By Richard Taylor, DLA Piper, Yorkshire


The alternative Christmas round-up

This is the time of year when legal magazines plop themselves in front of the fire with a large brandy and cast a watery eye over the year. Grave and serious articles with titles like 'Top ten high leverage probate lease cases 2007' and 'The year in review - by Harry, I did well' come around like Bond movies on Boxing Day. Well, not in this column.



Intellectual property (IP) law throws up some uniquely off-beam cases, which we IP lawyers try to keep from our colleagues in the hope that they will take us seriously. Here are 12 IP stories from 2007. Eleven of them are genuine - and one is not. Can you spot the fake?



1. Fashion house Louis Vuitton has failed in its attempt to obtain an injunction against furry dog toys sold under the label 'Chewey Vuitton'. The defendant - the excellently named 'Haute Diggidy Dog' - successfully claimed that the product was nothing more than a harmless parody. Other doggy products from Haute Diggidy Dog include the 'Sniffany & Co' dog bed, the 'Chewnel No5' and 'Dolce & Grrrbana' dog chews.



2. In July, the US Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit found against an application by Michael McDermott to bar the registration of the trade mark 'Dykes on bikes'. The trade mark was sought by the San Francisco Women's Motorcycle Contingent, who lead the annual San Francisco gay pride parade. The applicant argued that the word 'dykes' is disparaging, but failed due to lack of locus standi - Mr McDermott was not, the court found, a lesbian.



3. The San Francisco Women's Motorcycle Contingent might appreciate the Hindu Goddess Durga - a warrior goddess who is the embodiment of feminine and creative energy, rides a tiger, and showers blessings from her ten arms. However, JK Rowling (or rather, Penguin India and Warner Bros) risked the wrath of the Goddess by bringing an action against her devotees in Delhi for copyright infringement. Worshippers had built a 96-foot-high Hogwarts school, a full-sized Hogwarts Express, and life-sized Harry Potter figures, all in honour of the Goddess.



4. US law firm Nixon Peabody was widely mocked for 'acting like a bunch of lawyers', when it slapped a take-down notice on the YouTube website for copyright infringement. The offending piece was a leaked song which the firm had commissioned to celebrate being named a 'Top Company to Work For' by Fortune magazine. The song contained such gems as 'Woo! Yeah!/Workin' together we're an awesome fam-il-y/The word is out we're a happenin' place-to-be/Ev'ryone's a winner at Nixon Pea-Bod-y'.



5. April was a bad month for Julio Quevedo, 43, of Queens, New York City. Mr Quevedo was arrested for attempting to sell costumes of Barney the Dinosuar and Bob the Builder for use in a specialist segment of the adult entertainment market known as 'Fuzzy Porn'. The New York District Attorney's office particularly objected to Mr Quevedo trying to sell counterfeit costumes for use in these movies.



6. April was a bad month too for exam-sitting students and their lucky gonks. In Troll Company A/S v Uneeda Doll Company, the Danish claimant successfully obtained an injunction for breach of copyright in its 'Good Luck Troll' by Uneeda's Wish-nik trolls. Uneeda unsuccessfully protested that it had been selling its lucky gonks, complete with adjustable flourescent hair, for more than 30 years.



7. In the summer, Westminster council acquired the copyright in its street signs from the estate of the recently deceased designer of the signs. The council now plans on actively managing and marketing its street names - including Downing Street and Parliament Square.



8. Lawyers for rock band Bon Jovi accused Marcos Carrington of trade mark infringement when he named his energy drink 'Mijovi'. In support of their claim, Bon Jovi's lawyers pointed to one of Mijovi's marketing slogans, 'itsmilife', which they said is dangerously similar to a Bon Jovi song, 'It's my life'. Mr Carrington protested that he had named the drink after his girlfriend, Jovita (or, 'Me Jovi').



9. Sticking with hairy musicians for a moment, rock gods Metallica took action against Canadian band Unfaith over infringement of their trade marks to the guitar chords E and F. 'We're not saying we own those two chords, individually,' said drummer Lars Ulrich. 'That would be ridiculous. We're just saying that in that specific order, people have grown to associate E, F with our music.' Metallica's lawyer, Jill Pietrini, commented: 'They continue to shamelessly feature the two chords on their website song samples and we just can't have that.'



10. In May, the proprietor of the trade mark 'Miss World' took action against Channel 4 over its documentary 'Mr Miss World'. The documentary followed Gavin, a power tool designer from County Durham, and his girlfriend Sue, as Gavin tried to fulfil his life-long ambition to reach the finals of a transsexual beauty contest in Thailand. Channel 4 was eventually forced to broadcast the documentary under the title 'Mr Miss Pageant'.



11. The US Patent and Trademark Office refused to grant a trade mark to the phrase 'Obama Bin Laden'. The trade mark examiner stated that the registration would create a false association between US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and international terrorist Osama Bin Laden. And besides, said the examiner, neither Mr Obama nor Mr Bin Laden had given their consent. In a coincidence to excite conspiracy theorists, the examiner who rejected the application was one Karen Bush (no relation... or so they said).



12. Kevin Scranage has failed to register the words 'There ain't no F in justice' as a UK trade mark for clothing. The trade mark examiner held that the 'F in' double-entendre is simply not distinctive enough for registration in this day and age. 'By way of example,' said the examiner, 'from my own knowledge as a follower of football, I became familiar, many years ago, with the fan's chant of 'there's only one F in Fulham'.



Merry Christmas. Oh, and the fake story is 9. The Metallica trade mark myth swept the Internet a couple of years ago - but was a hoax.