Chicago Restaurant tells Hawaiians to stop using Aloha!

[Risottia]

... the owner might end up losing the trademark battle. Especially if social media rallies against him, fundraises, and donates quite a bit to the other side of the fight.

So basically this branch of the US judiciary works by bribing the judges?

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

... the owner might end up losing the trademark battle. Especially if social media rallies against him, fundraises, and donates quite a bit to the other side of the fight.

So basically this branch of the US judiciary works by bribing the judges?

About that...

This too...

[Ethel mermania]

... the owner might end up losing the trademark battle. Especially if social media rallies against him, fundraises, and donates quite a bit to the other side of the fight.

So basically this branch of the US judiciary works by bribing the judges?

Well it's the patent office, so ....maybe.

[Des-Bal]

Cultural appropriation isn't real.
Trademarks are legit.

"Aloha Poke" should be fine to trademark but a blanket ban on "Aloha" is overstepping.

[USS Monitor]

Some Hawaiian business that has been using "Aloha" since before the trademark should take them to court and challenge the trademark.

[Des-Bal]

Some Hawaiian business that has been using "Aloha" since before the trademark should take them to court and challenge the trademark.

Not an expert but I believe "prior use" is based on registration in the US, so even if they've been doing it for years they weren't actually using the trademark before Aloha Poke.

[Unstoppable Empire of Doom]

No, the company is dumb.

However whining about cultural appropriation is even dumber.

And no, no special privileges should be given. Anyone can use said word because it’s a word.

Agreed

[The Liberated Territories]

This is precisely what is wrong with trademarks: they are tools by the rich and corporations to destroy their competition in a free market.

Some Hawaiian business that has been using "Aloha" since before the trademark should take them to court and challenge the trademark.

^^

[Freaneet]

This is precisely what is wrong with trademarks: they are tools by the rich and corporations to destroy their competition in a free market.

Some Hawaiian business that has been using "Aloha" since before the trademark should take them to court and challenge the trademark.

^^

Also to destroy people's lives and oppress them.

[Valrifell]

Trademarks aren't even inherently bad and can exist to safeguard consumers from less-than-quality fraudulent goods. Though apparently corporations went off the fucking wall a few years back and the government is enabling them.

[Petrasylvania]

Maybe there's somethjng similar to the laws against patent trolling that could be applied?

[Des-Bal]

This is precisely what is wrong with trademarks: they are tools by the rich and corporations to destroy their competition in a free market.

So I should be able to sell the same product you are with the same name and packaging?

[Sick Jumps]

Trademarks aren't even inherently bad and can exist to safeguard consumers from less-than-quality fraudulent goods. Though apparently corporations went off the fucking wall a few years back and the government is enabling them.

I don't think Aloha Poke is going to be successful in protecting their trademark in court. There is a strong argument that "Aloha Poke" and especially "Aloha" are too generic, and that other businesses have been using the name before they took out the trademark.

The bad publicity doesn't help them, either. I know I'm never eating there when I'm in Chicago!

[Chill beats LLC]

Naturally the Hawaiians are a bit peeved that they are being told by foreigners not to use a word that is a common Hawaii greeting and rather ubiquitous in Business names across Hawaii.

I mean technically there aren't any foreigners involved, but I see where the state's citizens are coming from.

[The Liberated Territories]

This is precisely what is wrong with trademarks: they are tools by the rich and corporations to destroy their competition in a free market.

So I should be able to sell the same product you are with the same name and packaging?

If it's name is still not recognized, it could still be punished as a form of fraud. But note the difference.

[Ifreann]

So I should be able to sell the same product you are with the same name and packaging?

If it's name is still not recognized, it could still be punished as a form of fraud. But note the difference.

The difference seems to be that you call the offence by a different name.

[Saiwania]

Well, people know how Chicago city slicker types are. It is a relatively expensive place to live being a major city and because this is a business, corporation, or a proprietorship of entrepreneurs, they're merely aggressively pursuing every avenue of making every cent possible. If more diners aren't going to this restaurant, they can still make a pretty penny patent trolling.

[Sick Jumps]

This is precisely what is wrong with trademarks: they are tools by the rich and corporations to destroy their competition in a free market.

So I should be able to sell the same product you are with the same name and packaging?

