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 Entrepreneur Magazine Wins Trademark LawsuitSometimes David takes on Goliath and loses – in a really big way. That's what happened to Scott Smith, owner of EntrepreneurPR. Smith was sued in 1998 by Entrepreneur Media, publishers of Entrepreneur Magazine, for infringing their trademark. In 2000, Entrepreneur Media was awarded more than $337,280 in damages and an injunction against Smith to stop using the Entrepreneur mark. Smith appealed, and on June 25th, 2003, the US District court in central California awarded Entrepreneur Media $669,656 in damages (almost double the initial award) plus legal fees and a permanent injunction against use of their mark. Smith, in various publicity releases I’ve seen over the years of litigation had claimed that “Entrepreneur” is a common term, and shouldn’t be trademarked. The court, however, found that Entrepreneur's large circulation and well-known magazine name made for a strong, distinctive trademark. They found that EntrepreneurPR and Entrepreneur Illustrated caused “substantial confusion” with Entrepreneur Magazine and that Smith had engaged in “deliberate” infringement. More information about the case is available on Entrepreneur Magazine’s web site: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,309592,00.html Decisions like this are devastating to small businesses, and to the small business owner. And it’s easy to think of a case like this as a giant trying to stomp out tiny businesses. But in my opinion, the cover of Smith’s Entrepreneur Illustrated so much resembled the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine when I first saw it several years ago, that I thought it was something put out by the magazine. Apparently, according to the article on the Entrepreneur site, some of EntrepreneurPR’s customers thought they were affiliated with the magazine too. What's sad about all this, is that there are publicists who make a fairly good living writing and distributing articles about their clients. And the stories in Entrepreneur Illustrated were well-written. So I can't help thinking Mr. Smith could have run a profitable business without using Entrepreneur as part of his business name. Although the word "entrepreneur" is commonly used to refer to people who
start businesses, I don't think it takes an attorney to realize that if you
apply that term to publications or a web sites about entrepreneurial people,
there's very likely to be confusion with Entrepreneur Media's magazines and web
sites.
One Way to Get Media AttentionHow do you get the press to write about a mundane company? How could you make something as mundane as a slipcover company make headline news? Sure Fit, a company that manufactures slipcovers, found one way: run a zany contest. Now in it's 9th year, the contest is called the Ugly Couch contest, and this year's winner will win be featured in a newspaper ad in their home town and win $5,000.
If you want to enter the contest yourself, visit Sure Fit's web site, and submit your own entry. Entries must be received between July 1 2003 and August 7 About the author
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So,
how ugly does a couch have to be to win? Take a gander at last year's winner.
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