Mattel Attacks mattl.com

Shrug. Headline says it all. Mattel (you know, the company that makes Cyber Patrol) is now sending out cease-and-desist orders to domains that, you know, sorta resemble their name. Sorta. In a way.

Once upon a time, trademarks were useful to prevent consumers from being confused about the origin of goods or services. Not any more. Now they're weapons, pure and simple. mattl.com is a weblog. Doesn't sell toys. Doesn't try to pretend it's actually Mattel Inc. But hey, sending scary legal letters is cheap. Extra: Aminal sends a pointer to a story, though it doesn't have any details.

Comments

"sorta resemble" is "likelyhood of confusion"

[Seth Finkelstein]

What's new is the extensive application, not the doctrine itself. Also dilution.

See A Primer on Trademark Law and Internet Addresses

- the Boston Lunatic

Re:"sorta resemble" is "likelyhood of confusion"

[Lord Kano]

I'm not sure about this. I remember about ~7 years ago when a company started making men's underwear under the name of Body Action Design (BAD) and they were sued by the BVD people, the judge found that the more popular or dominant a name is in a field the less chance there will be of consumer confusion by a similar name. Gel-E Gelatin couldn't be confused with that other gelatin because of that other brand's market dominance.

If you know what I mean by "that other gelatin", you've just proven me right.

LK