Entrepreneur Media awarded more than $1 million for infringement of its brand name.At least a dozen newsletters, websites, and journals with "entrepreneur" in their names are effectively on high alert following the decision by the 9th Court of Appeals to uphold an award of over $1 million in damages and fees for Scott Smith's infringement of Entrepreneur Media's trade-marked brand name, "entrepreneur." Entrepreneur Media launched Entrepreneur Magazine Entrepreneur Magazine is a publication that carries news stories about entrepreneurialism, small business management, and business opportunities. This magazine is published monthly, with a total of 12 issues annually. (No special extra issues are published. in 1977 and obtained the trademark in 1982, when the word was still not widely known or used. In 1995, Scott Smith Scott Smith is the name of:
EM sued him for trademark infringement Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attaching to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the license). in 1998. Subsequent losses in court forced Smith to change his company name to BizStarz, his domain name to Bizstarz.com, and the magazine title to BizStarz Quarterly. But he kept appealing the decisions (NL/NL 2/15/04 & 2/29/04). In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , other publishers deleted the word from their titles either voluntarily or in response to "cease and desist Cease and desist (also called C & D) is a legal term used primarily in the United States which essentially means "to halt" or "to end" an action ("cease") and to refrain from doing it again in the future ("desist"). " letters from EM. "Deliberate and willful" infringement The current ruling awards Entrepreneur Media a permanent injunction permanent injunction n. a final order of a court that a person or entity refrain from certain activities permanently or take certain actions (usually to correct a nuisance) until completed. . A three-panel judge upheld the earlier trial court's decision that Smith's infringement of the trademark was deliberate and willful. The panel also agreed that "Smith intended to confuse consumers" and benefited from the magazine's trademark and reputation. "This decision couldn't have been more timely," said Pete Shea, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Entrepreneur Media. "With entrepreneurs and small businesses fueling the economic recovery, we are keenly aware that our reputation for providing outstanding services to this market is more important now than ever. Smith's products and services were not of our caliber and we did not want any further confusion or false association." Smith's response Scott Smith told NL/NL, "Based on my meeting today with my attorney, it looks like I'll be seeking an appeal with the Supreme Court." Asked if any other "entrepreneur" publishers have contacted him since the decision, Scott replied, "No. Unfortunately, they are now probably even more afraid to say or do anything. However, by remaining silent and not aligning with others, they are just sitting ducks for Entrepreneur Magazine's high-powered legal attacks (and it's only a matter of when, not if, Entrepreneur Magazine will attack other 'entrepreneur' publishers). "In fact, by not being proactive or uniting with others, they are doing exactly what Entrepreneur Magazine hopes they will do, nothing," Smith said. Entrepreneur Media, 2445 McCabe Way, Irvine, CA 92614, 949-261-2325, www.entrepreneur.com Smith, 5714 Folsom Blvd., #140, Sacramento, CA 95819, 916-453-8611, www.bizstarz.com |
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