Currently a fairly large, well estiblished corporate entity is accusing the JGoode “artic bird” of infringing… on the word penguin. Or maybe it’s infringing on being a penguin. I’m not quite sure. It’s all *hearsay* ya know… suppozebly.
I’m sorry to say it, but I’m actually truly confused. This poor little birdy has no other name.. does it? Maybe something in latin, I’m not sure. I could translate to spanish or french.. or anything but english, if that made a difference couldn’t I?
Do big corporations have the right to own an entire species of animal just because it’s on a t-shirt? Can anyone legally monopolize the market in any given area when the word is common language?
I would think if full ownership regardless of font, features and location were possible, Duncan would not be making doughnuts, Olive’s Garden would be blooming of pasta a little less.. Bad Girl would prevent any other company from selling an image of a rule breaking female on a shirt… and the Old would be out of a Navy because the military doesnt need to be associated with young girls wearing capris and smilie commercials.
There are plenty of other penguins out there… on apparel no less. What are they being called, if not the bird they are? How do they look if they are in fact penguins… like doughnuts?
Where is the line drawn (in theory) when it comes to common use, and common law first use?
How sad would it be to lose an entire population of penguins, just because Mr. CorpUn-named likes to bully and attempt to scare competition away. (Competition!? Confusing you with who? says Mr. JGoode. -wink-)
It’s disheartening, this unexpected situation at hand, I have penguins to doodle and sculpt and dream up… yet the battle needs to be fought. When one does wrong, they need to correct their mistakes, but when one is accused of wrong they didn’t do… one must just hope the right people are listening.
– cross yer fingers.
I’ll keep you posted.
– in the meantime, i’d love your comments. what do you think?
[tags]penguin,trademark,jgoode,cartoon,laws[/tags]
While I’m thinking about it… check out the book, it’s a fantastic read.
