SmileyWorld at war in the US
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Who smiled the first? The world-class Wal-Mart Stores or the French family-owned SmileyWorld? Both claim to detain the symbol copyrights. Both expect victory when the United States Patent and Trademark Office soon rules on the case.
Smileys are on zillion everyday’s products. On a balloon, on a badge messaging “Don’t worry by happy” for instance, or heavily spread on the Internet, reused for instance by AOL France in email, instant messengers and on commercials. AOL France lost its lawsuit against SmileyWorld last June.
It won’t be that easy with Wall-Mart Stores, though. SmileyWorld is a London-based company that first registered to the symbols for the biggest territories in the world.
But the US legislation prefers the first-in-first-owner tradition: “Here in the U.S., we consider how heavily a trademark is used, and that would give SmileyWorld a big uphill battle,” Marc E. Ackerman, a New York-based partner at the White & Case law firm and a specialist in United States trademark law, said to the NY Times.
So world-class patent against regional common practice, SmileyWorld and Wall-Mart, which will top the other? The verdict is expected to be released this summer. One of them will stop smiling :(
Jul 6, 2006 | By Nuno
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