Hall & Oates Suing Breakfast Company Over Haulin' Oats Granola... And For A Pretty Good Reason
from the under-oats dept
As someone with only a mild and very uneducated interest in music, I am of course a huge fan of the band Hall & Oates. Private eyes, man, they're watching you, and all that. Hall & Oates, can apparently get very unhappy when things are named after them, as we saw when a bunch of drunken weirdos decided to name a SuperPAC after the band. The band, of course, couldn't go for that and got them to shut the whole thing down. And, now, according to the Guardian, the famed rocking duo are going one-on-one with the most unlikely foe: granola. Cue outrage about rockers feeling entitled:Rather than being flattered by the promise of rolled oats and maple syrup mix that, Early Bird insists, is “perfect by itself or as the base for a breakfast parfait creation”, Daryl Hall and John Oates claim “the name and mark Haulin’ Oats is an obvious play upon Plaintiff’s well-known Hall & Oates mark, and was selected by defendant in an effort to trade off of the fame and notoriety associated with the artist’s and plaintiff’s well-known marks.”Now, if you hadn't noticed, two bandmates from the 80's and a freaking granola company probably aren't in the same industries, aren't competing with one another, and customers won't be confused at all into thinking a granola parfait is either Daryl or John, their personalities notwithstanding. So it seems like this should be tossed out, right? Well, maybe not.
The pair have brought the case in the Brooklyn federal court, where they claim the food company have infringed their trademark with a “phonetic play on Daryl Hall and John Oates’ well-known brand name”.
Deep within the lawsuit (but not in the Guardian article linked above) is another bizarre tidbit. Apparently, a few years ago, someone else registered a "Haulin' Oats" trademark and started selling oatmeal with that brand. Rather than freak out and sue, representatives for Daryl and John resolved the whole thing amicably, with the other company agreeing to assign the trademark to the rockers and continue to sell their Haulin' Oats oatmeal -- in exchange for a royalty based on sales. You can see that trademark here. As Hall & Oates note in their lawsuit:
Plaintiff is the owner, via assignment, of the mark HAULIN’ OATS that is used in connection with the sale of oatmeal and the provision of food delivery services. Plaintiff is the owner of United States Trademark and Service Mark Reg. No. 4,345,444 for the mark HAULIN’ OATS in International Class 30 for oatmeal and in International Class 39 for food delivery, which mark has been in use since March 1, 2012.And here's how it all came about:
In 2014, Plaintiff became aware that an entity named Haulin’ Oats, a partnership organized under the laws of California and based in Nashville, Tennessee, was also utilizing the mark HAULIN’ OATS in connection with the sale of oatmeal and the provision of food delivery services.Based on that, the lawsuit actually makes a lot of sense -- though you wouldn't get any of that from the Guardian's coverage.
Thereafter, Plaintiff and Haulin’ Oats entered into a business relationship whereby Haulin’ Oats assigned to Plaintiff its trademark and service mark rights in and to the mark HAULIN’ OATS (including the United States Trademark and Service Mark Registration identified above) and Plaintiff granted a royalty-based license back to Haulin’ Oats.
There are some bizarre parts in the lawsuit, such as Hall & Oates arguing that because they once put oats on an album cover there might be confusion:
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Filed Under: daryl hall, granola, hall & oates, haulin' oats, john oates, journalism, reporting, trademark
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Nice word play....
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They "own" the mark so they have a valid case, but how we arrived at this is a nice story about IP & who ever has the largest warchest gets the toys.
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evidently, two wrongs do make a right...
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I agree though, it does seem fishy if you don't know who they are. The trouble is that most everyone knows who they are, outside of your group of friends. Ask someone over the age of 30.
Also... really? You've never heard of them? The bad hair, the bushy mustache? It's like classic late 70s and early 80s bad fashion.
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I'm pretty sure my adult kids have never heard of these two has-beens.
Thank Osiris the Pharaohs never thought of this. If everyone did it we would have run out of words we could use without being sued about a thousand years ago.
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Wiki pic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_and_Roll_(1973_album)
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Quaker Oats
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not so cut and dried
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not so cut and dried
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Re: not so cut and dried
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Another hit in the making
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This doesn't bode well for my new brand of Boston baked beans for kids.
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Trademarks for Nasty Food.
If you want to go up a notch, there is the famous "Kibbutz Breakfast," in which all food groups are represented.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120703/14403819570/tv-analyst-kids-love-netflix-disn ey-should-break-them-that-nasty-habit.shtml#c789
The mere fact of something being effectually trade-markable is a point against it.
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Re: Trademarks for Nasty Food.
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Re: Trademarks for Nasty Food.
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Far more ass's than horses
You can kill your horse with to rich a diet; thus the phrase 'feeling his oats'.
Horses were the transportation of my fathers childhood, thus the term 'teamster'. How the fringing can these music losers ever hold on to a trademark consisting of two words from common speech? I guess Americans haven't pulled wagons in commercial use for a requisite three years.
Just insert 'hauling oats' into Google'® https://books.google.com/ngrams/
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Hauling Notes
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Mr. Geigner, maybe you should look into schooling Techdirt contributor Tim Cushing on intellectual property
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Hmm, look at the licensed Haulin Oats names
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Re: Hmm, look at the licensed Haulin Oats names
Scarborough Fair is a traditional song anyway, they would have no claim over a play on the title, only their specific arrangement and performances of it. I do like Gettin Figgy Wit It though.
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Really Nice
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