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In lugnet.market.brickshops, Tim Courtney writes:
> I don't think they have any legal grounds, but IANAL.
Actually, they have plenty of legal ground. Again, similarly, I am not a
lawyer. (And also a Canadian!) But I have been to lectures about
intellectual property, and it is my understanding that trademark
infringement is based on similar service or product. Meaning, if I am
McDonalds (the burger joint) and some guy opens a company called MacDonalds
Burgers, then I have reason to take legal action. If someone opens
MacDonalds Car Repair, well, no, because there's no reasonable chance that
someone would get an auto garage and a burger joint mixed up. Check it out:
http://www.bitlaw.com/trademark/infringe.html
"In a nutshell, a plaintiff in a trademark case has the burden of proving
that the defendant's use of a mark has created a likelihood-of-confusion
about the origin of the defendant's goods or services."
If you read a bit further:
"the similarity in the overall impression created by the two marks
(including the marks' look, phonetic similarities, and underlying meanings);
the similarities of the goods and services involved (including an
examination of the marketing channels for the goods);
the strength of the plaintiff's mark; "
I can easily see how Brickbay and EBay (both in online auctions, both
allowing sellers to auction used toys etc) can be mixed up, at least for a
judge to rule on. I won't comment on whether or not I think it's a valid
claim, because there's just too much stupidity going on the IP field these days.
> This is silly. eBay is big enough they don't have to whine like this.
> Their lawyers need something better to do.
Actually, they don't. In a market where almost anyone with a 486, and a
network connection can duplicate EBay's basic services, it's very important
that the IP elements EBay does own, including it's name, DNS domain, and
business processes, be defended at any cost. Otherwise, there's very little
to differentiate EBay from say, "cBay" or anything else.
At that, this is the same as Larry defending his Guild of Bricksmiths
(tm-just to make his day). If one believes Larry is within his rights to
defend his trademark and protect it, then you have to support EBay protect
its trademarks and IP. It doesn't really matter if EBay is a big evil
company, and Larry is a small but outspoken, ardent supporter of Lego and
the Lego "community". If I was CEO of EBay (sorry Meg) I'd sue Brickbay to
the stone age*, my investors would demand it.
*-I of course don't wish to sue Brickbay to the stone age, I think they
provide a very valuable service. But speaking hypothetically...
Calum
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Message has 4 Replies:
 | | Re: Bad News for Brickbay!?
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| (...) Yes, they do...but... (...) Perhaps for a lax judge, but you have made a couple of false indications in your example; Brickbay is not an auction site, sellers do not conduct auctions there...it is a private commerce site for the buying and (...) (23 years ago, 26-Jan-02, to lugnet.market.brickshops, lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bad News for Brickbay!?
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| (...) I don't know if this sheds any more light on the situation, but here is my understanding of large companies defending their trademark: I was reading an article in Florida one day that was telling of "Disney" sueing a day care center for using (...) (23 years ago, 27-Jan-02, to lugnet.market.brickshops, lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Bad News for Brickbay!?
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| "r2" <lego@r2eng.com> wrote in message news:GqH4BA.Fzq@lugnet.com... (...) world (...) form (...) a (...) I don't think they have any legal grounds, but IANAL. I think it would be beneficial to organize a boycott of LEGO buyers and sellers on eBay. (...) (23 years ago, 25-Jan-02, to lugnet.market.brickshops, lugnet.general)
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