FC: More on Mastercard, from someone who once sent trademark nastygrams

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Mon Jul 02 2001 - 20:17:04 PDT

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    Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2001 10:20:43 -0400
    Subject: Re: FC: More on Mastercard lawyers threatening Attrition.org over
    	satire
    From: "Wendy Leibowitz" <wendytechat_private>
    To: declanat_private
    
    Mr. Leavitt is correct that trademark lawyers are required to "zealously
    defend" their clients' trademarks. Until recently this was interpreted as
    meaning that vicious letters went out to anyone using a client's trademark,
    or something similar to a client's trademark. (Remember Pokey.org, the
    12-year old boy called Pokey who got those letters, and eventually a
    lawsuit, from the lawyers for Art Clokey, inventor of Gumby and his little
    red horse, Pokey?) The resultant bad publicity did a great deal of damage to
    the client, as Mastercard is discovering in this case, and as the lawyers
    for Warner Brothers discovered when they fired off threatening letters to
    little Harry Potter fans. Not every use of a trademark is infringement, and
    there are many tools to fight infringement other than threats.
    
    In the face of the Internet, I think trademark lawyers are changing their
    tactics. At least sophisticated trademark lawyers are--Mastercard doesn't
    seem to have those, yet. (They rightly threatened Ralph Nader's ads because,
    in part, you don't want your company to appear to endorse any political
    candidate). If they played this parody with a little sense of humor, they
    would get valuable publicity for their client, remind the world of trademark
    rights, and get even more mileage out of a successful and memorable ad
    campaign.
    
    I wrote an article about new trademark tactics. (I used to send those stupid
    threatening letters). It's at
    http://www.wendytech.com/articlesnyresolntm.htm
    
    Best regards,
    Wendy
    
    Wendy R. Leibowitz
    Legal Technology Columnist
    Editor, E-Filing Report
    1140 23rd St. NW
    Washington, DC 20037
    http://www.wendytech.com
    "Remember, even pencils break." --John F. Kennedy
    
    
    
    
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