Rdmarsiii Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 CEDIA RECEIVES PARTIAL VICTORY IN TRADEMARK LAWSUIT FILED BY BOSE CORPORATION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Association shares update with members, maintains trademark it has held since 1998. CEDIA has received a partial victory in its battle with Bose Corporation in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board over CEDIA's federal trademark registrations in the mark "Electronic Lifestyles." Bose Corporation sued to cancel CEDIA's four trademarks last year, claiming that CEDIA's "Electronic Lifestyles" mark was likely to cause confusion with Bose's trademark registrations for the term "Lifestyle," under which Bose markets a line of loudspeakers and music systems. On July 9, 2004, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled that Bose was too late in filing its cancellation action based on "priority" and "likelihood of confusion" as to the "printed publications" category of CEDIA's Electronic Lifestyles trademark. "Accordingly," said the board, " claim of priority and likelihood of confusion under Trademark Act Section 2(d) is hereby stricken from its amended petition for cancellation solely with regard to Registration." The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's ruling is available in PDF format on CEDIA's web site at www.cedia.org. In the same ruling, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board granted Bose's request to add a claim that CEDIA had abandoned its trademarks, noting that such requests to amend are "freely given" by the Board. Ray Lepper, CEDIA's President, said, "Bose's claim that CEDIA has abandoned its registrations in Electronic Lifestyles is as absurd as the rest of Bose's claims in this action. Quite frankly, we believe that Bose saw that it was going to lose its claims based on 'priority' and 'likelihood of confusion,' and it concocted this abandonment claim to keep something alive as to the printed publications registration. We have every confidence that CEDIA will prevail in all of its defenses to Bose's actions, including Bose's new claim of 'abandonment'." Lepper continued, "To date, Bose's trademark action has cost the CEDIA membership $68,780.91 in expenses defending the action. As I have said before, this association has been built by the long, tireless efforts of thousands of volunteers and sponsors, and to have our trademark challenged in this manner by one of our very own members is very disturbing. To sue one's own association is wholly inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation and sacrifice that is the hallmark of the true CEDIA member." "Let me make it perfectly clear to everyone in this industry," said Lepper, "that CEDIA is committed to defending our members' rights and preserving their association's intellectual property from this unwarranted attack by Bose Corporation." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluless Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 I thought "Lifestyles" was a trademark registered by Trojan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 Clu, they are probably next on the "to be sued by BOSE" list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 What's next? BOSE BLOSE TROJANS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkp Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 ---------------- On 7/20/2004 1:18:59 PM picky wrote: What's next? BOSE BLOSE TROJANS? ---------------- hahahah picky! Most wives like bose for there small and unassuming size...AHEM...I'm not sure that would be the case here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royster Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 It makes one wonder if Bose isn't really Frech company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor.Ham.Slap Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 ---------------- On 7/20/2004 4:44:46 PM Royster wrote: It makes one wonder if Bose isn't really Frech company. ---------------- Naaaa... If Bose were French, they would've surrendered in the lawsuit by now and tried to turn the attention on another loudspeaker company to keep people from noticing their shortcomings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 I thought most Bose products were made in the good old U.S.A. If not, does anyone know where they are made? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 ---------------- On 7/20/2004 1:03:08 PM Rdmarsiii wrote: CEDIA RECEIVES PARTIAL VICTORY IN TRADEMARK LAWSUIT FILED BY BOSE CORPORATION ---------------- You know? If Bose spent all that time, effort, and money in actual R&D instead of these stupid lawsuits, they would probably end up with a product that is actually worth the asking price! Suing over "Lifestyle"! That is just about as bad as Microsoft suing Lindows over the "Windows" trademark. However, Microsoft and Lindows finally settled out with Microsoft paying Lindows $20M on the condition that Lindows change thier name (which they did - to "Linspire"), thus essentially buying out the "Lindows" trademark. It was looking like this whole thing was about to back-fire on Microsoft, running a risk that Microsoft would not be able to claim a trademark on "Windows", which is actually a pretty common term in the computer field. Would be funny as hell if the same thing happened to Bose, since "Lifestyle" is actually a fairly common term. It is not like Bose came up with