Crazy Public Domain Monkey Selfie Trademark Filing Gets Crazier: Filed By Someone Pretending To Be Haim Saban
from the so-add-in-publicity-rights dept
So, we recently posted a bizarre story in the form of a law school exam question involving the attempt to trademark a public domain monkey selfie using a photoshopped Gap catalog image. If that doesn't make sense to you, go read the original story. My fingers are too tired to re-explain the whole thing here. Just know that it's as bizarre as it sounds.And, now it gets even more bizarre. As we noted, the original trademark application appeared to come from Saban Capital Group, the company controlled by media mogul Haim Saban. Saban's lawyers reached out to explain that... the trademark application appears to come from someone pretending to be Haim Saban or his company. Whoever it is (and we've reached out to them) has apparently set up a fake "Saban Capital Group" in the British Virgin Islands, and has filed over 200 trademark applications, some in the name of Saban Capital Group (and some as others). In retrospect, there are some hints that something is not right if you dig deep into the trademark application, including the hotmail email address and the fact that the application is signed by "Tiwhk." Also, it's being sent from Ann Arbor Michigan, rather than LA where Saban Capital Group is actually based. But, almost all of that can be explained away as just some old fashioned way of doing things and/or from a remote/subsidiary address or something.
And, really, who the hell files trademark applications in someone else's name? The whole idea is bizarre, so it didn't even cross my mind.
Saban's (actual) lawyers agree, noting that the real Saban would not "actually do something as foolish as this," and they have no idea who is actually doing it -- but whoever it is has apparently filed over 200 trademark applications. The real Saban Capital Group's lawyers say they're investigating and suggest that the filer/s "appear to be infringers, or counterfeiters, or hoaxers or all of the foregoing" and they "intend to prosecute them to the full extent of the law." I don't see 200 applications, but there are a few others, such as this one, using Chinese characters, which the application claims means "Big Mouth Monkey" which they want to put on clothing (they show it on a pair of shoes). I have, in fact, confirmed that it does, in fact, say "Big Mouth Monkey" with someone who can read Chinese. So, at least that is accurate. And there's this one for a stylized version of the name "Paul Homme" (I have no idea who that is). Or this one for "BIG FACE" (no further explanation needed).
Either way, I've emailed the Hotmail address behind these filings, but as of this posting have not heard back. The real lawyers for Saban seem perplexed by the whole situation as well -- as do multiple trademark experts I've spoken to. No one's quite sure why anyone would file trademarks under someone else's company's name, but it adds yet another element to the crazy law school exam question we had in the original post. Here might be a case where actual trademarks are being violated (that of Saban Capital Group). Hell, I would bet some high priced lawyers might even try to figure out a way to argue that publicity rights are implicated here, though I'm not sure I'd recommend that...
Either way, we'd like to apologize to Haim Saban and (the real) Saban Capital Group for implying that they would file a questionable trademark on a public domain monkey selfie for use on clothing (including wedding dresses) as demonstrated by a photoshopped Gap catalog photo. And, "Tiwhk," if you're out there, please contact us. We'd love to know your side of the story...
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.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: counterfeit, haim saban, monkey, public domain, publicity rights, selfie, trademark
Companies: saban capital group
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Are we entirely surprised?
"I've emailed the Hotmail address..."
and
"... have not heard back."
Because all the IP greats trust their legal filings to Hotmail.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Big Mouth Monkey
http://www.dazuihou.hk/
Between the chinese characters being correct, the Paul Homme, and the big mouth monkey character on the website, it looks like there is a connection to the patents somewhere here.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Expensive Incomprehensibility Too...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
An epic troll, that's who.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Meh. If one looks at Milwaukee County 2013CV2944, Wisconsin Eastern District Bankruptcy 14-24439-gbh, Wisconsin Eastern District Bankruptcy 14-31425-pp and USPTO 86025003 all it takes to have a person make a claim and the Court system to never bother to charge anyone with perjury.
That's pretty spendy for a wtf.
Again, Meh. If stolen credit cards/stolen bank info is being used its not the filer's money.
Well over $60K would be spent in investigating and trying to sort the whole matter out. Economic asymmetric warfare.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Ha!
Such is rare.
Odds are this story will just drift away - most legal stories are like that outside of the ABA membership. Lets see if the techdirt staff/readers stay with it and what the outcome is.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
Really? Got proof? I'll point to the Milwaukee County DA saying this is not the case from the May 1995 ABA article "The Lies Have It" as authoritative.
rather commonplace doesn't have numbers and is a gut feeling.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]