If Your Tribute To Pez Gets Too Much Attention, Pez Might Sue
from the ain't-that-fun dept
ChurchHatesTucker alerts us to the news that Pez, makers of the famous candy that comes in dispensers with the breakaway heads, is suing a Pez Memorabilia museum. The original article says it's for copyright violations, but I believe that's wrong. The lawsuit appears to be about trademark. The museum itself is not affiliated with the company that makes the candy (and, in the past, the museum changed its name to highlight the fact that it's Pez Memorabilia, to clarify that it wasn't associated with the actual candy company. However, at issue here is the giant (working) 7-foot mock Pez-like dispenser that is on display at the museum. The candy company seems particularly miffed that the Guinness folks declared it the "world's largest Pez dispenser" recently, with the candy company claiming this is false, since without a license, it's not really a Pez dispenser. Now, the trademark lawyers will rush to say that a company such as Pez needs to defend its trademark, lest it become generic. And that's true. But there are ways that such things can be handled without the company demanding the monument to Pez be destroyed. It's difficult to see what "harm" this 7-foot dispenser is doing to the Pez brand. In fact, just the opposite is likely. So why not just grant the museum a license and embrace the fact that there are fans so into your candy that they'd want to build a 7-foot monument to it? Otherwise you just look like a bunch of bullies.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: fans, memoribilia, pez, trademark
Companies: pez
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i'll probably never understand the mentality...
Why do company's think its a good idea to sue customers/fans?
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Re: i'll probably never understand the mentality...
It's the "in" thing to do in a down economy!
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Re: i'll probably never understand the mentality...
If the museum is not run by Pez then they're free to do what they want. The affiliation is there by brand, but not by actual legal ties. So what if a scenario plays out where the Pez museum decides to start putting unofficial Pez-like stuff in there? Especially if it's offensive in nature (just to go ahead and Godwin my own argument, a Hitler pez dispenser). They'd end up having to take the sort of legal action they're taking now, but the "brand damage" would have already been done.
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That finger's pointing the wrong way
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ouch
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You now need a license to ride that bike.
Huh?
The interwebs are reporting that Pez has been around since 1927. How can it become more recognizable? If they want to go sue someone, they should sue the Orange County Choppers guys for making this monstrosity.
A Pez Motorbike? Tell me the connection between Pez candy and motorbikes, besides someone saying "Let's go burn some money". What are the marketing people thinking?
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Re: You now need a license to ride that bike.
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Re: You now need a license to ride that bike.
I assume they mean generic in the way people refer to any brand of adhesive bandages as a 'Band-Aid' or say 'Xerox' for any copier. That just seems silly to me. Pez doesn't exactly have so many imitators that the name would become a universal term...
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Re: Re: You now need a license to ride that bike.
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Wow...
Ah, well. This move will only make Pez not as trendy and nerdy any more.
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Re:
That's a good point. A lot of these "brand dillution" cases aren't really about that at all, its about controlling anything that your brand has touched. This is clearly doing Pez no harm, and probably a great deal of good.
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I support Mike on this one...
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both sides need to get a fucking life
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if i make a tony the tiger pez dispenser
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Re: if i make a tony the tiger pez dispenser
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The one at the museum should be stated as being nothing but a display item, and should definitely not be considered a true PEZ product, or even worse the largest ever recognized by the idiots at the wgaf foundation.
I'm sure I could rustle up a pez myself, ship it to china & have them make one that's 50ft tall with Michael Jackson's head on it. It will of course dispense small children. Will I then have the world's largest Pez? no
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the darker side of pez collecting
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Pez Outlaw
* Bullet Points For Pez Outlaw & Price Guide by sj g...
* The Million Dollar Idea
* Chapter 1. Crazy Is Easy
* Chapter 2. Did Pez International Commit Fraud?
* Chapter 3. Revelation
* Chapter 4. The Game Is Afoot - Slovenia
* Chapter 5. Dude, Don't You Know Who I Am? - Hungar...
* Chapter 6. Smuggling, Bribes, Payoffs And Hiding O...
* Chapter 7. Life On The Run - Border Crossings
* Chapter 8. Traveling the World in Search of Pez?
* Chapter 9. The Rogues Gallery
* Chapter 10. You Haven't Been Screwed Until You've ...
* Chapter 11. The Emperor Has No Clothes
* Chapter 12. Chasing Rainbows - The Pez Space Gun P...
* Chapter 13 - Pez Fun Factoids & Pez Money.
* Chapter 14. Opinions Are Like @$$h013$. Everybody ...
* Chapter 15. Confession is Good For The Soul
* Chapter 16 - Pez Pictorial Price Guide / Value Lis...
* Chapter 17 - Pez Price Guide, Value List - The One...
* Chapter 18. Tipping Windmills
* Chapter 19. Weird Things at the Raba - SciFi Movi...
* Chapter 20. P.S. I Love You. Pez Corp This is Addr...
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