Seattle Trademark Lawyer

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According to Interbrand Ronald is worth more than Mickey. Interbrand has just published its 2007 Best Global Brands, ranking the top 100 brands that: 1) derive at least a third of earnings outside of the brand’s home country; 2) are recognized beyond the brand’s customer base; and 3) have public marketing and financial data. Interbrand also excludes brands that are hard to identify as having brand value separate from their products or services. For example, pharma brands are excluded because Interbrand has determined that consumers focus on products rather than the overarching company branding. That leaves Northern District companies like Abbott Labs out of the running. But the Northern District is still very well represented. For example, McDonald’s jumped one spot this year, surpassing Disney in brand value. Here are the Northern District companies (or at least those very near the Northern District) on the list:
Northern District Top Global Brands 07 Rank 06 Rank Company 07 Brand Value (in USD Millions)
8 9 McDonald’s 29.398
59 59 Wrigley’s 5.777
77 69 Motorola 4.149
86 79 Kraft 3.732
Thanks to the Seattle Trademark Lawyer for identifying the ranking.
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Continue Reading Ronald Beats Mickey: Northern District Home to Several Top Global Brands

The Wall Street Journal print edition had an interesting article about a new trend in defending lawsuits that focused on an IP dispute — A Growing Dispute: Fertilizer Start-Up Uses Web as Defense (subscription required). The article discusses TerraCycle Inc.’s use of a website (www.suedbyscotts.com) to bolster its defense of a lawsuit Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. filed against TerraCycle alleging trade dress infringement and false advertising.* According to the article, TerraCycle has not raised much money from its online solicitation for defense fund donations. But during the first four weeks of its online defense, TerraCycle’s sales jumped 122%, as opposed to 31% during the same period last year. TerraCycle also saw a corresponding spike in visits to its primary website. The WSJ Law Blog picked up on the story and developed it further, identifying several other defendants that have used websites as an aspect of their defense strategies, including Vonage’s site (www.freetocompete.com) developed in connection with its prominent patent dispute.
It appears that defending cases on the internet is a growing trend. I doubt it will benefit defendants within the confines of the courtroom or the legal proceedings generally. Perhaps bringing details of the suit into the public eye will help identify additional prior art or apply pressure from interest groups like consumers or shareholders to get plaintiffs to change tactics. But it seems to me that the biggest benefit of these sites may commercial, they make news and drive additional traffic to the defendant’s primary site.
* You can read more about the Scotts Miracle-Gro v. TerraCycle dispute at the Seattle Trademark Lawyer.
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Continue Reading Taking IP Defense to the Court of Public Opinion