The main character of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series may not be a little passive sometimes, but his creator isn’t going to take any guff from anybody, particularly someone that he thinks is ripping him off.

Wimpy Kid, Inc., which owns the rights to the series that has sold more than 52 million books just in North America, last month filed suit against a comic-book publisher, Antarctic Press, which puts out the Diary of a Zombie Kid graphic novel title, according to Reuters.

Filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, the suit contends that Antarctic stepped all over Wimpy’s trademark in various ways. The suit says that “Zombie Kid” is “deceptively similar” to the “Wimpy Kid” series and "obviously intended to confuse the public into believing that defendant's books are addition to such series," Reuters reports.

The covers of the two books have many similarities, including "distinctive striping along the spine, the hand-drawn pictures of the main character on the front and back covers, both illustrated so as to appear to be taped at each corner of the cover, and the miniature illustration of a male child's head located on the side of the book," the suit notes.Continue reading...

Red Bull got up its energy enough to get into a legal fight with 214-year-old Dutch company Frisdranken Industrie Winters B.V. over its trademark recently, but the Austrian beverage maker ended up on the losing end of the stick this time around.

Bloomberg reports that Red Bull took the battle all the way to the European Union’s highest court before finally losing to Frisdranken, which had earned Red Bull’s ire by “filled up cans bearing logos and texts such as ‘Bullfighter’ and ‘Red Horn’ with drinks for another company, called Smart Drinks.”

The court wasn’t buying Red Bull’s argument: “A service consisting of the mere filling of cans bearing a sign protected as a trademark is not use of that sign which is liable to be prohibited,” the EU Court of Justice declared, according to Bloomberg. “The service provided by Winters consists of the filling of cans and this service does not have any similarity with the product for which Red Bull’s trademarks were registered.”

Meanwhile, Red Bull “stunned” the Formula One racing world by tossing all of its team’s drivers and replacing them, according to a press release on motorsport.com. And while Red Bull is clearly sinking some cash into that auto adventure, it has now finally exited the NASCAR world. According to Yahoo! Sports, the company’s decision to leave the sport has about 150 people, who worked with drivers Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers, looking for work.

There are so many different Ray’s Pizzas in New York, it can get a little confusing. You got your Ray’s, your Original Ray’s, your Famous Ray’s, your Famous Original Ray’s, and seemingly on and on. They are so ubiquitous that there is actually a pizza place in Brooklyn that is called Not Ray’s Pizza.

It’s been so ridiculous for so many years that the problem actually got a mention on a Seinfeld episode in which a lost Kramer calls Jerry:

Kramer: I’m looking at Ray’s Pizza. You know where that is?

Jerry: Is it Famous Ray’s?

Kramer: No, it’s Original Ray’s.

When you have confusion like that between businesses, lawsuits are bound to follow. And indeed they have.Continue reading...

The flagship radio station for the Pittsburgh Steelers introduced the Terrible Towel back in 1975 just before the playoffs got started. Before that fateful game, team members and local media weren’t huge fans of the thing. However, by game’s end, a 28-10 win over the Baltimore Colts, a stadium full of towels were being waved frantically about. With a Super Bowl win that year, the Steelers cemented the rally towel into American sports culture.

From the beginning, sales of the towels and any Towel-related items, such as T-shirts, benefited the Allegheny Valley School Foundation, which provides funds to help people with intellectual and developmental difficulties.Continue reading...

For obvious reasons, Apple has had a rough year. While its sales figures may be robust, the loss of visionary leader Steve Jobs was a blow the brand is still dealing with. Now, things may be about to get worse for Apple.

In China, it seems, Apple has just lost its iPad trademark. Still, beyond the technicality, this shouldn't matter.Continue reading...

Chick-fil-A, the country’s second-largest chicken-restaurant chain, is not happy with a Vermont-based folk artist who has been making some extra cash for the past few years selling T-shirts and sweatshirts with the phrase “Eat More Kale” silk screened on them.

Haven’t heard about Chick-fil-A’s new kale-themed menu? Well, there isn’t one, but the company’s legal eagles are concerned that everyday consumers might confuse the kale campaign with their own “eat mor chikin” ads, misspelled because (of course) it's penned by cows.

The Associated Press reports that 38-year-old Bo Muller-Moore is not planning to stop making his shirts even though Chick-fil-A has sent him a cease-and-desist letter saying that his product "is likely to cause confusion of the public and dilutes the distinctiveness of Chick-fil-A's intellectual property and diminishes its value."

The citizens of Vermont, which has America’s 49th-lowest population, are outraged on Muller-Moore’s behalf. Governor Peter Shumlin is meeting with him Monday to try and help him with his cause, according to Vermont Public Radio. Also, fellow Vermonters are circulating a petition to show support for him in his fight. WCAX Vermont reports that the petition is up to 10,000 signatures.Continue reading...

England’s Cavern Club, the Liverpool nightclub revered by fans of the Beatles for launching the Fab Four in their homeland, slapped the Hard Rock Café International with a lawsuit Sunday in Las Vegas alleging trademark infringement.

The Cavern Club, which calls itself the "cradle of British pop music," still features Beatles tributes and other performers.

Now, the famed club is taking issue with an events room called "The Cavern Club" at one of the Hard Rock's Las Vegas cafe locations. Hard Rock Cafe International, owned by Florida’s Seminole Indian tribe, does not own the Hard Rock Hotel casino in Las Vegas and is involved in a trademark lawsuit with the hotel-casino.

Boasting glamorous commercials with high production values, a recognizable "brand" and a million loyal brand champions, it was only a matter of time before opportunists started to look for ways to cash in. Now, both the 99% and the 1% are trying to claim 100% of the Occupy Wall Street and 99% movements.

On October 18, Robert and Diane Maresca, a couple from Long Island, New York filed to trademark "Occupy Wall Street" for use on "Clothing, shirts, sweat shirts, headwear, footwear."

"If I didn’t buy it and use it someone else will," reasoned Robert. The couple's pending trademark application for the movement is not the only one. Nor are private citizens the only ones trying to ride the populist wave.Continue reading...