Patent Attorney and Founder
Hi there my name is JD Houvener I’m the Managing Partner here at bold IP law firm and it’s my pleasure to be here with you today to introduce our bold blog about trademark and about the interesting TV show you might have heard of Sponge Bob Squarepants show put on by Nickelodeon or by Viacom they’re in a trademark dispute and they have them for the past couple of years with their restaurant that is trying to open up in Texas called the Krusty Krab so more on that just a minute brief introduction about the law firm we are intellectual property boutique law firm we focus on patent law trademark copyright and trade secret law we work with individual inventors artists and creators as well as businesses and help them think about how they’re going to move their products or services into the marketplace to help them make sure they get a big return on the investment they’re making with us I want to introduce on our website bold IP com we’re giving away our block we’ve got it’s all about patent law called bold ideas the inventors guide to patents it’s a really short read but it’s got really powerful information about what you the inventor might need to know before you sit down with a patent attorney I’ve collected over the years all the different questions and and compiled all the answers for you in this book and so we’re giving it away for free at bold IP comm also on our website you can book your free 30-minute consultation with one of our analysts at our patent attorneys to get the scoop so without further ado let’s jump into this blog article so you can see here and by the way we’re at bold IP comm and we’re under the news tab the bold blog this is a about SpongeBob SquarePants versus the Krusty Krab restaurant that’s a fun topic one of our interns David Mears put this together as I encourage you to take a look he’s done a great job putting together the case notes the histories and the procedural background and some really neat analysis all about trademark blog and so as you read through this article what you’ll see is that there’s a very interesting approach the Federal Circuit took and not only looking at what the TV show that you might know of a spongebob squarepants and how they’ve positioned certain brands and certain titles such as the Krusty Krab within their cartoon series and how it’s been given a secondary meaning in the marketplace even though as you might have guessed a Cartoon Network show and the audience and the customers is very different than the customers of the restaurant so traditionally one would think there would be no consumer confusion which is one of the major elements to proving trademark infringement however the court said here that cast as mark is so strong that it really persists in other markets and because it’s so well known it is protectable and in this case the court ruled in favor of Viacom which is the owner of Nickelodeon and SpongeBob SquarePants that they actually are going to be able to prevent the federal registration by by a company trying to open up a restaurant in Texas called the Krusty Krab owner that company by the way is Isiah our capital investments and so as you’ll read this article you’ll see what that means you’ll get a feel for trademark law and what David does is he puts through basically all the different facts that the courts use to bolster their final decision in favor of Viacom well again I try I would hope you go visit our bold blog again at bold I’d be calm under the news tab volt blog and feel free to put your comments and leave notes on social media we hope to hear from you soon have a wonderful day and go big go bold
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