Rose Jade <sjade[_at_]orednet.org> wrote:
>
> ... it may help explain the plethora of *almost but not quite* cease &
> desist letters apparently being mailed out by zealous law firms. Seems
> like it gives Intellectual Prop attorneys a cheap and easy way to allege
> infringement without doing any real work, and probably frightens the
> heck out of an innocent party who gets a cease & desist letter based on
> what may be fair use. I've also heard about innocent parties getting
> "sign this agreement not to use our name and we'll leave you alone"
> letters, and not realizing that such signed agreements may be used by
> the big company -- against the presumably innocent party -- as evidence
> that the innocent party recognized the validity of the company's
> name/mark AND as an admittance of wrong doing, and by so signing the
> innocent party waived all right to object to the scope or validity of
> the trade/service mark.
>
> Personally, I think this is unethical.
Just to play Devil's advocate for a minute...
What about these ethics? Is it unethical to take a position on behalf of a client which disregards any possible fair use defense? Isn't appropriate to take a hard line regarding uses of a client's IP, and let the recipient of the Cease and Desist Letter or "sign here letter" be responsible for asserting the defense?
Isn't that the idea behind an adversary system?
GORDON P. FIREMARK
The Business Affairs Group - Entertainment Law
800 S. Robertson Blvd., Suite 5
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310) 360-0365
firemark[_at_]firemark.com http://www.firemark.com/ ____________________________________________________Received on Tue Jul 21 1998 - 16:11:24 GMT
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