TSA Accused Of Trademark Infringement
from the sovereign-rights... dept
JJ sends in the rather amusing news that the TSA’s SimpliFLY promotional campaign (which only existed during the 2007 holiday season) may actually violate the trademark of the Salt Lake City International Airport, which uses the term for its telephone help line. From the details, it seems pretty clear this is a pure money grab by the SLC airport, as the marketing director seems quite clear that filing a lawsuit against the TSA was just a way to begin “negotiations.” Of course, SLC may find that it has an uphill road to climb, as it needs to explain how the TSA was using the term “in commerce” to show that it’s a trademark violation. In the meantime, folks in the marketing department at SLC airport may find that they need to go through a bit of extra scrutiny next time they go through airport security.
Filed Under: salt lake city international airport, simplifly, trademark infringement, tsa
Comments on “TSA Accused Of Trademark Infringement”
wait a sec … they are filing a trademake claim against a service that was only used during the 2007 holiday season?? So after 18 months of non-existance they are bringing a suit. I fail to see how they still have a claim. Sometimes I really want to go to law school just to be able to understand the logic these people use to file these sort of claims.
Re: Re:
The first registration for a trademark is for six years. It was registered in 2005, so it is owned until 2011.
If you want to understand logic, how about the failure of logic to go to the USPTO web site to do a simple, five or ten minute search to see if a term is a registered trademark, or even an internet search?
Sometimes I really want to go to stupidity school just to be able to understand the lack of logic these people use to get themselves into these sorts of trouble.
Re: Re: Re:
Oops…I did (or more precisely, did not do) exactly what so many other posters on this web site tend to do: Check sources.
It turns out that Salt Lake City International Airport never registered their trademark. Oops. Apparently Salt Lake City is also no longer using the term SimpliFLY. Guess what? No use, no registration, no case. I can see why TSA is ignoring them. Hopefully a judge will dispose of this case quickly.
Cue deep announcer voice....
“And now…another episode of “Cavity Search Theater” brought to you by the good folks at the TSA and Johnson and Johnson.”
No Fly List
What do you mean all my staff cant go to work because there names are now on the no fly list. How are we supost to file this lawsuit when we cant even go to work?
Suing the people who do your security is not a vary good idea, you might be labeled a “terrorist”
i really want to see Weird Harold’s opinion on this.
Considering the State of SLC...
…it’s not a surprise they are trying to make a grab for money. I had a transfer there four weeks ago and the airport was in an awful state: dirty, poorly laid out, construction projects that look like they were abandoned halfway, torn seats in the waiting areas, unheated corridors and jetways, filthy bathrooms.
Easily the worst airport I have ever experienced. I’d rather spend a day in Grand Central Station than an hour in SLC.
Re: Considering the State of SLC...
Um, have you see the girls who walk through Grand Central Station? And the food court is pretty good too… so that’s kind of a no brainer. Grand Central vs almost any airport!
Hrm.
TSA may not be a commercial entity, but their ‘market’ (or at least a portion of it) is the same as that of SLC’s. Confusion could easily result.
SimpliFLY? Sounds familiar to me…oh yeah, it is the corporate tagline of Deccan Airlines, an India-based budget airline that’s been around since 2003.
http://www.livemint.com/2007/09/12002739/Air-Deccan-now-set-to-be-renam.html
Re: Re:
Deccan Airlines, now known as Kingfisher Red, would have no standing with respect to a dispute between Salt Lake City International Airport and TSA. Kingfisher Red never registered Simplifly in the U.S. Neither is their name well known outside India, and would not have been well known at the time that Salt Lake City International Airport was running their SimpliFLY campaign, from 2003-2007.
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