Back in October of 2011, fresh off of unveiling the new Timeline profiles at the f8 conference, Facebook was sued by Timelines.com – a site that lets users create chronological historical records. The site, which launched in 2009, claimed that Facebook was infringing on their trademark with their new “Timeline” feature.

A few months later, Facebook countersued. They claimed that the term “timeline” is generic, citing the fact that a Google search of the term yields nearly 200 million results.

“Given the generic or at least merely descriptive nature of the term ‘timeline’ when used to identify chronologies of events and related information (or tools for their creation), as well as the prior and widespread use of the term by third parties, Counterdefendant does not own exclusive rights in the term ‘timelines’ as used in connection with timeline creation and collection services,” said Facebook.

Now, a Judge has ruled that the trial must go on, saying that Facebook has “failed to demonstrate, as a matter of law, that the marks are generic.”

He claims that Timelines.com has “millions of dollars invested in its business and more than a thousand active users,” and that it’s reasonable to believe that “timelines” has its own specific meaning to Timelines.com users.

A couple of months ago, Facebook updated investors on the situation, saying:

“We believe the claims made by the Timelines plaintiffs are without merit, and we intend to continue to defend ourselves vigorously. Although the outcome of litigation is inherently uncertain, we do not believe the possibility of loss…is probable.”

The trial is set to kick off April 22nd.

[Above image is Timelines.com's Facebook Timeline]

Gaymer is a broad term used to describe members of the LGBT community, who also happen to be avid gamers. The terms has been around since the early 90s, according to the EFF.

r/gaymers is a subreddit with over 21,000 subscribers. There, members of the gaymer community discuss games, host video chats, schedule multiplayer sessions – you know, gamer stuff. A lot of the content posted to r/gaymers doesn’t necessary have to do with gaming – some of it centers on the LGBT experience. They’ve been under attack from Chris Vizzini, “gaymer” trademark owner and operator of the website gaymer.org. He sent a cease and desist letter to r/gaymers back in August of 2012, requesting that reddit “cease and desist any further use of gaymer in association with reddit’s services and requested that reddit respond to the letter by assuring Registrant of reddit’s compliance with the terms of the letter.”

Instead of complying with that request, members of r/gaymers lawyered up and now they have the EFF on their side, who have filed a petition against Vizzini’s registered trademark on the “gaymer” term.

You can check out the full petition here.

Vizzini has taken to reddit (about 4 months ago, around the time of the cease and desist letter) to defend his position:

As a trademark and word mark holder, it’s my responsibility to defend the marks, otherwise I could lose them.

I started Gaymer.org in 2003 and began to build Gaymer as a brand. Thats why I trademarked and word marked the name. At that time, there was only one other site around dedicated to gay gamers. I have spent countless hours and thousands of dollars on Gaymer.org. I have done so gladly as it’s brought happiness to many people.

I have received many nasty emails and comments on my site, not to mention what’s been said on the reddit site.

I cannot stress this enough. I have no problem with other gay gaming sites. I think it’s great others exist. The only problem I have is when the Gaymer name is used. That infringes on the word mark. A perfect example of this is gaygamer.net. Its a great website for gay gamers but does not use “gaymer” in its name therefore I have no problem.

He went on to say that he didn’t want the r/gaymer subreddit removed, just renamed.

Member or r/gaymer and the EFF don’t buy it, however.

“This registration should never have been granted,” said EFF Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry. “Gaymer is a common term that refers to members of this vibrant gaming community, and we are happy to help them fight back and make sure the term goes back to the public domain where it belongs.”

And here’s what r/gaymer mod ozuri had to say in a lengthy post:

Personally, I rely on intellectual property law for my livelihood. I work in video games and my career benefits directly from the existence and enforcement of trademark and copyright law (though I am acting here simply as an individual and do not represent my company in any fashion). So I’m not someone who is anti-intellectual property protection. For me, digital IP protection is about not penalizing creative people in the digital space simply because they lack the ability to protect their ideas the same way they can in the physical world. I also believe that spurious claims like the one asserted by gaymer.org undermine the legitimacy of the system and give breath to a vocal group of individuals who believe that the system is inherently broken.

Second, reddit is not a haven for trademark infringement. They will not protect you if you infringe a trademark. But this case isn’t about infringement, it’s about harassment and the enforcement of an illegitimately granted trademark. Specifically, we believe that an entity should not be allowed to co-opt a group’s identity for personal enrichment, power, or ego.

So the actions we have taken are not because we don’t believe in intellectual property protection. They are because we believe the term “gaymer” is a word that should remain in the public domain, free for use and not “owned” by any particular individual or organization.

It’s an interesting case, as it appears that reddit’s LGBT gaming community isn’t backing down. What do you think about the trademark? Should the term “gaymer” be able to be registered?

In several trademark applications filed on April 4th ZeniMax Media, Inc., the parent company of Bethesda, the game development studio which created The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, filed multiple trademarks for the words “FUS RO DAH” for use on just about any merchandise that it could conceivably be printed on.

The six patents filed each cover specific types of merchandise:

• Toys and action figures; playing cards, dice, and board games; bobble-head dolls; sporting equipment
• Entertainment services, namely, providing on-line interactive computer games and providing information relating to electronic computer games via the internet
• Computer game software for use with computers and video game consoles; downloadable computer game software offered via the internet and wireless devices; cell phone cases; downloadable cell phone ringtones; digital tablet cases; smart phone cases; mouse pads; eyeglass cases; head phones
• Computer and video game user instruction manuals; magazines, books, and pamphlets concerning video games; computer and video game strategy guide books and magazines; trading cards, maps, posters, advertisement boards of paper or cardboard, art prints
• Bags, namely, backpacks, duffel bags, knapsacks, book bags, athletic bags, and cosmetic bags, sold empty
• Clothing, namely, T-shirts, shirts, sweatshirts, fleece pullovers; headwear, namely, hats

Will we see any of this merchandise in the near future, or is ZeniMax just covering its bases and making sure nobody else is making money off of their products? I, for one, would love to see a Skyrim board game or table-top RPG. Or a dragon-shouting Dovahkiin action figure with interchangeable duel-wield weapons and collectible dragon bones.

