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Sony Ericsson sues Clearwire over logo trademark
"Sony Ericsson has spent millions of dollars on advertising and sponsorships to create goodwill and build an association with its sphere with swirl marks in the minds of consumers," the company said. Clearwire's logo is "confusingly similar."
That confusion will only be exacerbated when Clearwire launches its upcoming mobile phone. "Unless enjoined, [Clearwire's] current and announced conduct will confuse consumers and cause irreparable harm to Sony Ericsson."
In fact, Sony Ericsson believes it has already suffered damage and is seeking at least $150,000 in compensation. That's cash Clearwire probably can't afford to part with, having just implemented various cost cutting measures.
Interestingly, Sony Ericsson said it confronted Clearwire about the logo in 2009 and the wireless Internet provider agreed to change its image. Apparently, that adjustment never happened or it simply wasn't drastic enough.
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User Comments (23)
Post a comment|
princeton
on January 20, 2011 8:07 AM |
Ok that's insane. How about nvidia sues them both for using the color green. The logos aren't really alike other then the colors used. |
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Guest
on January 20, 2011 8:08 AM |
Enix should sue them ALL!!! they've been around longest |
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princeton
on January 20, 2011 8:09 AM |
Guest said: Enix should sue them ALL!!! they've been around longest I actually laughed at that. Nice one :P |
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Guest
on January 20, 2011 8:20 AM |
You have to be blind or stupid to not be able to tell the difference between the 2. |
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bakape
on January 20, 2011 8:48 AM |
Guest said: You have to be blind or stupid to not be able to tell the difference between the 2. Which supposedly describes their target market. |
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Guest
on January 20, 2011 9:47 AM |
Quote: Guest said: You have to be blind or stupid to not be able to tell the difference between the 2. Which supposedly describes their target market. [\quote] That would be a great legal defense. CW: Your honor we are sorry that Sony Ericssons target mark is both blind and stupid, as they are unable to tell the difference between the two logos. |
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Lurker101
on January 20, 2011 10:00 AM |
I hope Sony lose this court case too |
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Cota
on January 20, 2011 10:31 AM |
Thats is, screw you Sony, im going home. |
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yowanvista
on January 20, 2011 10:41 AM |
Totally stupid with those lawsuits |
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gwailo247
on January 20, 2011 11:21 AM |
First time I'm seeing either logo frankly. As a tabula rasa, I vote not the same. |
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matrix86
on January 20, 2011 11:32 AM |
Clearwire's logo is "confusingly similar." Um, not really. They look pretty different to me. Clearwire has an obvious swirls, where Sony has a...um...not sure I would exactly call that a swirl. Plus, Clearwire always has "Clearwire" under their logo. "Unless enjoined, [Clearwire's] current and announced conduct will confuse consumers and cause irreparable harm to Sony Ericsson." Can you say "drama queen"? In fact, Sony Ericsson believes it has already suffered damage... Yeah...i'd very much like to see the proof there. Interestingly, Sony Ericsson said it confronted Clearwire about the logo in 2009 and the wireless Internet provider agreed to change its image. Apparently, that adjustment never happened or it simply wasn't drastic enough. You better have the request in writing so you can prove it. And if you did indeed tell them to change it, you obviously didn't set any sort of strict guidelines. If Sony can prove they contacted Clearwire and CW didn't do as asked, then Sony does have a slight chance at winning for copyright purposes as long as their copyright is legit and not too general. Otherwise, I think clearwire is going to be laughing through this whole thing. |
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Vicenarian
on January 20, 2011 11:43 AM |
"...and is seeking at least $150,00 in compensation." Wow...they must be really broke. |
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Guest
on January 20, 2011 11:49 AM |
Go ahead and sue them over that stupid toilet freshener logo. |
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CamaroMullet
on January 20, 2011 12:08 PM |
Yeah, that's pretty crazy. Sony has got to be hard up for cash. Stupid law suits. Remember when that lady sued McDonalds for like $121981912131 dollars for ordering coffee, then getting burned because there was no indication on the cup saying that the coffee was hot. Fing stupid people. |
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Mizzou
on January 20, 2011 12:31 PM |
The two are clearly different ... just looks like a couple of marbles to me anyway. What's next, does Sony plan to copyright the color red? |
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Guest
on January 20, 2011 12:51 PM |
@CamaroMullet About the Mcdonalds Coffee, there actually a reason why McDonalds got in trouble, and it wasn't due to just missing "hot" on the cup. http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm |
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princeton
on January 20, 2011 2:50 PM |
Mizzou said: The two are clearly different ... just looks like a couple of marbles to me anyway. What's next, does Sony plan to copyright the color red? cough...alreadymadecolorjoke...cough :P |
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Mizzou
on January 20, 2011 3:16 PM |
cough...alreadymadecolorjoke...cough :P Oops ... missed it. |
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princeton
on January 20, 2011 7:29 PM |
Mizzou said:
cough...alreadymadecolorjoke...cough :P Oops ... missed it. I was just kidding around. But your comment was correct, it's simply such a dumb claim that copyrighting a colour in a logo isn't far off. |
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Mizzou
on January 20, 2011 7:51 PM |
I was just kidding around. But your comment was correct, it's simply such a dumb claim that copyrighting a colour in a logo isn't far off. That's cool |
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Xclusiveitalian
on January 20, 2011 11:30 PM |
Talk about Greedy, nuff said |
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myGodwhatisnext
on February 14, 2011 1:56 AM |
in the words of the late Rick James..... SonyE..... Cocaine is a terrible drugs... your executives need to stop snorting and work on your products.... sheesh... |
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nismo91
on February 14, 2011 3:09 AM |
the logo aren't much alike. beside SE logo are nothing spectacular. i got a SE bluetooth headset and I wish i could erase the logo. |
... but honestly it really seems that Sony is constantly working our courts to achieve their goals.Most Popular
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