Rent-A-Wreck Launches Website for Copyright Victims Initiates Crusade to End Abuse of Copyright Laws; Tees off with www.copywright-copywrong.com
24 August 1999
Rent-A-Wreck Launches Website for Copyright Victims Initiates Crusade to End Abuse of Copyright Laws; Tees off with www.copywright-copywrong.com
OWINGS MILLS, Md.--Aug. 24, 1999--Ken Blum, Jr., president of Rent-A-Wreck of America, Inc., says it's his passion to put customers into quality used rental cars.These days, however, Blum has another compulsion that can't be contained within an eight cylinder chassis -- putting an end to a government agency's unwitting encouragement of unfair business practices by large corporations.
Specifically, Blum is fighting mad about a trademark registration system he feels is weighted heavily in favor of corporate giants, who can essentially use their deep pockets to engage in prolonged and costly court battles with smaller competitors.
He was wrought up by a recent Court of Appeals decision prohibiting his company and the industry from continuing to use the phrase, "we'll pick you up" or even "pick you up" in advertising and marketing materials. This despite the fact that it's a phrase that was used by the industry on a day to day basis for years before the trade mark was granted to Enterprise in 1997.
What's more, the law forbids the granting of trademarks for general descriptive phrases relating to the type of service provided.
More perturbing to company officials was the fact that Rent-A- Wreck was not permitted at its St. Louis Federal Court trademark infringement hearing to present oral arguments, discussions or statements in its defense.
Now, Blum is taking his case to the Internet, determined to help balance the scales of justice and awaken a lethargic government agency that may have fallen asleep at the wheel. He has launched a new website: www.copywright-copywrong.com, to band together those who have suffered similar fates, with the ultimate goal of evening the playing field.
Blum says he doesn't discount the importance of these laws, citing numerous cases in which they are most warranted. In Jacksonville, Fla., for instance, the Jaguars football team was prohibited from using a helmet emblem that looked remarkably similar to that on Jaguar automobiles.
In Houston, the estate of Elvis Presley stopped a sports bar -- possessing an Elvis painting done on velvet -- from calling itself the Velvet Elvis.
While Blum says Rent-A-Wreck, which has posted record revenues each of the past five years, was disappointed by the court's decision in the face of overwhelming evidence, it was a segment about similar situations on the ABC News program "20/20" (July 3, 1999) that roused him into action.
The segment, entitled "Give Me a Break," highlighted the issue by citing several examples of large companies forcing smaller competitors into controversial, prolonged and -- in some cases -- financially crippling -- court battles.
There was the case of Montana Knits, a tiny Midwestern manufacturer of cashmere clothing, which was prevented from using the name of its own state in its title by French fashion designer Claude Montana, who claimed exclusivity on Montana. Another case involved restaurant chain Planet Hollywood's threat to a tiny Brooklyn eatery over the name "Planet," or even "Plan-Eat."
Then there was Ralph Lauren's case against the California Polo Club over any representation of polo ponies on the gear of actual polo players, and Pinehurst Golf Resort's Cease and Desist order to neighboring business that had been using the Pinehurst name as part of their moniker for decades.
Far too often, Blum says, large companies use their seemingly limitless resources to take advantage of loosely worded laws and over-burdened government agencies.
That certainly was the case in the late 1980s, when Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp. brought a $2.9 million trademark infringement lawsuit against Sony Florendo, a small Baltimore restaurateur, who owned two Philippine-Asian restaurants and a catering operation bearing her name.
Although Florendo's restaurant's were essentially nothing more than tiny stalls in mall foodcourts, Sony Corp. claimed unfair competition and deliberate confusion of customers, and eventually forced her to remove her first name from the company handle.
Rent-A-Wreck says that while it and other agencies were using "we'll pick you up" for years in its normal business intercourse, Enterprise was identifying itself as "The Special Delivery Company" in advertisements, stationary, memo pads and even its phone greeting.
Now, it wants its recently added "we'll pick you up" phrase for its exclusive use. In a public statement it went so far as to claim the phrase as its "intellectual property."
The court's decision elicited letters of astonishment and disbelief from upwards of a dozen rental car companies and trade organizations, including Republic, owners of National Car Rental and Alamo, Budget, Dollar, Thrifty, the Replace-A-Car Association and Advantage Rent-A- Car. Fearing it would be next in line, Advantage filed suit against Enterprise, though that case has yet to be settled.
Defending against improperly awarded trademark suits can cost a company upwards of $100,000 in legal fees. In this particular case, the issue is affecting not just one company, but an entire industry, all because of an obvious error by the Patent and Trademark Office. No company should have to bear this financial burden, especially when all it takes to rectify the situation is a little bit of common sense.
Enterprise claims that it is has "virtually created a household name -- much like Nike has created 'Just Do It' and GE created 'We bring good things to light." The particular slogan in question, however, is a phrase as common to the car rental industry as "Hello" or "Good Morning."
With the issue coming to a head, Blum thinks it's time to work on changing the very laws or execution of them that created the problem. He urges those who have experienced similar difficulties with the regulations and trademark office to post their experiences on the copywright-copywrong.com website.
Rules do change, but only when their creators and administrators hear from the public and receive their reasonable petitions.