the term themselves. They only use it to name a series of (and admittedly, a pretty crappy and overpriced series at that), of home-theater systems. I don't see where the confusion in the market place in this case, since CEDIA is not trying to sell any home-theater systems, they are only using thier trademark to name a series of awards to the best HT installations. I had no trouble distinquishing the differenct between CEDIA's "Eletronic Lifestyles" vs Bose "Lifestyle systems". Maybe Bose needs to change thier slogan to: "Better Sound through Hype and Lawsuits" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stan krajewski Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 When I google the word Bose I get the following hit (right at the top): Bose® - Better Sound Through Research® Kinda says it all. The best thing about Bose is that they don't start any flame wars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royster Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 And they have Paul Harvey as a spoksman/paid ad. That alone is enough to boycot Bolze. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkp Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 ---------------- On 7/21/2004 7:33:41 AM Royster wrote: And they have Paul Harvey as a spoksman/paid ad. That alone is enough to boycot Bolze. ---------------- Aww c'mon now. I like Paul Harvey......Good Day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olorin Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 ---------------- On 7/21/2004 6:38:42 AM stan krajewski wrote: When I google the word Bose I get the following hit (right at the top): Bose® - Better Sound Through Research® Kinda says it all. ---------------- Saying it doesn't make it true. ---------------- The best thing about Bose is that they don't start any flame wars. ---------------- One could argue that in the absence of Bose, there would be fewer flame wars. Maybe it's not a GOOD argument, but one could argue it just the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 They are infamous for patenting, trademarking or copyrighting everything that they can possibly patent / copyright / trademark. Some of the things they've been able to do via the application of enormous quantities of money and legal beagles is amazing. Famous case a few years back - the Theil speaker company had a product called the CS 2. They upgraded it to a CS 2.1, then a CS 2.2 Bose sued them, stating that the "2.2" nomenclature was a Bose trademark. Believe it or not, Bose won. Theil was forced to rename the speaker to the CS 2 2 without the decimal point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 Hmmm...so, Bose now "owns" the decimal point? That's great! I can't wait to tell my boss that he can no longer use the decimal point without a license from Bose. That should add a few extra bucks to my next paycheck! ($X,XXX.XX = $XXX,XXX) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 Here's a link to a PDF file showing trademarks owned by Bose. I particularly find things like "Companion®" and "INSTALLER" and "LIFESTYLE®" and "RoomMate®" and "Better Sound" amuzing. I guess if Klipsch said something like: "Have a professional installer change the lifestyle of you and your companion or roommate with the better sound you'll get from our in-wall speakers" Bose would claim it should have been written: "Have a professional INSTALLER change the LIFESTYLE® of you and your Companion® or RoomMate® with the Better Sound you'll get from our in-wall speakers" and violated at least five trademarks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 oh, and I almost forgot, they also trademarked the numbers 101, 201 and 301 (in addition to others) so I guess any college or university offering a class in Music Appreciation 101 (or the sophmore or junior year equivalent) had better be using Bose speakers or they're gonna get sued... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popbumper Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 Crap! Patented numbers! No wonder I keep getting product registration cards for Bose in my mailbox. I'm gonna have to write the Postmaster general and get my address changed.... Popbumper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 ---------------- On 7/21/2004 9:40:06 AM Ray Garrison wrote: Famous case a few years back - the Theil speaker company had a product called the CS 2. They upgraded it to a CS 2.1, then a CS 2.2 Bose sued them, stating that the "2.2" nomenclature was a Bose trademark. Believe it or not, Bose won. Theil was forced to rename the speaker to the CS 2 2 without the decimal point. ---------------- Wait a minute here! Wasn't there also a case several years ago where Intel tried to sue AMD over the "486" nomenclature for computer processors?. At the very least, I do remember that Intel named what was to be the "586" the "Pentium", since they could not trademark the number "486". I've also saw in that PDF file where Bose had numbers such as "101" trademarked. Despite the Thiel case, I wonder how much that "101" trademark would hold up if somebody actually challanged it. It would seem rediculus that nobody else could name a speaker model using the number "101", lest they face the wrath of the almighty Bose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 Man you guys realy hate bose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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