An 'Aha Moment' About Ridiculous Trademarks, As Oprah And Mutual Of Omaha Fight Over 'Aha Moment'
from the aha! dept
Reader Trails writes in with news of the latest ridiculousness from the world of trademark law, where Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions and insurance giant Mutual of Omaha got into a bit of a spat over the term "aha moment," with both companies claiming rights over the phrase. Apparently Winfrey regularly uses the phrase "an aha moment" on her television program. Mutual of Omaha came up with a marketing campaign around "official sponsor of the aha moment" and attempted to trademark the phrase. Oprah/Harpo didn't object to the original trademark application, though they later found out about it and legal proceedings began. While none of the press reports seem to point this out, it appears that Oprah had not trademarked the phrase herself, though, she did finally apply for the trademark on "aha moment" in June of this year (nearly a year after Mutual of Omaha's application. The two sides have now "settled," but this conceivably means that anyone else who uses the phrase in areas that potentially compete with Oprah or Mutual of Omaha might find themselves in trouble as well. Of course, it's also worth noting that a graphics company in Florida appears to have filed for a trademark on "Aha moment" when used on clothing well before either Oprah or Mutual of Omaha.Either way, this should be yet another "aha moment" of how companies are using things like trademark law to tie up and limit language, which is not (at all) it's original intended purpose.
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Filed Under: aha moment, oprah, trademark
Companies: harpo productions, mutual of omaha
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You know what I think?
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Just wanted you to know...
Clearly the work of a socialist puppy-kicking grandmother-robbing raporist if I ever saw one...
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Re: Just wanted you to know...
So needless to say I'm odds and ends
But that's me, stumbling away
Slowly learning that life is O.K.
Say after me
It's no better to be safe than sorry.
........
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Re: Just wanted you to know...
I wonder if it's on YouTube.
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Re: Just wanted you to know...
Can you make sure she gets home okay?
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Re: Just wanted you to know...
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Re: Just wanted you to know...
interior crocodile alligator will remove any song that is stuck in your head, guaranteed, or your money back.
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Sorry, I just spit on myself and keyboard while having an "aha moment."
What was that again?
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Re:
One problem is the relative explosion and availability of computing power and disk space over the last 20 years.
Also, the explosion of graduating attorneys in the 1980s essentially created positions and skills that needed to be justified.
Remember, Bill Gate's Dad was an attorney.
It used to be that people would invite people over for dinner and work their differences out, but nowadays, the problem is that too often, problems are escalated and resolved only in court.
We have a societal problem with conflict resolution, not with a search engine.
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How is this a problem? This isn't a problem. This is a good thing.
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This takes me back....
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AHA
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Re: AHA
-sorry but prior art: Nelson from The Simpson's
-sorry but you're not very funny
-sorry but I can't buy a license because I am not funny either, which is why I trademarked my
sorry butt.
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Her aha moment came
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Re: Her aha moment came
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(I don't know if she was the first person to ever say it, but she's the first and only person I've ever heard say it.)
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Copyright thought before it's tangible
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Whole lot of problems solved.
That phrase I just used is actually trademarked.
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Wait, is that trademarked? doh!
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Protecting the consumer
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BEEN THERE, DOING THAT
When did we lose sight of what our legal system is for? Never mind, if you don’t have lots of money or time, you can’t get involved in the legal system anyway. I know these are civil cases, but most of the same rules apply.
I’m sure that graphics company in Florida is not happy with the idea of putting to a lot of money into fighting two major corporations. I can relate because I’m in the middle of fighting with a major company over my trademark. I applied first, but that seems to be just a minor road block to them. I can’t afford a trademark attorney, so I am fighting this on my own. This already puts me at a disadvantage. Their basic argument is that the name is too generic to be trademarked. If this is true, then why did they attempt to register their own trademark, which was suspended because it was too similar to mine. Hmmm. This should never have gone as far as it has. After all, anyone can search the trademark web site, including the judges’ assistants to find out who has applied first. This should be a factor in determining wether litigation is warranted in the first place.
If they win, I guarantee you that they will soon reapply and get their trademark registered. And I won’t have the resources to fight them. They actually have already used it on a product in their stores. At the very least, it has bought them time to make money off the name during this very long trial process.
This has cost me a lot of stress and time researching the law, and dealing with attorneys who have tried to intimidate and insult me into giving up. And all because I tried to do it the right way, and “protect” myself. To add insult to injury, I’m considered the “defendant”, as if I have been accused of some wrong-doing. Unfortunately most of us little guys just cave because its just not worth it, and fighting it could result in losing the companies we are trying to protect.
I don’t think that only trademarking the name of the company will work that well either. My company name is not the same as my product name, but I do think that trademarking slogans is getting out of hand.
I think what we need are more judges who can see through the legal jargon, to the real agenda behind these kind of attorneys and their clients.
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Where will be be?
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Oprah is *REALLY* old
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aha+moment
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Yoursystem is insane
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