Tabberone is pronounced tab ber won |
|
Trademark Extortion |
Last Updated March 1, 2011 |
Let us begin by defining the word extortion:
Extortion (Black's Law Dictionary - 6th Edition) is defined as: |
"The obtaining of property from another induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right." |
Property can be money as well many other things. It could also be the act of scaring someone into stop selling something the they ahve a legal right to sell, that would
be loss of market, i.e., profit (money). We limit our definition of Trademark Extortionist to those who demand money, or threaten to demand money,
as part of their Cease & Desist demands. Those others, who are trying to scare off the competition just with improper claims of trademark infringement, we call
scumbags and The Tabberone Trademarks & Copyright Abusers' Hall Of Shame is full of them.
We list those that we have heard about at the bottom of this page. Also, the money demanded usually has little or no relation to
the amount of money actually spent.
We have long documented corporate lawyers using the "fear" of being hauled into federal court to demand money from alleged infringers. While there are numerous real infringers out there, here we document those we believe are using extortion as a source of revenue. And, they don't have to send Guido to your place to breaka you arms. The first Trademark Extortionist we heard about was Major League Baseball Properties in 2003. However no one was able to provide us with a copy of a letter or email supporting the money demands made by Brian Day of MLBP. Then came Continental Enterprises who was representing Heineken Brewery. And there are many others. While trademark owners must "police" the marketplace for infringing competition, it is a cost of doing business, much like liability insurance, a copy machine, or a break area with coffee machine. In September 2007, Kenneth L. Port, of William Mitchell College Of Law, wrote a paper titled Trademark Extortion: The End Of Trademark Law. We discuss that paper here. You can read it yourself. in word document format or, if you prefer, in PDF document format. Both versions are 72 pages long. He appears to have researched 3,500 trademark cases from 1947 to 2005 for his data. |
Trademark Extortion: The End Of Trademark Law pages 3-4. |
Trademark Extortion: The End Of Trademark Law page 5. |
Trademark Extortion: The End Of Trademark Law page 4 footnote #19. |
Trademark Extortion: The End Of Trademark Law page 69. |
While Port's paper focuses on companies using "strike" lawsuits, we focus on those companies, and their representatives, who threaten lawsuits
while demanding to be paid off in the process. To us, those are the Trademark Extortionists.
Also, read Trademark Registrations Owned by Leo Stoller & Central Mfg. Sold, a press release about a group who bought up the estate to stop the trademark extortion he was doing. For more on Leo Stoller, visit this web site about him http://stollerexposed.blog.com (a new browser window will open). The web site claims, "It is meant to be factual first; after that, it is satirical, sardonic, twisted, but always meant to be done with a degree of good taste about a man who always operates in poor taste." |
General Articles | Cease and Desist Letters | Federal Court Cases | FAQs & Whines | Glossary | Hall Of Shame | Contributions
Corporate Lawyers |
Definitions |
Federal Court Cases Alphabetically | by Federal Circuit | by Subject | by Court Quotations |
Federal Statutes Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 5 | Digital Millenium Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 12 | Lanham Act 15 U.S.C. 22 |
VeRO (Verified Right's Owner Program) VeRO Commandments | VeRO-Verified Rights Owners Program | Counter Notice Letter Counter Notice (pre-2003) | Counter Notice present | On-Line Survey from 2004 | Articles about VeRO | What To Do If You Are Veroed |
Original material by Karen Dudnikov & Michael Meadors is © 1999-2017 |