Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery — or so they say — but that doesn’t mean that just anyone can go around using popular TV shows to make a few bucks. So although Netflix thinks a Stranger Things-themed pop-up bar in Chicago is fun, it’s insisting that the venue shut down after its planned six-week run. [More]
cease and desist
Dunkin’ Donuts Threatens Coffee Shop With Legal Action Over Handwritten Window Message
By 5.31.17
We understand the need for companies to protect their trademarks, but the biggest names in coffee seem to love punching down at small businesses over minor disputes. Starbucks twice fought — and twice lost — a battle with a small New Hampshire roaster over “Charbucks,“ Caribou Coffee forced a Michigan cafe to change its name, and now Dunkin’ Donuts is threatening legal action against a Massachusetts coffee shop over a slogan handwritten on the store’s window. [More]
Comcast Threatens Legal Action Against Net Neutrality Advocates Over Comcastroturf.com
By 5.24.17
Though Comcast loves to slap its various brand names over everything it can, the company is apparently none too happy that net neutrality advocates have invoked the Comcast name in their efforts to find out who is behind a trove of fake anti-neutrality comments filed with the FCC. [More]
East Coast Chain Tasty Burger Says Chipotle’s Tasty Made Is Ripping Off Its Name & Logo
By 8.8.16
While there may be some Chipotle customers who are excited to try the company’s new burger concept, dubbed Tasty Made, there’s at least one party that’s not so jazzed: an East Coast burger business called Tasty Burger that claims Chipotle is ripping off its name and logo. [More]
Feds Order Debt Relief Schemes To Cease Misleading Use Of Government Logos
By 1.29.16
Even though it’s incredibly easy to slap a government agency’s logo on your website, that doesn’t make it okay. Just ask the two debt relief companies that have been ordered to stop using Department of Education logos to mislead student loan borrowers. [More]
IMAX Demands Website Retract Story That Has Virtually Nothing To Do With IMAX
By 6.19.15
The folks at IMAX need to learn when to take a compliment. When someone name-drops your brand as an aspirational standard, you should smile and appreciate the respect. What you shouldn’t do is demand that a news website retract an entire story just because someone mentions your brand. [More]
It Took 8 Years For IKEA To Get Around To Being A-Holes To IKEAhackers
By 6.16.14
One of the things that makes IKEA furniture appealing to people is that, with a bit of ingenuity and some tools, the not-terribly-expensive furnishing can be “hacked” into something different and cool. And since 2006, IKEAhackers.net has been a repository for a number of these DIY tricks. After nearly a decade of existing without hassle from the plywood-loving Swedes, the site now has to get rid of all its advertising or give up the IKEAhackers URL. [More]
Monster Energy Assumes Consumers Can’t Distinguish Energy Drinks From Fish Tanks
By 7.17.12
We thought that the company behind Monster Energy drink (and its lawyers) were done with petty legal action against anyone bold enough to use the word “Monster.” We last reported on such action in 2009. Turns out that the, uh, monster was only sleeping, though, and the company has re-emerged to issue a cease and desist order to an aquarium keepers’ forum, Monster Fishkeepers. That site has owned their trademark since 2005, but Monster Energy apparently claims to own the word “monster.” And the letter “M.” [More]
Craigslist Shuts Down Services That Make Craigslist More Useful
By 6.25.12
Padmapper is a site that takes housing listings from Craigslist and other sites and plots them on a map. That sounds like a very simple thing, but it makes searching for a new home easier by many orders of magnitude. Craigslist, though, doesn’t like people scraping its data and monetizing it–even if the use of that data sends lots and lots of traffic right to Craigslist. [More]
Networks Demand To Be Taken Off Time Warner Cable's iPad Streaming App
By 4.1.11
Some content providers didn’t see it as an honor to be included in Time Warner Cable’s TV-streaming iPad App. In fact, some, such as Fox, saw it as unauthorized use of their content and sent the company cease and desist letters. [More]
Send AT&T CEO Too Many E-Mails, Get A Free Cease And Desist Order
By 6.3.10
If you’re planning to send AT&T Wireless an Executive E-Mail Carpet Bomb regarding their changes to iPhone and iPad data plans, maybe remove CEO Randall Stephenson from your address book. Engadget reports that a customer who sent Stephenson one e-mail too many got a friendly call from the Executive Response Team…. threatening him with a cease and desist order. [More]
Trademark Wars: SPARC International Tells Small Electronics Website To Stop Existing
By 10.26.09
The whole David and Goliath trademark thing continues with two new players. Meet SPARC International, a self-described “extremely valuable asset” belonging to Sun Microsystems, and SparkFun Electronics, a website where you can buy things to make little robots and stuff.
Monster Cable Threatens The Wrong Small Cable Manufacturer
By 4.15.08
Not long ago Monster Cable sent a cease and desist letter to Blue Jeans Cable alleging that the small cable manufacturer was infringing on several of their patents. What they probably didn’t expect was that Kurt Denke, the president of Blue Jeans, “spent nineteen years in litigation practice, with a focus upon federal litigation involving large damages and complex issues,” after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1985.
Comcast Sends Cease And Desist Letter To The NFL
By 11.21.07
Comcast is fed up with the NFL telling its customers to switch providers because the cable company has chosen to offer the NFL network only on their sports tier.
Donning Copyright Cloak, DirectBuy Forbids Posting Of Cease And Desist Letter Sent To Consumer Opinion Site
By 10.9.07
DirectBuy got more pushback than they expected after sending a cease-and-desist to InfomercialScams.com over the site’s users calling the direct to consumer seller of furniture and home supplies a “scam” and a “nightmare.” Absurdly, DirectBuy even tried to threaten legal action if their cease and desist was published, saying it was copyrighted!
