Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Thu, 6 Oct 2011 07:40:18 PDT Zachary Knight http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111005/11124816224/ea-sues-ea-over-ea-trademark.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111005/11124816224/ea-sues-ea-over-ea-trademark.shtml Kingster writes in to let us know about an interesting trademark infringement case. In this case, the makers of Madden football games, EA (Electronic Arts), is suing the makers of sports wristbands, EA (Energy Armor), for trademark infringement. The main rub here is that Energy Armor markets its wristbands using a logo that is strikingly similar to Electronic Arts logo. Electronic Arts also claims that because Energy Armor markets its wristbands as sports equipment, the trademarks overlap and can cause confusion in the market place. I can certainly see the concern here. While we have seen a number of dubious trademark lawsuits, most recently with Edge and Scrolls, this is an example of trademark law working as intended. On one hand, we have a business which has spent roughly 30 years building a brand that people recognize and trust and on the other, a business stepping in with a knock off logo used in a way meant to confuse buyers.

Electronic Arts has a very strong case for brand confusion and I really don't see any way out of this mess for Energy Armor other than to change its name or lose in court.

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