I recently posted about a romance author who had registered the term "Cocky" for a series of books relating to the exploits of the Cocker Brothers. That registration garnered a lot of criticism from the publishing community. Both the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and the Authors Guild become involved in subsequent legal battles surrounding the mark. On June 1, the District Court of the Southern District of N.Y. struck down an application for a TRO and a preliminary injunction made by the registrant of the mark against the editor of a romance short story anthology entitled "Cocktales" and another romance author who used a similar term in his title. The court noted that it was a weak mark at best and that purchasers of romance titles were not likely to be confused by the similar terms used in different titles by different authors. The mark remains registered and several cancellation petitions are still pending, but at least the ruling has given competing authors some comfort. The Guardian covered the story here.
(And I'm aware that any mention of this story opens the field for all kinds of puns, so have at it ...)
I thought this was going to be a post about Pruitt and his used Trump hotel mattress... My bad. I should get my head out of the gutter.
Posted by: Deep State Special Legal Counsel | June 08, 2018 at 07:17 PM