Someone Is Trying to Trademark Use of "Bitcoin" on Clothing

http://trademarks.justia.com/860/97/bitcoin-86097068.html

by downandout • 13 years ago

54 18 13 years ago

trademarks.justia.com

Is interesting that Kaglew Management LLC, which is the company trying to acquire the trademark, is run by Charles Lew, the attorney who is representing the claim.

KAGLEW was created by Charles Lew and Alex Kagianaris, partners in the boutique law firm, Kagianaris Lew LLP. They are recognized as a highly motivated and committed, demonstrating extensive experience in restaurant development and management. They are currently involved in several restaurants, bars/lounges, and development projects in the Los Angeles area; all of which showcase their expertise with prominent success rates and notable recognition.

Today, in this tough economy, KAGLEW is proud to identify and present hospitality and restaurant ventures as commercial opportunities for themselves and their investors. KAGLEW structures deals for maximum returns and is an invaluable resource for creating and building wealth in commercial properties. Some exciting projects KAGLEW has recently developed are the organic vodka from Hawaii, Ocean Vodka, the highly publicized Crown Bar in West Hollywood and the popular Gasser LOUNGE in Redondo Beach. STOUT, the latest venture from KAGLEW, is bringing together two of the fastest growing commodities in the restaurant industry – gourmet burgers and craft beer. KAGLEW is positioning STOUT as a high volume high return asset and has plans to open multiple locations in Southern California and beyond.

I guess they are not doing as well as they hoped in restaurants and craft beers then.

delinka• 13 years ago

"Is interesting that..."

If a lawyer owns a company that needs legal work, is it so odd that the lawyer does the work? Seems no more odd than an owner that's also a programmer writing software for his business.

moocowduckquack2• 13 years ago

What I found interesting was not that it was a lawyer doing their own work, but that the company was a restaurant and beer spinoff from a legal practice, that so far appears to have had very little to do with clothing. If it was a clothing company that was trying to trademark the use of bitcoin for a line of clothing, that would be one thing, but this seems far more speculative an endeavor.

aric4• 13 years ago

The Bitcoin Foundation needs to make itself useful and quickly challenge/oppose this application.

jafaku• 13 years ago

They can't even run a forum.

TomGullen• 13 years ago

Any one currently selling BTC clothing would be interested in this. Contact them.

We challenged a patent last year by submitting evidence of prior art. Cost a few hundred $ and not too much time. I'm sure current BTC clothing owners would be incentivised to challenge this in a similar way if it's not too far through the process.

aric4• 13 years ago

I posted it. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=346005.0

oleganza• 13 years ago

Bitcoin Foundation has already organised a massive PR for Bitcoin in US Senate last week that doubled the value of everyone's holdings. Sounds useful to me.

bhartzer• 13 years ago

The Bitcoin Foundation should definitely own the TM. I'm not surprised that the trolls have appeared.

aric4• 13 years ago

No one should own the name. Bitcoin was put into this world to be decentralized and for everyone. Use it as you wish in your trade. Claiming exclusivity to "Bitcoin" in most industries now would be like claiming exclusivity to the terms "Email" and "Internet."

dingaling• 13 years ago

Bitcoin Foundation[0] don't have any particular ownership of the term 'Bitcoin'.

In terms of financial services it is trademarked to Mt Gox in various jurisdictions, as a result of a trademark spat some years ago.

[0] a fair number of people object to the prefix 'The' so I omitted it.

Edit: as to 'prior art' challenges, those aren't significant in first-to-file jurisdictions such as Europe.

icebraining• 13 years ago

as to 'prior art' challenges, those aren't significant in first-to-file jurisdictions such as Europe.

That's not true. First, this is a trademark, not a patent, so first-to-file is irrelevant. Second, prior art is still significant in first-to-file jurisdictions, it just has to be published (i.e., it can't be secret).

aric4• 13 years ago

No one should have "ownership" over the word bitcoin in trade. The Bitcoin Foundation was ostensibly created to protect bitcoin. The duty of handling Whac-A-Mole® annoyances like this is expected of them.

kaa2102• 13 years ago

Beware the trademark trolls.

chrismcb• 13 years ago

Unlike a patent, you actually have to be active in the category to maintain your trademark.

malandrew• 13 years ago

I don't know how someone thinks this is a good idea in the long run. Yeah, I guess you'll make some money at some point, but it also seems like these kinds of shenanigans are only likely to get someone doxxed.

Someone Is Trying to Trademark Use of "Bitcoin" on Clothing

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