Two Grocery Stores Suing Over Use of US Highway Shield

[DaBigE]

http://host.madison.com/business/metcalfe-s-festival-foods-clash-in-court-over-trademark-logo/article_ce121b94-9488-55be-b21c-c836e131a5c5.html#comments

The lawsuit alleges Festmark's logo is "confusingly similar"  to Metcalfe's trademarked design, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, and accuses Festmark of infringing on the trademark and unfair competition. The lawsuit asks a judge to block Festmark's use of the logo, order Festmark to destroy all its goods and advertisements with the logo and pay unspecified damages and costs.

Damages? Really? Personally, I hope this one gets thrown out of court.

[Max Rockatansky]

Probably will get thrown out.  Basically all those designs including the U.S. Route Shield are all based off the Great Seal of the United States.  I would imagine trying to claim a copyright would be very difficult on such a shield. 

[dcbjms]

The MTO is in a similar spat with a craft brewery over the use of a logo similar to Ontario's King's Highway shield.  Tis' the season, I guess.

[bulldog1979]

And there's still the ongoing litigation related to the trademark one company registered for the M-22 marker here in Michigan. (Of course, that really started when the M-22 trademark holders tried to prevent other groups from selling stickers and merchandise with other state highway markers, like M-119. The state has intervened since to get the trademark voided.)

[mgk920]

At least the interstate shield is trademarked by AASHTO.

Mike

[epzik8]

I have something similar near me. There's a local pub in my area in Bel Air, Maryland called the Route 24 Ale House, which is indeed near Route 24, and the "24" in the pub's wordmark is situated inside of a U.S. route-style shield. Only issue is, Route 24 is actually Maryland Route 24, and the Maryland state route shield is not the same thing as the U.S. Highway shield.

[ColossalBlocks]

I have something similar near me. There's a local pub in my area in Bel Air, Maryland called the Route 24 Ale House, which is indeed near Route 24, and the "24" in the pub's wordmark is situated inside of a U.S. route-style shield. Only issue is, Route 24 is actually Maryland Route 24, and the Maryland state route shield is not the same thing as the U.S. Highway shield.

There was a Route 21 pub up in High Ridge, Missouri, which also had the US Shield, and was indeed right on Route 21, but then again, it was Missouri Route 21.

[briantroutman]

Actually, I think the ones with a "beef" , so to speak, should be the USDA. They use a shield like the US Highway marker to designate grades of various meat, poultry, and egg products. Particularly with the case of the "locally grown"  seal–which pretends to carry a type of certification–I think the shield shape could be interpreted as being confusingly similar to USDA grading imagery.

[SP Cook]

Actually, I think the ones with a "beef" , so to speak, should be the USDA. They use a shield like the US Highway marker to designate grades of various meat, poultry, and egg products. Particularly with the case of the "locally grown"  seal–which pretends to carry a type of certification–I think the shield shape could be interpreted as being confusingly similar to USDA grading imagery.

Excelent point. 

[kphoger]

This kind of thing often has the goal of getting the underdog to switch logos simply because they can't afford the court costs.  I remember when the Deep Rock Café in Colby, Kansas, was sued by Hard Rock Café because of the name similarity.  No one in their right mind would ever imagine someone went to the one instead of the other, considering the closest Hard Rock Café was hundreds of miles away, but the underdog changed names because they couldn't afford the fight.

[roadman]

This kind of thing often has the goal of getting the underdog to switch logos simply because they can't afford the court costs.  I remember when the Deep Rock Café in Colby, Kansas, was sued by Hard Rock Café because of the name similarity.  No one in their right mind would ever imagine someone went to the one instead of the other, considering the closest Hard Rock Café was hundreds of miles away, but the underdog changed names because they couldn't afford the fight.

^^THIS is exactly what is wrong with trademark and copyright law in this country.  Lack of common sense, for one thing.