Trademark Disputes

Trademarks can be tricky.  When companies spend millions to build and maintain a brand they want to make sure that brand is protected.  One way to get that protection is to file for a trademark.  However, the extent of that protection and even whether the trademark will be granted can be complicated.  Can I trademark a common word like “banana”?  Possibly.  Realize that “Apple” is trademarked.  How different do trademarks need to be to be protected?  That’s the subject of this GameZone article, “Activision fighting dog poop cleaning service named ‘Call of DooDee’“.  Activision, publisher of the popular video game “Call of Duty”, sees this dog poop cleaning service as a threat to their trademark.

Should the trademark, “Call of DooDee” be granted or denied?  It’s certainly not identical but is close enough to create a potential associate and thereby degrade Activision’s trademark.  When filing for a trademark you must also specify the markets you want the trademark to be protected in.  That could play a role in how a dispute like this could be resolved.  In this particular case it looks as if the trademark request may be abandoned but it does illustrate the importance of filing trademarks as well as the importance of doing a search before trying to build your own brand.