Brand Defense: Protecting Trademarks and Copyrights Part IAug 25, 2008, ET  When Hasbro sued the makers of the online game Scrabulous for copyright infringement in July, it was a reminder that no matter how old, established or successful your brand, someone will find a way to infringe upon it. And these days that infringement is increasingly likely to come from the Internet. The Scrabble vs. Scrabulous battle has the potential to lull marketers into a false sense of security. Scrabulous was a blatant copy of Scrabble-down to the rules, game pieces and board colors-and it was marketed across the most high-profile new medium available, Facebook. In addition, Hasbro was slow to oppose the spread of Scrabulous (it has been around since 2005). Assuming that infringements on your branded intellectual property, trademarks and copyrights will be easy to detect, and that your response will be swift and merciless, could be a mistake. The world of IP protection-particularly online-is becoming more complicated. "You have to be constantly vigilant against infringers," says Frank Hellwig, Anheuser-Busch's senior associate general counsel, who's tasked with defending the Budweiser brand. A-B has been in a dispute over the name "Budweiser" with a Czech brewery that dates back to 1895. "Once they start chipping away, it declines the value of your asset." One reason the IP world is becoming more complex is that the law governing Internet trademark use changes monthly, as courts hand down different rulings. The hottest area is an unresolved battle between Google and about a half-dozen companies over whether the search engine has the right to sell use of their brand names to competing companies as keywords. That situation comes up when companies want to trigger their own Google ads whenever a consumer searches for a rival. Thus, if you do a search for "Expedia," Google displays ads for Smartfare.com and CheapAir .com. In the U.S., Google has mostly prevailed. It has settled suits with Geico, American Airlines and American Blind & Wallpaper Factory before they could get to trial. The courts have split on whether selling branded keywords to rivals is an infringement. Some have ruled that it is, and others have said that as consumers never see the brand names being sold, they are not in "use," and therefore not infringing. "The courts are all over the place right now on this," says Scott Hervey, trademark group chair at Weintraub Genshlea Chediak in Sacramento, Calif. Hervey represents Hulk and Brooke Hogan on IP issues. "There hasn't been a uniform rule yet on what is applicable, even with regard to Google." For more on Trademarks and Copyrights: Brand Defense: Protecting Trademarks and Copyrights Part I Brand Defense: Protecting Trademarks and Copyrights Part II Brand Defense: Protecting Trademarks and Copyrights Part III Brand Defense: Protecting Trademarks and Copyrights Part IAug 25, 2008, ET When Hasbro sued the makers of the online game Scrabulous for copyright infringement in July, it was a reminder that no matter how old, established or successful your brand, someone will find a way to infringe upon it. And these days that infringement is increasingly likely to come from the Internet. The Scrabble vs. Scrabulous battle has the potential to lull marketers into a false sense of security. Scrabulous was a blatant copy of Scrabble-down to the rules, game pieces and board colors-and it was marketed across the most high-profile new medium available, Facebook. In addition, Hasbro was slow to oppose the spread of Scrabulous (it has been around since 2005). Assuming that infringements on your branded intellectual property, trademarks and copyrights will be easy to detect, and that your response will be swift and merciless, could be a mistake. The world of IP protection-particularly online-is becoming more complicated. "You have to be constantly vigilant against infringers," says Frank Hellwig, Anheuser-Busch's senior associate general counsel, who's tasked with defending the Budweiser brand. A-B has been in a dispute over the name "Budweiser" with a Czech brewery that dates back to 1895. "Once they start chipping away, it declines the value of your asset." One reason the IP world is becoming more complex is that the law governing Internet trademark use changes monthly, as courts hand down different rulings. The hottest area is an unresolved battle between Google and about a half-dozen companies over whether the search engine has the right to sell use of their brand names to competing companies as keywords. That situation comes up when companies want to trigger their own Google ads whenever a consumer searches for a rival. Thus, if you do a search for "Expedia," Google displays ads for Smartfare.com and CheapAir .com. In the U.S., Google has mostly prevailed. It has settled suits with Geico, American Airlines and American Blind & Wallpaper Factory before they could get to trial. The courts have split on whether selling branded keywords to rivals is an infringement. Some have ruled that it is, and others have said that as consumers never see the brand names being sold, they are not in "use," and therefore not infringing. "The courts are all over the place right now on this," says Scott Hervey, trademark group chair at Weintraub Genshlea Chediak in Sacramento, Calif. Hervey represents Hulk and Brooke Hogan on IP issues. "There hasn't been a uniform rule yet on what is applicable, even with regard to Google." For more on Trademarks and Copyrights: Brand Defense: Protecting Trademarks and Copyrights Part I Brand Defense: Protecting Trademarks and Copyrights Part II Brand Defense: Protecting Trademarks and Copyrights Part III
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