Trademark Infringment of OSCAR Mark.
Ever the protective Oscar patent, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has made good on its threat to sue Oscarwatch web site, Oscarwatch.com.
The organizer of the Academy Awards filed suit on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, accusing the Web site of trademark infringement. The action seeks injunctive relief plus damages. But AMPAS’ attorney said the big aim is to halt the site’s use of the Oscar name and that “The Academy isn’t really pursuing monetary damages,” and the Academy’s interest is to put a stop to the offensive conduct and not try to make a buck”, said David Quinto of the law firm Quinn Emanuel. AMPAS regularly tanges over what it considers improper use of the trademark i.e. Oscar name.
Also on Thursday, in a separate matter, Quinto filed in the same Federal Court a motion in a trademark infringement suit against Italian broadcaster RAI International, whose Italian-language programs distributed by U.S. satellite broadcaster EchoStar have run a foul of AMPAS guidelines with such show titled “Wine Oscars” and “Fashion Oscars.” Whether the practice runs a foul of U.S. law remains to be seen.
A judge in March refused an Academy motion for summary judgment against RAI, suggesting that cultural semantical distinctions might mean that Italians view the word Oscar more generically than Americans. Quinto responded that the shows’ viewers likely to include Italian-speaking Americans who are clear about the Oscar trademark. EchoStar refused to produce a list of RAI International subscribers, so AMPAS filed a motion to compel the company to do so.
In the Oscarwatch flap, AMPAS in February ordered site proprietor Sasha tone to cease operating under her current domain registration and threatened legal action if the order went unmet. The Academy suggested in March that Stone might remedy the situation by switching to a different domain name and limiting any use of the name Oscarwatch to
sub-domains within the site, according to the AMPAS suit.But Stone rejected the Academy’s offer, and defendant Stone continues to maintain her registration of the Oscarwatch site with a bad faith intent to profit therefrom, the suit states.
Stone said: “I am not trying to exploit the Academy’s trademark to offer competing goods and services.Rather, I am offering commentary that directly addresses the Oscars
awards, a topic of great interest to the general public, thanks largely to the efforts of the Academy itself. I believe that the use of (Oscarwatch) to describe commentary about the Oscars is that of fair use.”
