James Lantz is STILL working on A DEFIANT DUDE, a documentary about my Trademark and Cease and Desist battle with Chick Fil A. He gets a lot of questions about the upcoming film. Here are some Frequently Asked Questions: (Answered by JAMES..not ME) When do we expect a decision from the USPTO? We expected a definitive decision quite a while ago. Some of the legal experts weve interviewed for our film are just as baffled as to the reason why its taking so long for Bos legal case to be decided at the USPTO. Unfortunately, while the government demands that responses from Bos lawyers be filed within 6 months, the USPTO is not bound by any time constraints. * When will the film be done? As weve mentioned in previous posts, the USPTOs decision on Bos case is a very important part of our film -- it could be the ending of our story, or the decision could set into motion either A. a legal response from Bo and his lawyers and/or B. a legal response from Chick-fil-A and any other party who might oppose a potential Eat More Kale trademark. Also, the interminably long and prohibitively expensive process of trademark litigation (actually, any IP litigation) is an important part of our story -- many small businesses and artists acquiesce during the process because they cant afford to go on, or they just give up. Which is unfortunate. Because in trademark battles, the war of attrition usually goes to the larger, deeper pocketed entity which means that small businesses and artists almost always lose. However, our scholars have told us that if these cases actually get to court (which they seldom do) then the law is usually pretty fair and the size of the entity is not necessarily a factor in deciding the case. So ... when will our movie be done? When we have an ending to Bos case that allows us to tell the story weve got, then well start working toward a definitive finish date. Our film and story have grown incredibly complex as weve followed Bo and his case, the law and numerous other cases; the last chapter to Bos story will give us the critical ending this story desperately needs, and will allow us to finally finish the movie. Until then, we wait and continue to build on the story weve got. * So while youve been waiting on the USPTO decision, whatve you been doing? Writing narration scripts for the movie, editing and organizing a couple hundred hours of footage, consulting with legal experts, meeting with editors, experimenting with different techniques to tell our story and, from time to time, filming Bo when the story warrants it or hes given a speech -- and weve been following numerous other trademark infringement cases that keep cropping up nearly every day. And some of those cases are kinda crazy, too. Like the case of a double-amputee, cancer survivor living on disability who started a fan site called 12thManThunder to encourage the Buffalo Bills to remain in Buffalo -- only to face threats of a lawsuit by a wealthy Texas university. Texas A&M University, who holds and licenses the trademark to the phrase 12th Man (and a 5 billion dollar endowment) threatened to sue Charles Sonntag, and further demanded that he take down and return to the university the 250 posters he placed around Buffalo using the phrase 12th Man, plus surrender his website to the university. Mr. Sonntag, who lives on $825 a month in Social Security, responded by saying, They said stop using it immediately. I tried to but it takes time. I have one arm, also, so I’m working over my phone because I couldn’t afford the computer service that month.” Responding to Texas A&Ms threats, a friend of Mr. Sonntags made a statement that goes to the heart of our film, Everyone uses ‘the 12th man.’ It’s a shame that people can actually buy and own words. The interesting question that this case presents to me (that Id like to pose to one of our experts): When Texas A&M licenses their trademarked phrase The 12th Man to another team (such as they do to the Seattle Seahawks and the Buffalo Bills) doesnt it then lose the trademarks primary function, which is to be a signifier of source (which is, ostensibly, to Texas A&M)?
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 23:08:49 +0000
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