Products Merely Having the "Look and Feel" of a Trademarked Brand Can Still Be a Counterfeit in t...

Designers have been increasingly proactive in protecting their marks and brands by filing trademark infringement suits against those making "knock-off" products.  Louis Vitton recently celebrated the upholding of a $335,000 judgment against Joseph Mosseri for online sales of counterfeit Louis Vuitton products.

But what if a competitor copies only the "look and feel" of an item. Does that also constitute infringement? A growing number of designers are filing trade dress infringement suits in such cases, claiming that knock-off trade dress items are also counterfeit.

In one recent case, the maker of "Swiss Flash" Swiss army tools successfully sued a counterfeiter creating tools with a similar look and feel. In that case, Victorinox was awarded $600,00 in statutory damages. See Victorinox AG v. U.S. Flash & Technologies LLC, 2010 WL 5691991 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 21, 2010) Such success stories are making trade dress infringement claims more appealing to those wishing to protect their products.

Trade Secret Protections May Be Lost If You Fail to Take the Proper Precautions

It is imperative to have consistent nondisclosure agreements in place whenever divulging confidential information to a third party. Divulging sensitive information without having the proper contractual protections in place may limit your legal remedies. In the recent case of Gal-Or vs. US, an Israeli scientist's inconsistencies in requiring nondisclosures and his failure to mark sensitive documents as "confidential" resulted in a dismissal of his trade secret misappropriation case against the government.

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Swedish Inventors Develop Inflatable Bike Helmet

A pair of Swedish designers have recently developed an inflatable helmet.  The helmet is worn around the neck like a travel pillow allowing bikers to benefit from unimpeded sight and sound.  The device senses the biker's movement and an inflatable helmet deploys when necessary,  covering the head and neck of the rider with a fully functional airbag.

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