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Ferrari Facebook page: currently over 15 million fans |

Passionate about IP! Since June 2003 the IPKat has covered copyright, patent, trade mark, info-tech, privacy and confidentiality issues from a mainly UK and European perspective. The team is Eleonora Rosati, Annsley Merelle Ward, Neil J. Wilkof, and Merpel. Nicola Searle is currently on sabbatical. Read, post comments and participate! E-mail the Kats here
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Ferrari Facebook page: currently over 15 million fans |
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BREAKING: Lohan Sues Twin, Claims Unauthorized Use of Likeness and Hair Brush |
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Here's a different sort of ice bucket challenge |
"This article sets out the narrative of trademark licensing on the basis of the following: (i) the ever-evolving nature of licensing in response to changing uses of marks in commerce; (ii) challenges to the legal validity of licensing under classic trademark doctrine; (iii) the role of quality control; (iv) diversity in the legal approach, even between countries that are part of the common law tradition; (v) blurred boundaries between licensed use of marks and other forms of use of marks by third parties; and (vi) the future directions of trademark licensing".Readers who are INTA members, or who can access the Trademark Reporter, and who have a soft spot for Neil's pet subject of trade mark licensing, are in for a treat!
"Hello Kitty: not a cat?" is the striking but -- to this Kat quite unsurprising -- title of an article by Hannah Marsh, published in The Telegraph earlier this week. in relevant part, the article reads (with spellings corrected):
"... D]id you know that Hello Kitty is not a cat, but a young British girl with a twin sister and an entire backstory? Christine R Yano, an anthropologist from the University of Hawaii and visiting professor at Harvard, has spent years studying the phenomenon that is Hello Kitty and her lasting appeal. Speaking to the LA Times, she explains some of the lesser-known facts about the cutesy character.The reason why this Kat is not surprised to learn that Hello Kitty is not actually a cat is that, many years ago, he did some consultancy work for Express Newspapers, in the course of which the subject of another fictional character arose, Rupert Bear. This nominal ursine (right), despite his ears and facial features, is not a bear at all but a boy (also apparently British) with the face of a bear [a cursory surf of the internet has not yet revealed any source to support this contention but, like Hello Kitty, Rupert behaves in human fashion]. This Kat is fairly certain that there may be others and has a hunch that his readers may be jogging his memory ...
"Hello Kitty is not a cat," she says. "She's a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She's never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. ..."
... She's actually British. She has en entire backstory that sees her living at home outside London with her parents, George and Mary White. Her full name is Kitty White. She has a twin sister called Mimmy White, a cool grandpa called Anthony and a sweet grandma called Margaret. She's a Scorpio. She loves apple pie. As well as her own pet cat, Charmmy, she has a hamster called Sugar, given to her by her friend Dear Daniel."
Class 3 cleaning, polishing, scouring and abrasive preparationsAnother of Hello Kitty's Community trade mark registrations, EU003142247 covers some even more unpromising products:
Class 5 preparations for destroying vermin; fungicides, herbicides
Class 8 side arms; razors
Class 9 fire-extinguishing apparatus
Class 11 apparatus for ... sanitary purposes
Class 18 whips
Class 4 industrial oils and greases; diesel oil; gasoline; kerosene; petrolTo the best of this Kat's knowledge, the Hello Kitty portfolio of IPs has not been licensed for use on any of these products, and he doubts that they will be.
Class 6 materials of metal for railway tracks
Class 10 artificial limbs, eyes and teeth; tongue scrapers.
Class 12 non-skid devices for vehicle tires.
Class 34 tobacco; smokers' articles.
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Is This Fair Use? |
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Mother knows best |
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Question 1: "How many European Courts are there?" |
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PAEs: do they come in peace -- and should they go in pieces ...? |
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New Billy Bluejay (U.S. Application Serial No. 86067719) |
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Toronto Blue Jays Logo (U.S. Registration No. 4314078) |
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Creighton's Old Billie Bluejay |
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J (U.S. Registration No. 3080408) |
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