There is a moral difference between wanting to protect your brand name and packaging, and being a parasitic leech who tries to twist intellectual property laws into a cudgel that you intimidate people with. This business is doing the latter.

[The Liberated Territories]

If it's name is still not recognized, it could still be punished as a form of fraud. But note the difference.

The difference seems to be that you call the offence by a different name.

No, not at all. Aloha Poke in Hawaii is not trying to pass itself off as something it is not (which would be fraud). If I though were to sell a product with the same brand name and packaging, I could get away with it so long as I am not claiming at anything truly different.

[Des-Bal]

There is a moral difference between wanting to protect your brand name and packaging, and being a parasitic leech who tries to twist intellectual property laws into a cudgel that you intimidate people with. This business is doing the latter.

Which is a problem with companies, not trademarks.

If it's name is still not recognized, it could still be punished as a form of fraud. But note the difference.

It would be fraud to consumers, you as a manufacturer wouldn't be able to do shit about it. I could dilute your brand, profit from your success, and parasitize your business with an inferior product.

[Pope Joan]

Usually, the Patent and Trademark Office will not accept geographically based marks. So, if you brew beer in Denver you can go ahead and call yourself the Denver Beer Company, but you cannot trademark that name.

Since Aloha and Hawaii are so closely associated, that might make this a bad trademark in the first place.

https://www.whitcomblawpc.com/trademark ... rademarks/

I still think the word is generic, it is in common use and so cannot be distinctive enough to support a trademark.

My hometown newspaper is The (Hometown name) Journal. Can the Wall Street Journal, which has an easily recognized name which has acquired some sense of distinctiveness, prevent my paper from calling itself a Journal? No, it cannot

[The Liberated Territories]

There is a moral difference between wanting to protect your brand name and packaging, and being a parasitic leech who tries to twist intellectual property laws into a cudgel that you intimidate people with. This business is doing the latter.

Which is a problem with companies, not trademarks.

If it's name is still not recognized, it could still be punished as a form of fraud. But note the difference.

It would be fraud to consumers, you as a manufacturer wouldn't be able to do shit about it. I could dilute your brand, profit from your success, and parasitize your business with an inferior product.

Why would it necessarily be profiting off of my success? If you are successful in selling it, wouldn't that end up going towards myself as well?

[Petrasylvania]

Ideally this fucking hipster shack will have to challenge the Hawaiian joints in Hawaiian courts and not a patent troll paradise like the Eastern district of Texas.

[Des-Bal]

Why would it necessarily be profiting off of my success? If you are successful in selling it, wouldn't that end up going towards myself as well?

No, see you make LT's Wonderful Widgets in unique purple packaging. You do quality control and marketing and people are super pleased with your widgets. I sell L'Ts Wonderful Widgets in bluish maroon packaging, I sell a barely functional product and invest nothing in marketing. I am using your reputation to sell my product and people who bought my product thinking it was yours are no longer pleased with your product.

[Sick Jumps]

There is a moral difference between wanting to protect your brand name and packaging, and being a parasitic leech who tries to twist intellectual property laws into a cudgel that you intimidate people with. This business is doing the latter.

Which is a problem with companies, not trademarks.

If it's name is still not recognized, it could still be punished as a form of fraud. But note the difference.

It would be fraud to consumers, you as a manufacturer wouldn't be able to do shit about it. I could dilute your brand, profit from your success, and parasitize your business with an inferior product.

Sure, but there should be (and are) things in place to prevent abuse, and IP law exists to serve both the IP owner and society as a whole. Stuff like patent trolling should be harshly punished by the courts.

Usually, the Patent and Trademark Office will not accept geographically based marks. So, if you brew beer in Denver you can go ahead and call yourself the Denver Beer Company, but you cannot trademark that name.

Since Aloha and Hawaii are so closely associated, that might make this a bad trademark in the first place.

https://www.whitcomblawpc.com/trademark ... rademarks/

I still think the word is generic, it is in common use and so cannot be distinctive enough to support a trademark.

My hometown newspaper is The (Hometown name) Journal. Can the Wall Street Journal, which has an easily recognized name which has acquired some sense of distinctiveness, prevent my paper from calling itself a Journal? No, it cannot

I agree with this assessment. I posted PTO's guidelines earlier in the thread.