Re: Re: Coipyright in the Hollywood Sign

At 8:26 PM -0400 6/17/05, John R Levine wrote:
> > >It's a scam. If they were real, they'd be saying trademark, but if
>> >they were real they'd also know that they have no trademark rights in
>> >the UK
>>
>> Is that right? There's no mechanism for international enforcement of
>> trademarks?
>
>It's sort of like patents, it's per country. But unlike copyrights,
>trademarks have geographic scope, and since the Hollywood sign is most
>definitely in California, it's hard to see how they could have a UK
>trademark.

The sign is in California, but the mark is bigger than the sign. The mark might be as strong as Coca-Cola worldwide.

>Remember that in the US there is specific language in the Constitution
>enabling copyrights and patents, but Federal trademark law is just from
>the general commerce power.

Even the Constitution wouldn't get you billable hours analyzing whether Bollywood is a defensible parody. If it's protected, it's under the Treaty Power.
Did WIPO do trademarks?

John Noble Received on Mon Jun 20 2005 - 20:05:01 GMT