Word: trademarks
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...retailers, from Amazon.com to used-video-game vendors operating out of their houses, advertise the "Wiimote" on their sites, openly or via more obscure means like customer product tags and posted comments. As a result, says Fobis president John Stephen, since the Wii was released in 2006, the Weemote trademark has been so "diluted" that the Weemote's sales, which are mostly online and total fewer than half a million to date, have fallen considerably. In fact, many Wiimote fans believe it's the Weemote that's guilty of the trademark infringement. "These days," says Stephen, "the little guy like...
...little guy too. Tiffany & Co., the retail jewelry giant, is in a similar quandary after a federal court in New York City ruled on Monday that Internet companies are not required to police trademark violations that appear on their websites. The case involved the online auctioneer eBay, which Tiffany had sued after counterfeit jewelry was sold on eBay's site. The judge did say that companies like Tiffany can do the policing themselves and order websites to remove online material that flouts trademarks. But even for big firms, patrolling an ocean as vast as the Internet for intellectual-property shenanigans...
...market. But it didn't take Fobis long to realize that the viral Wiimote craze playing out on the Internet threatened to obliterate the Weemote's visibility - and that it would be hard to finger culprits in this kind of uncharted legal territory. "This is not a classic trademark-infringement situation," says Fobis' attorney, Ken Hartmann. "But the stakes still involve the time and effort and money it took to develop a product's identity...
...proverbial David in the matter, Fobis first approached the Nintendo Goliath in hopes of working out a business solution, one that would give the Redmond, Wash., corporation control of the Weemote trademark - which would seem to make sense, since Nintendo has applied to trademark the Wiimote name in Europe - while helping Fobis rebrand its product. Corporate titans like Microsoft have resolved past trademark problems in similar fashion. Nintendo has so far balked at any such deal. In an email statement, Nintendo spokesperson Charlie Scibetta told TIME, "Because Nintendo does not use and does not plan to use the Weemote trademark...
...same can be said of John McCain, though his trademark medium is comparatively modest. Instead of the massive event, McCain is most at home in the town-hall meeting, a modern twist on the old New England civic institution, in which neighbors gather to participate in pure democracy. For McCain, the town hall is more than just a chance for him to spread his message of staying the course in Iraq and cutting taxes and spending. The gathering is itself the message he wants to deliver...