software industries if the products have different uses and markets.

Another issue that may come up in the case is Cisco’s use of the mark since 2000. Infogear was using the mark for its line of “phone-plus-internet” products, but did Cisco use the mark in commerce before launching its own iPhone device in 2006? This is important because if a mark has not been in use for 3 consecutive years and the owner has done nothing to try to resume use of the mark, the PTO may presume that the owner has abandoned the mark. Apple may use that argument to try to invalidate Cisco’s registration.

Stay tuned for updates on the dispute…

In the meantime, bloggers are already coming up with alternate names for Apple’s iPhone: MacPhone, iTalk, iCall, iWishIHadABetterName…

On January 1, Bulgaria and Romania became the 26th and 27th members of the European Union (”EU”). Bulgaria and Romania are probably not on your radar now, but they may be in the future, as the two countries continue to grow their economies and modernize their infrastructures to meet EU standards.

In the meantime, the news is likely to affect your trademark rights if you are doing business in Europe, or if you are planning to expand your business to the Balkan states.

First, a few words about trademarks in Europe. The EU has a system, called the European Community Trademark (”CTM”), that allows companies and individuals to file a single trademark application that covers all member countries (instead of having to file individually with each country’s trademark office). When new countries join the EU, like Bulgaria and Romania did two weeks ago, they join that system automatically.

What does this mean practically?

First piece of good news for companies with pre-01/01/07 CTM applications and registrations: their trademark rights are automatically extended to the two new member countries. They can now enforce their marks in Bulgaria and Romania — even if the infringers have filed trademark applications in those countries. Of course, with the good comes some bad (and possible confusion). To help in the transition, owners of national trademarks in Bulgaria and Romania have been granted an exceptional right to oppose confusingly similar CTM marks filed between July 1 and December 31, 2006. The extension of the EU also means that the CTM office can now object to marks on the basis that they are generic or descriptive in Romanian and Bulgarian. This will not be a problem for most companies as their marks probably do not have a meaning in those languages. Nevertheless, companies looking to file trademarks in the EU may want to take these new elements into consideration when chosing a mark to be used in the European market.

For more information about what the EU enlargement means from a trademark perspective, the European Trademark Office published a circular available at:
http://oami.europa.eu/en/enlargement/enlargement2007.htm

A couple of individuals whose last names are Tucker and Ruth have filed a couple of important law suits in the last month. Class action law suits which means that the plaintiff is asserting that the true number of plaintiffs that form the ‘class’ in the ‘action’ are too numerous to count. The operative word is “individuals” here because that is the constituency of people who are downloading music from Apple’s iTunes and buying music from the conventional big music players (Sony, BMG, Universal, TimeWarner).

The two class action cases are based on a claim that Apple and the big music players are effectively a monopoly because they collectively are over 75% of the market providers of music; and, because they have deliberately and consciously disabled the individuals in the market from having the right/ability to use the music that they are acquiring over different platforms. In short, it is the choke hold that Apple and the big music players have over the music buyers options of how or where to play the music that is the problem.

The law suits are a further indication that the consumer market is growing intolerant with being dictated to and restricted in how the music plays. The ‘Consumer Technology Bill of Rights’ has been percolating through the grassroots communities for some time and involves these rights:

1. Users have the right to “time-shift” content that they have legally acquired.
This gives you the right to record video or audio for later viewing or listening. For example, you can use a VCR to record a TV show and play it back later.
2. Users have the right to “space-shift” content that they have legally acquired.
This gives you the right to use your content in different places (as long as each use is personal and non-commercial). For example, you can copy a CD to a portable music player so that you can listen to the songs while you’re jogging.
3. Users have the right to make backup copies of their content.
This gives you the right to make archival copies to be used in the event that your original copies are destroyed.
4. Users have the right to use legally acquired content on the platform of their choice.
This gives you the right to listen to music on your Rio, to watch TV on your iMac, and to view DVDs on your Linux computer.
5. Users have the right to translate legally acquired content into comparable formats.
This gives you the right to modify content in order to make it more usable. For example, a blind person can modify an electronic book so that the content can be read out loud.
6. Users have the right to use technology in order to achieve the rights previously mentioned.
This last right guarantees your ability to exercise your other rights. Certain recent copyright laws have paradoxical loopholes that claim to grant certain rights but then criminalize all technologies that could allow you to exercise those rights. In contrast, this Bill of Rights states that no technological barriers can deprive you of your other fair use rights.

These cases pursue number two and four, above, the right to space shift and the right to use legally acquired content on the platform of their choice.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) seems to have gotten a grasp on the solution ahead of the big music company members who comprise the RIAA. Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, recently joined in possibly supporting these two ‘rights’ when he said, “We are focused on interoperability”.

What interoperability will look like; and whether the leading device manufacturers, Apple and Microsoft, will begin to offer some version of ‘pret a porter’ remains to be seen. But the recipients of music are definately not passive recipients. Consumers want the music and they want to be able to take it with them beyond the machines from which they first legitimately access it. Watch this space. As it is known, we’ll be discussing it here.