Other Trademark Lawsuits

This is a fascinating but sad story about the Skippy cartoon character, trademark and years of legal action.

Harley Davidson refused Mr. Lenz’s offer and will now have to pay Mr. Lenz approximately 40% of the sales price of every Harley Davidson Sportster that was sold in Mexico since 1989.

Cache La Poudre attorney Luke Santangelo said in an interview that the lawsuit asks $132 million, which he estimated is Land O'Lakes' profit from the Profile feed over the last two years. Santangelo also claimed his client is entitled to triple that amount because Land O'Lakes intentionally used Cache La Poudre's trademark.

The Microsoft Corporation settled a trademark lawsuit today, agreeing to pay $5 million for the right to continue using the name Internet Explorer for its World Wide Web browser. On the second day of a Federal jury trial in a Chicago, Microsoft reached a settlement with lawyers for Synet Inc., a defunct Illinois software company that said it had the the right to the trademark.

"When companies like the defendant in this case try to make a profit by confusing fans and flagrantly violating our trademark rights, we have to take action," said Howard Roffman, President of Lucas Licensing, which oversees the global Star Wars merchandise business that was established after the success of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope in 1977.

Bygone Sports answered with counter charges a month later, arguing that Major League Baseball failed to check to see if anyone else had rights to the name and that MLB could have challenged the Atlanta-based company's September 2002 trademark application.