The ugly face of IP shows itself from time to time. It did when
SAB Miller tried (unsuccessfully) to stop a young man from
producing a t-shirt that parodied/commented on its Black Label
brand – despite the Constitutional Court's judgment,
there are people in IP who still cannot accept that something as
touchy feely as the right of free expression can ever override
something as solid as a trade mark right. Who still believe that
spoof t-shirts actually harm corporate reputations. Who really
believe that people seeing a Walocaust t-shirt suppose that Walmart
supported the Nazis, rather than seeing it as a bit of culture
jamming, a playful allusion to the fact that shopping sucks.
This ugly face has shown itself again, this time in a posting on
Stellenbosch University's IP law blog,
www.blogs.sun.ac.za/iplaw. The piece, entitled Trade Marks Going Up
In Smoke, suggests that if the SA government invokes
Australian-style legislation that bans the use of any name or logo
on cigarette packs, it will be guilty of expropriating property,
and liable to pay huge sums in compensation to brand owners
(Rothmans, Dunhill and Peter Stuyvesant get special mention).
It's premised on the argument that a step like this will
prevent brand owners from using their trade marks, making the
registrations vulnerable to cancellation for non-use. Don't do
it is the message, it'll end up in the Constitutional Court:
'Does it (government) feel sufficiently strongly about this
issue to pay millions of Rands in compensation to the proprietor of
each registered trade mark which is prevented from being used in
this manner and thus condemned to a certain demise?'
Where to start?
It's worth noting that Stellenbosch's Chair of IP Law is
Rupert-funded. And the expropriation argument isn't the most
compelling argument ever advanced. Is a restriction of use really
an expropriation? Not according to constitutional lawyers, Currie
and De Waal, who in The Bill of Rights Handbook argue that
there's a difference between deprivation of property, which
does not require compensation, and expropriation, which they say
requires an acquisition of ownership. Even if it is an
expropriation, the purpose of the expropriation (public health)
will be considered when deciding compensation, so perhaps not quite
the 'treasure trove' claimed in the posting. And does the
proposed legislation really contemplate zero use of the brand name
(my understanding has always been that some minimal use of the name
will be allowed, without logos or other branding)? So will this
really amount to complete non-use? In any event, it's a defence
to a cancellation action to show that you've been prevented
from using your mark by special circumstances.
Then there's the posting's tone: 'While it is often
claimed that smoking can retard the physical growth of children,
there can be no doubt that inhibiting the use of cigarette trade
marks limits their growth as items of intellectual property and as
commercial assets.' To suggest that trade mark health is as
important as public health is to invite public ire. Especially as
the public saw straight through BAT's recent transparent
attempt to circumvent the smoking advertising ban by sponsoring an
anti-illegal cigarette campaign which used brand elements (colours)
of BAT's products - the very idea that all colours and logos
should be removed from cigarette packs does, of course, flow from
the 'neuromarketing' research done by people like Martin
Lindstrom, which suggests that simple brand elements like colour
stimulate the urge to smoke.
The posting ends: 'Perhaps the government should put this issue
in its pipe and smoke it!' Arrogance may be appropriate in some
cases, but probably not when you're as unpopular as the tobacco
industry is. Far better to make nice, to tell people that the use
of your product can prevent Parkinson's - see posting of 16 May
2012 on www.brandchannel.com . Which is good to know, as long as
you're OK with heart disease or lung cancer!
ADVERTSING LAW
Telling it as it isn't: On 10 May 2012 the ASA dealt with
claims made about a Patrick Holford product called Smart Kids Brain
Boost. The ASA ruled that the claim that taking the product
'could assist your child to perform at the top of their own
capacity /ability' (a toned down version of the original, which
was that it would put the sprog 'top of the class') was
unacceptable, as there was no proof that it boosted scholastic
performance. It also ruled that the evidence of a Professor Veldman
- who said it was OK to describe Phospholipids (something provided
by the product ) as 'the intelligent fats' - was not good
enough because he provided no proof, so this claim had to be
withdrawn. The name of the product had to be changed too because it
created an 'unsubstantiated expectation'.
BRANDS/ TRADE MARKS
Botox: The EU's highest court recently held that cosmetic
trade mark registrations for Botocyl and Botolist - belonging to
L'Oreal and Helena Rubinstein respectively - were invalid
because they took advantage of the distinctive character and repute
of Allergan's pharmaceutical trade mark registration for Botox.
It found that the trade mark Botox enjoys a huge reputation and
awareness, and it rejected the argument that the term common to the
marks, bot, is a descriptive term. L'Oreal and Helena
Rubinstein did themselves no favours by admitting that, although
their products did not include the active ingredient of Botox
(botulinum toxin), they had chosen their names to take advantage of
the image associated with Botox - wrinkly opposition party leaders
who refuse to acknowledge reality... sorry that should read
youthfulness. Reported in www.ipkitten.blogspot.com 13 May
2012.
COPYRIGHT
Oracle v Google: A US jury found that Google infringed
Oracle's copyright when it used Java's APIs (Application
Programming Interfaces) in Android. It rejected Google's
defence that APIs, 'like grammar, are uncopyrightable aspects
of a language'. US law, like US football, is of course totally
incomprehensible to anyone who didn't grow up there. It's
now apparently necessary for a judge to decide whether APIs can
actually be copyrighted - whether the 'structure, sequence and
organisation' are sufficiently complex to merit protection -
and whether Google can raise a defence of 'fair use'.
Reported in www.infoworld.com on 7 May 2012.
Discovery Gored: On 17 May 2012 Business Day reported that the
Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) succeeded in a copyright case
against Discovery Health. Judge Jody Kollapen held that BHF has
copyright in a 13-digit code numbering system that covers every
medical practice in SA and that's used in the processing of
medical claims, because the creation of the database involved skill
and effort. He also held that Discovery infringed the copyright
when it created its own database because it used a substantial part
of BHF's database. He went on to order Discovery to pay damages
of some R1.2 million per year. In a similar recent case involving
Transunion and Autobid, a KZN court held that a vehicle numbering
system enjoys copyright.
PATENTS
Valuable Assets: BBC News recently reported that AOL had sold
800 patents to Microsoft for US$ 1.06 billion, who in turn sold
some of the patents on to Facebook for US$550 million. AOL kindly
distributed the proceeds of the sale to its shareholders. Another
illustration of how patents, and more particularly patent
portfolios, have become extremely valuable assets for tech
companies.
Too Many Laws: In an article that appears in the May 2012 issue of
De Rebus – Why Two Is Not Better Than One - Spoor &
Fisher consultant, Alison Dyer, bemoans the fact that in order to
know patent law these days you now need to consult obscure acts
like the Nuclear Energy Act and the National Environmental
Management: Biodiversity Act. She also points out that the
Commissioner created by the Companies Act of 2008 to oversee
companies and IP (including patents) is not the same Commissioner
created by the Patents Act to oversee various aspects of patent
law.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
'Patent law is perceived by many as a fascinating branch of the legal profession' - the opening line of an article dated 11 May 2012 on the Adams & Adams website, www.adamsadams.com, entitled Don't forget the goose. Not sure about the goose, but the line's likely to be remembered!
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