Patents, Trademarks & Copyrights

Patents, Trademarks & Copyrights

Introduction

A trademark is a symbol that a company uses to create a distinct identity for itself. This is basically done to distinguish the source of a product or service. For instance, two of the most widely used trademarks are Coca Cola and Nike that are recognized as the property of the brand respectively. A trademark can be a symbol, or a design or even a phrase used by a company or a business for the purpose.

Most companies get their distinctive marks registered. However, some remain complacent and do not go for registrations, leading to disputes. The paper presents a similar dispute between popular men's fashion magazine Gentlemen's Quarterly (GQ) and food and hygiene magazine Germs Quarantined. The two companies were fighting over a trademark.

Facts

Gentleman's Quarterly got its name in the year 1957. The magazine has been around for a while now and has been using GQ for short. The constant use of the term has made it a sign of the company and the company is now widely known as GQ. Later in 2005, another magazine took to the vendor shelves that focused on hygiene and prevention of diseases.

Since the initials of the name of this magazine are the same as those for Gentlemen's Quarterly, they too came up with the same trademark. In addition, to the same initials in the trademark, the overlapping and interlocking design of the trademark was also similar to that of Gentleman's Quarterly. The former company, Gentleman's Quarterly filed a suit against the other claiming that their use of the same trademark is essentially an infringement on their trademark.

Issue

The issue is that of infringement of trademark between two magazines whereby the trademark was being used by one for the past many years and had become the ...