February 2022 - Blog | Trademarkmaldives

OCM Globe Sues Grocery Brands Alleging Trademark Infringement

OCM Globe Inc. has recently filed a lawsuit against grocery brands Apollo Food International, Inc and A&C Best Food Trading in the Central District of California, alleging Trademark Infringement and unfair competition.

The lawsuit filed mentions that OCM is a California-based corporation doing the business of merchandising grocery products as a part of which it purchases products from suppliers and sells them to grocery stores, supermarkets, and retailers in the United States. It further specifies that OCM is the exclusive licensee and distributor of six grocery brand products such as Genki Forest and many others represented by Japanese and Chinese characters.

The lawsuit filed by OCM claims that Apollo Food International and A&C Best Food Trading are both New York-based corporations specializing in making, using, importing, and selling specific food products. According to OCM, among the defendants’ products, some products bear marks similar to its products, which are likely to deceive or confuse the customers.

According to the lawsuit, OCM had sent a cease-and-desist letter to Apollo Food International last year on 2^nd February, demanding the corporation to cease its infringing activities. Similarly, it had sent a cease-and-desist letter to A&C Best Food Trading on 9^th July 2021, demanding the corporation to cease its infringing activities as well immediately. The lawsuit further alleges that neither Apollo Food International nor A&C Best Food Trading has responded to their respective cease-and-desist letters.

OCM has stated that although the defendants have been put on notice, they are continuing to infringe upon its trademarks blatantly and intentionally, thereby causing OCM to suffer major harm, including significant loss of goodwill and revenue.

Besides OCM’s Trademark Rights being infringed upon, the lawsuit also claims that some beverage products provided by the defendants don’t comply well with the United States Department of Agriculture’s certification requirements, in particular concerning the ingredients used and product sourcing. OCM strongly believes that the defendants either failed to comply well with the mandatory certification requirements or put forward fake certification for some beverage products.

OCM brings five causes of action in its lawsuit filed, including:

Trademark Infringement Under the Lanham Act
False Designation of Origin & Unfair Competition
Trademark Infringement Under Common Law
Violation of the Business & Professions Code of California
Unfair Competition Under Common Law

The corporation is now looking forward to seeking damages, not a penny less than $500,000, injunctive relief, an accounting of profits realized by defendants in question, exemplary and punitive damages, disgorgement of all unjust enrichment, and attorneys’ costs and fees. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

Don’t forget to follow us on social media:

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/trademarkmaldives/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/trademarkmaldiv

Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/company/trademarkmaldives/

Pinterest – https://in.pinterest.com/trademarkmaldives/

Tumblr – https://trademarkmaldives.tumblr.com/

Fast Food Giant McDonald’s Files Trademark Applications in Metaverse

According to a recent report, the world’s largest fast-food restaurant chain, McDonald’s, has filed Trademark Applications for virtual restaurants in the metaverse. The American multinational fast food corporation has filed ten trademark applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the McDonald’s brand and McCafe earlier this month. The report mentions that McDonald’s, which owns more than 39,000 outlets in about 100 countries globally, has claimed that it will be able to deliver food in person and online using these trademarks.

The report states that the trademarks filed are for virtual food and beverage products. It also describes them as operating a virtual restaurant online with a home delivery feature.

As per the report, other brand offshoots like entertainment and events, which use the McDonald’s and McCafe names, have been trademarked and include online actual and virtual concerts.

Trademark lawyer Josh Gerben tweeted with the descriptions of the trademarks in question that if a person is hanging out in the metaverse and feels hungry, he doesn’t have to put down his headset; all he has to do is walk into a McDonald’s outlet and place his order, which shall arrive at his door a little while later.

According to the experts, it will now take somewhere around eight months before the USPTO approves the said trademark applications.

Gerben believes that every other widely recognized brand or business would be seen making similar trademark filings within the next twelve months. He further stated that any brand or business that wants to be the next blockbuster could never afford to ignore any new technology in the market.

The American multinational technology conglomerate Facebook, now recognized and doing business as Meta, has already opened up its metaverse world called Horizon Worlds. Even Microsoft has some plans to open up a metaverse version of its Teams app pretty soon.

The report has mentioned that smaller companies can also put their foot forward in this direction by buying their own space in ready-made metaverse platforms like Mirandus, Decentraland, and Sandbox. Many companies and firms are doing so to stake their claim that too without figuring out how to use this new technology for extracting the maximum benefits. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

Don’t forget to follow us on social media:

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/trademarkmaldives/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/trademarkmaldiv

Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/company/trademarkmaldives/

Pinterest – https://in.pinterest.com/trademarkmaldives/

Tumblr – https://trademarkmaldives.tumblr.com/

Nike Sues StockX Alleging Trademark Infringement in Digital Token Launch

The US-based multinational corporation, Nike, has recently filed a Trademark Infringement lawsuit over unauthorized Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) against StockX in a federal court in New York.

StockX is an online reselling platform based in Detroit. It is engaged in reselling handbags, sneakers, and other goods. Last year in April, StockX raised $255m in funding, resulting in the company valuing at $3.8bn.

Headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area, Nike is engaged in the designing, development, manufacturing, and global sales and marketing of sports apparel, footwear, equipment, accessories, and other services.

The sportswear giant has alleged that StockX has begun selling new virtual products by using Nike’s trademarks without obtaining its permission. According to Nike, StockX has sold even more than 500 Nike-branded Vault NFTs so far.

