Who Owns the name Black Sabbath?

Ozzy Osbourne filed suit this week against guitarist Tony Iommi for claiming ownership of the band's name.  Iommi claims that Ozzy and the other band founders relinquished their rights to the name in the 1980s.  Iommi's federal registration for "Black Sabbath" issued back in 2000.

Here's Tony, Ozzy and the boys in happier days:

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

"We speak cars" lands Ford in infringement suit

...but the suit was apparently quickly resolved (unlike the notorious "We'll pick you up" lawsuit between Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Advantage Rent-a-Car, which went on ...and on...)

The Dumbest Trademark Demand Letter?

Marc Randazza points to one of the dumbest trademark demand letters he's ever read: dumb not because it has "the misplaced certitude, the overblown rhetoric, the baseless imputation of evil to the recipient, and over-all lack of self-awareness" that Marty Schwimmer would consider denoting a truly dumb demand letter (BTW: great wording, Marty!); but rather because it asserted a ridiculous claim, which led to the filing of declaratory judgment action.

Overzealous lawyer, or over-reaching client?

UPDATE: Ron Coleman adds "When will they ever learn?" Exactly.

Meet The Bloggers V at INTA

Michael Atkins (a/k/a the Seattle Trademark Lawyer) has graciously offered to host "Meet the Bloggers V" at this year's INTA Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Date: Monday, May 18

Time: 6-9 p.m.

Place: Graham & Dunn, Pier 70, 2801 Alaskan Way, Suite 300, Seattle

iFart lawsuit making some noise

Lots of recent postings and press on the iFart v. Pull My Finger lawsuit (best headline so far:  Odor In The Court)

Who says Trademark Lawyers are just Hot Air?

InfoMedia Inc., creator of the iFart Mobile application, filed a federal lawsuit against Air-O-Matic, Inc. seeking a declaratory judgment that its use of "pull my finger" was fair use.

Anyone else surpised that the case wasn't filed in Chicago (the "Windy City")?

Now here's one way to respond to a demand letter...

Heh