3M Sues Philosophers over Use of “-It”

[The Straight Story]

3M Sues Philosophers over Use of “-It”



3M Co., which has made a fortune selling Post-It’s, is now suing the maker of a humorous line of sticky notes for trademark infringement. 3M insists it owns the rights to using “-Its” in products and that competing products will only confuse customers and give the impression 3M has authorized the silly notes.

Stephan Shaw, founder of The Unemployed Philosophers Guild, creator of the satiric Logical Positiv-Its, Jeez-Its and Buddh-Its, told the Minneapolis /St. Paul Business Journal: “I think they’re going to be hard-pressed to show consumer confusion,” adding, “They have no sense of humor.”

Shaw and his brother, David, also sell Freudian Slips and Empowermints.

http://www.allgov.com/Unusual_News/ViewNews/3M_Sues_Philosophers_over_Use_of_It_111007

[fishwax]

1. I would think Kellogg might have a stronger claim

though no real claim at all, since it's clearly parody and all.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Beat me to it ! :D nt

[ProdigalJunkMail]

3. indeed n/t

[petronius]

10. It's not really a parody, since there's no attempt that I can see to satirize or comment on

either Cheez-its or Post-Its. It's just using the recognizable Cheez-It color scheme for humorous effect.

IANAL, but in my layperson understanding of copyright I'd say that Kellogg has less of a case given that there's no real possibility of confusion. 3M, though, has a product in the same category with a very similar name - it's reasonable to think that a user could think that the Post-It line is involved here. (Although personally, I'd forgotten they were called Post-its; I just refer to the entire category as 'stickies'...)

[-..__...]

4. There's no apostrophe "s" in "Jeez-It".

Is 3M claiming trademark infringement on the singular as well as the plural usage?

[Lance_Boyle]

6. I think 3M's copyright in on "-IT" singular

and the writer was unsure how to pluralize that for the purposes of the article.

[Yavin4]

5. Fuck "-Its"

Oops. Now I owe 3M some money.

[geardaddy]

7. They already have that covered.

:)

[LiberalFighter]

8. I didn't know that 3M has other products that utilize the -it in their name.

That is new to me. :sarcasm:

[Scuba]

9. Reminds me of when ComputerLand sued BusinessLand over the same claim....

...said the judge, when he threw out the case, "who are they going to sue next, Disneyland?".