Archive for September, 2007

P&G Gets Warning Letter

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007

Yesterday, the FDA ordered Procter & Gamble to stop advertising that its Vicks foaming sanitizer for hands (product here) prevents the spread of viruses (that cause colds.

The FDA is reviewing health claims for over-the-counter antiseptics made by P& G, Johnson & Johnson and other companies. While the active ingredient in the Vicks product, triclosan, is covered under FDA. regulations for certain antiseptic uses, that does not include P& G’s directions that users should leave the sanitizer on their hands, without rinsing with water, according to the letter.

“We believe we’re within the FDA guidelines, and we’re going to work with the FDA to clear up any misunderstandings,” said David Bernens, a spokesman for P&G.

Posted in Business of TMs, Government Action, Pharmaceuticals, Regulatory | No Comments »

Intel Sued Over DUAL CORE Mark

Monday, September 3rd, 2007

A California start-up, DualCor, claims that Intel is infringing its own DUALCOR mark. DualCor is a California corporation was incorporated in December 2000 as GCVI and changed its name to DualCor Technologies in December 2003.  It claims to have been using its DUALCOR mark since December 2003.   DualCor makes proprietary technology, it said, which improves the processing power, efficiency and portability of computers by using several CPUs working together.

Intel’s “use of the name ‘Dual Core’ is likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception among consumers as to the source quality and nature of DualCor’s goods,” DualCor alleges.

DualCor wants about a million dollars for the alleged infringement.

You may view the complaint here.

Posted in Litigation, Technology, Trademarks | No Comments »

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

Sunday, September 2nd, 2007

Chris Knight writes:

Last fall, as part of my campaign for Rockingham County Board of Education, I produced three commercials that ran on local television. The first of them – which I simply dubbed “Christopher Knight for School Board TV Commercial #1″ – was hosted on YouTube the same evening that the ad started running on WGSR in Reidsville. You can watch it at http://youtube.com/watch?v=nLi5B0Iefsk.

Well, the concept of a candidate for Board of Education pitching himself by using the Death Star to blow up a little red schoolhouse is admittedly unusual. The YouTube clip got around quite a bit: as of this writing it’s received over sixty-six thousand views. I put it and the other two ads on YouTube so that I could post them on this blog (because I was trying to chronicle everything that happened during the course of my campaign). And I’d always intended to keep them up after the election too, in case anyone else might find and enjoy watching them. Heck, I’ve always liked to think that maybe someday, others might see how I was a candidate and feel led to run for office themselves!

 VH1′s Web Junk 2.0 show profiled Mr. Knight’s ad in a segment entitled “Animals & Other Crap”.  Mr. Knight was flattered so he obtained a copy of the segment featuring his own video and posted it on YouTube.com. 

Recently, Mr. Knight received notice from YouTube that it had removed its posting because it received a letter from Viacom International claiming that Mr. Knight’s posting violates Viacom’s copyright.

While, technically, that may be true, the fact remains that Viacom would not have been able to produce this segment without Mr. Knight’s original video.  Viacom didn’t even bother to inform Mr. Knight that it was featuring his video on one of his segments – fair use or not.

Apparently, Mr. Knight and Viacom are negotiating this situation.

Even if Mr. Knight’s posting of Viacom’s material is copyright infringement, it seems that in this case, Viacom should overlook the situation in light of the all of the circumstances.

Posted in Copyrights, Free Speech, General Legal | No Comments »