Copyright

[Piston Broke]

They own this shape yet continually others will "steal" this shape for use as almost anything. I have actually seen Telstra use this shape in an advertising campaign print without approval.

Nobody owns the shape or silhouette of a tree.
Car Freshner has established a trademark (not patent) using that particular design for certain types of products and industries, and only those.
If you sell xmas trees, using a tree shape would'nt be a problem, at least here.

 

[csc2]

Nobody owns the shape or silhouette of a tree.
Car Freshner has established a trademark (not patent) using that particular design for certain types of products and industries, and only those.
If you sell xmas trees, using a tree shape would'nt be a problem, at least here.

Piston Broke....They own the patent, copyright and anything associated with this particular shape my friend.

Car Freshner Corp actually won a case several years ago against SC Johnson I think because SC Johnson used the shape for a Xmas theme using their own art..Sort of blows your theory about Xmas trees.

We are not talking about a Xmas tree however, we are talking about a particular shape "little tree" shape.

No matter that this shape is being used as a non freshener you will breach trade dress by using it as anything.

I guarantee I am 110% correct...Fair use policy excluded.

A Xmas tree has no relevance unless you use the "little tree" shape and design Xmas art on it.....

Even anything very close to their shape they are entitled to challenge legally when it comes to a freshener or anything else........

They own the shape so if you use it for marking or selling goods or it is used falsely in any way you may become liable......

I will back my retirement on it.

They are yet to lose a case on this issue world wide.

 

[Piston Broke]

Piston Broke....They own the patent, copyright and anything associated with this particular shape my friend.

Actually I don't think you know the difference between them & trademarks.

I guarantee I am 110% correct.

Even anything close to their shape they will challenge legally when it comes to a freshener or anything else........

I will back my retirement on it.

I suggest you talk to IP Australia and an intellectual property lawyer.
The latter will charge by the 6m block though.

They are yet to lose a case on this issue world wide.

This does not prove or mean anything other than they take on a sure thing and weak opponents.
And btw US law does'nt apply here, Australian law does.
Telstra cannot be sued unless it infringes their trademark, by Australian laws.

I will back my retirement on it.

I already have.

 

[Fudge]

This just got me thinking regarding my original question.

A few years ago I was getting an inground pool done. After reviewing all that the saleman had, and as it was going to be a concrete one, I thought I would come up with my own shape / design.

After putting a bit of time into designing what I wanted, I got it done up on ACAD. After running through with the salesman my design, he priced it up, and I ended up signing a contract to construct my design.

On completion, the builders of the pool were pretty impressed with the design, and the positions of jets and spa areas, that they got the big cheese over to have a look. (It has a bed of jets coming up vertically about 200mm on a beach (bench area). This is great to ly in, submerged with water with the jets on.

They ended up taking alot of pictures and telling me this is a great design and they will look at adding it to their collection.

Anyway....I guess what you all have been saying above, is that this could be considered an infringement of my copyrighted drawing / design?

F??

 

[Aaron Sice]

This just got me thinking regarding my original question.

A few years ago I was getting an inground pool done. After reviewing all that the saleman had, and as it was going to be a concrete one, I thought I would come up with my own shape / design.

After putting a bit of time into designing what I wanted, I got it done up on ACAD. After running through with the salesman my design, he priced it up, and I ended up signing a contract to construct my design.

On completion, the builders of the pool were pretty impressed with the design, and the positions of jets and spa areas, that they got the big cheese over to have a look. (It has a bed of jets coming up vertically about 200mm on a beach (bench area). This is great to ly in, submerged with water with the jets on.

They ended up taking alot of pictures and telling me this is a great design and they will look at adding it to their collection.

Anyway....I guess what you all have been saying above, is that this could be considered an infringement of my copyrighted drawing / design?

F??

yes - but you didn't let them know this was the case at the time, therefore you essentialy gave permission by, uh... "non-objection" to them taking photos and using it.

 

[csc2]

Actually I don't think you know the difference between them & trademarks.



I suggest you talk to IP Australia and an intellectual property lawyer.
The latter will charge by the 6m block though.

This does not prove or mean anything other than they take on a sure thing and weak opponents and understand how to take advantage of the legal system under which they operate. And of course they are willing to spend lots on lawyers.
And btw US law does'nt apply here, Australian law does.
Telstra cannot be sued unless it infringes their trademark, by Australian laws.


I already have.

piston ol mate, sincerely you are talking absolute garbage and without any knowledge on the issue.....if a company has an international patent then trust me they can sue you here.

telstra can be sued i guarantee in the case i mentioned...they breached copyright for a start and used the shape for a marketing campaign....

i actually have a copy of it in my office.

as for weak opponents, SC Johnson is hardly a weak opponent......www.scjohnson.com

in fact they are far bigger than car freshner corp.

take the time and get to know some basics before commenting on something you know little about please other than reading online website pages from IP Australia....or stick to r/e cause laywers would have a field day with you...seriously piston...

 

[AlmostBob]

We used to get thousands of hits on our website linked from other sites, people linking rent to own, quiz, and images and video clips
copyright notices, cease and desist don't seem to matter,

.htaccess

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(.+\.)?dockreyapartments\.com/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteRule .*\.(jpe?g|gif|bmp|png|jpg|wmv|asf)$ /pics/istealimages.jpe [L]

 

[Piston Broke]

piston ol mate, sincerely you are talking absolute garbage and without any knowledge on the issue.....if a company has an international patent then trust me they can sue you here.

Yep, and I get to talk it with IP lawyers without a billing clock running as well.
So here's some more garbage (and another free lesson) for which I don't expect to be thanked.

The trademark act is pretty clear:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/tma1995121/

SECT 17
What is a trade mark?
A trade mark is a sign used, or intended to be used, to distinguish goods or services dealt with or provided in the course of trade by a person from goods or services so dealt with or provided by any other person.

Once again, the case against scjonhnson was about trademarks NOT patent.
And they were both in a similar industry, yet appeal court stated:

under the fair use doctrine, the acquisition of trademark rights in words or images does not prevent others from using those same words or images as long as such use is descriptive and in good faith.

http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/Articles/CarFreshenervSCJohnson.shtml

It's complex stuff, and I aint no expert, but i do know the basics.

 

[Mandy Mac]

Yeah, what he's saying is that a patent is an idea. So if they patented the idea of, say, a car freshener that let out a squirt of perfume every time the car went into 5th gear, then that would be a legitimate patent.

You can't patent a tree, coz, well, it's a tree.

You can, however get a trademark for a symbol, such as a tree. Adidas hold the trademark over the trefoil that is their symbol. I have a trademark on the name Mandy Mac.

Patent, trademark, copyright - all different things.

 

[Piston Broke]

I have a trademark on the name Mandy Mac.
Patent, trademark, copyright - all different things.

Yep.
And it does'nt mean you own the name "Mandy Mac".
Only that you have the rights to that name in order to distinguish & differentiate your products from those of competitors.
Which means if someone is trading as Mandy Mac Investments, it has nothing to do with your trade mark, unless you trade in the financial services industry. Eg fin services to people in developing countries.

And btw you can have a trademark without it ever been registered.

 

[Mandy Mac]

And btw you can have a trademark without it ever been registered.

Yep. In which case you put (tm) after the trademarked term rather than the (r) for the registered trademark.