In this matter, Nike has filed a 50-page lawsuit against StockX alleging trademark infringement with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

In its complaint filed, Nike has asserted that StockX is ‘minting’ NFTs that prominently use trademarks owned by Nike without its authorization or approval. The sportswear giant has further mentioned that StockX is even involved in marketing those NFTs by using Nike’s goodwill and selling them at heavily inflated prices to unsuspecting customers who believe or are most likely to believe that such ‘investible digital assets’ (as referred to by StockX) are authorized by Nike when in reality they are not.

As per Nike, it has never approved or authorized Nike-branded Vault NFTs sold and marketed by StockX. The sportswear giant strongly believes that such unsanctioned products are very much likely to mislead the customers, create a fake association between such products and Nike, and dilute Nike’s widely-recognized trademarks. It mentioned that the unapproved and unauthorized branding of Vault NFTs with Nike trademarks would jeopardize the capacity of Nike’s widely-known Registered Trademarks to identify its own set of digital goods in the metaverse and beyond and even affect its overall reputation through an association with inferior digital products.

Nike has written in its lawsuit that despite recognizing firsthand the enormous value of its brands, StockX chose to compete in the NFT market by not taking the time to create or establish its Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), but instead by conspicuously freeriding, that too almost exclusively, on the back of Nike’s widely-known trademarks and their associated goodwill.

Nike also mentioned that use of its trademarks by StockX to enter the digital collectible market prevents the sportswear giant of its exclusive right to use its registered trademarks within the medium.

In this case, StockX has replied by saying it has never stated or implied that the NFTs are tied, associated with, sponsored by, or officially connected to a third-party brand. StockX is confident that its customers understand the difference between its Vault NFTs and the third-party products to which they correspond.

Katy Cockrel, the Vice President of Communications at StockX, has said that StockX customers have been trading a wide range of products on the StockX website, thereby trusting the platform to verify their authenticity and shipping products back and forth in each trade.

As part of its lawsuit, Nike has requested damages and that the court in its judgment would stop StockX from selling NFTs possessing Nike’s trademarks.

Nike filed this lawsuit against StockX after purchasing RTFKT Studios (an apparel and footwear startup based on NFTs) for an undisclosed sum in December.

RTFKT Studios specializes in creating virtual sneaker designs, memes, and many other collectible exclusives inspired by video games.

According to several reports, the sportswear giant has plans to launch various virtual products later this month. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

Don’t forget to follow us on social media:

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/trademarkmaldives/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/trademarkmaldiv

Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/company/trademarkmaldives/

Pinterest – https://in.pinterest.com/trademarkmaldives/

Tumblr – https://trademarkmaldives.tumblr.com/

Meta Becomes a Member of the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA)

Meta Platforms Inc., formerly known as Facebook and presently doing business as Meta, has recently joined the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA). The company, at present, is the latest and biggest crypto technology patent holder to join COPA, thereby expanding the pool of Intellectual Property (IP) assets that could be significantly used to safeguard the industry from litigation.

The move comes on the heels of Meta winding down its crypto project, the Diem Association. As per various recent reports, Diem is selling its technology (IP assets) to Silvergate Bank (Based in San Diego) for $200 million to pay back the investors.

COPA is a consortium of crypto and technology companies led by Block, which is Jack Dorsey’s payments company and was formerly known as Square Inc. It was established two years ago in September as an organization that encourages and supports blockchain-related innovation and growth by reducing the likelihood of Patent Litigation. According to Dorsey, the creation of an alliance by requiring the members to share their owned patents with COPA’s collective patent library is a crucial step in helping the crypto community safeguard itself against patent aggressors and trolls.

Not long after its establishment, in 2021, COPA filed a lawsuit against the Australian computer scientist widely known for his debated claim to be the inventor of Bitcoin, Craig Wright. His legal team had sent a cease-and-desist letter to COPA in an attempt to copyright the Bitcoin white paper – an issue that has bedeviled the crypto community for years.

By becoming a member of COPA, Meta has pledged not to enforce any of its core cryptocurrency patents other than for defensive reasons. According to the General Manager of COPA, Max Sills, the previously mentioned statement includes any technology that allows the creation, transmission, storage, mining, security, integrity, or settlement of cryptocurrencies. It also implies that the patents owned by Meta would be freely available for anyone to utilize.

COPA includes over two dozen other major technology and crypto firms, such as Kraken (a US-based cryptocurrency exchange and bank), Uniswap (a cryptocurrency exchange that uses a decentralized network protocol), MicroStrategy (an American company providing mobile software, business intelligence, and cloud-based services), Coinbase (an American company operating a cryptocurrency exchange platform), to name a few.

Many companies and firms count themselves as members of COPA; however, according to Sills, Meta is the largest company to date based on the number of patents it owns. With Meta joining COPA, the organization has said in a recent statement delivered that it is closer to accomplishing its ultimate objective of advancing cryptocurrency innovation through partnerships among big financial organizations, tech giants, and crypto companies. Sills believes that this move is undoubtedly one step further to advancing COPA’s mission, i.e., to remove all the legal barriers so that cryptocurrency can become the backbone for transferring value anywhere globally.

The head of Meta’s licensing and transactions group, Shayne O’Reilly, will be seen representing Meta on COPA’s board of directors, making Meta the 6^th voting member of COPA’s board. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com