It’s understandable that ZeniMax and Bethesda would want to lock this trademark down so that they can market all types of Skyrim merchandise using the famous phrase. However, the dragon shout itself has entered pop culture in a big way since Skyrim’s release last year, and the game’s fan base has really claimed the shout as its own. Here’s hoping ZeniMax doesn’t use its new trademarks to tamp down on creative projects such as this one, posted to YouTube by Corridor Digital:

Intellectual property is a key concern of small businesses owners, who can secure significant competitive advantages by exercising the rights they hold to their innovations. However, many individuals are often unaware of their rights and miss the opportunities they can provide.

“Understanding and protecting IP is an important step along the path of bringing innovations to the marketplace,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Patrick Gallagher. “We hope this tool will help companies and individuals better navigate the process and become more competitive.”

The full assessment comprises questions on five IP protection categories—utility patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and design patents. Five general IP categories are also covered: IP strategies and best practices, using technology of others, licensing technology to others, international IP rights and IP asset tracking. The questions presented in each category have been designed to discover the participant’s overall IP awareness.

“This Administration is committed to supporting innovative business tools, which help drive U.S. technological leadership worldwide and support a 21st century economy that is built to last,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos. “The IP Awareness Assessment Tool will help entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality and bring them to market faster, thereby creating jobs more quickly, too.”

The Judges ruling over the board offered this explanation:

“The public at large initially adopted the term “CrackBerry,” as a nickname for opposer’s goods, alluding to the widely-held view that users of BLACKBERRY wireless handheld devices often appear to be addicted to their device.”

“The “CrackBerry” moniker for BLACKBERRY branded products had already achieved dictionary status as a slang term dating to the year 2000, and had then been selected “Word of the Year” (2006) by the staff of Webster’s New World Dictionary.”

This win was a bit of good news in an otherwise cloudy sky for Research in Motion, whose users have been jumping ship more and more to go over to either Apple or Android products.

Content director of InformationWeek Reports, Lorna Garey explains:

“IT pros still like BlackBerry devices,”

“They like the security and manageability of the platform. But end users have largely spoken, and Apple and Android devices are the future, unless RIM ‘s new CEO institutes some bold changes.”

Apple argues that it purchased the worldwide rights to the iPad trademark from Proview but that Proview is now refusing to honor the agreement in China. Proview, alternately, still claims ownership to the trademark and, in addition to trying to halt the sales of the iPad in China, are seeking $2 billion from Apple in the U.S. courts as a means of compensation for Apple’s alleged trademark infringement.

In a statement released on Monday, Apple maintained that its case is ongoing in mainland China and it has submitted an appeal to Guandgong’s High Court against an earlier decision in favor of Proview. In the statement, Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu reiterated Apple’s claim that it purchased the trademark for ten countries several years ago from Proview and a court in nearby Hong Kong has previously sided with Apple.

Thus far, iPads have only been pulled from stores on a city-by-city basis as there has been no national action on the trademark dispute. Given that the iPad 3 will be landing as soon as next month, Apple will undoubtedly be looking to hasten the legal process toward a resolution as quickly as possible. However, given the process of rulings-and-appeals-and-more-rulings, don’t be surprised if this continues to drag on for the foreseeable future.

Previous woes resulting from the dispute with Proview have sent Apple’s shares stumbling a bit, but no significant losses appear to be happening today – yet. Last week, Apple’s shares took a small tumble after news of a ruling in favor of Proview in Shenzhen hit the wires, but Apple shares seem to have slightly recovered and leveled off as of writing this. Then again, all Apple needs to do is shake down another tidbit of iPad 3 info from the rumor tree and their stocks will likely boom again.

Also, if there’s one thing Apple knows, it’s that you don’t put anything between Apple products and Chinese consumers and they’ve got the resources to continue this fight as long as needed.

Vivid Entertainment Group, the U.S. porn studio that brought you the Kim Kardashian sex tape, has sent a cease a desist letter to HTC. It claims that their new phone infringes upon their trademark. According to TMZ, Vivid thinks that customers could get confused and “think Vivid is behind the phone.”

Apparently, the letter threatens a lawsuit if HTC doesn’t change the name of their device by Monday, November 21st.

This isn’t the first time that HTC has come under fire for trademark infringement. Earlier this year, their Facebook-enabled phone the HTC ChaCha drew the ire of ChaCha Inc, the company that provides real-time answers to queries via text and internet search.

TheVerge has received a response from HTC regarding the issue:

We are reviewing the complaint and don’t expect to have any further comment until it is resolved.

So there. The complaint is real, and is something that HTC is probably going to have to take seriously. I mean, who wants a giant porn producer riding their ass?

That’s all about to change, however, as the social media service is about to secure the trademark from its current owner – Twittad.

Twittad is a company that users a network of thousands of Twitter users to tweet out advertisements from other companies – twitter ad middlemen in short. They operate under the slogan “Let Your Ad Meet Tweets.” A couple of years ago, they trademarked that phrase.

Twitter originally filed to trademark “tweet” back in 2009, but that request was rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office due to similar trademarks that were pending – tweetmarks, cotweet and tweetphoto. Unable to bring their own attempts to secure a trademark to fruition, Twitter went after Twittad.

Last month, Twitter filed a lawsuit against Twittad. They claimed that the word “tweet” had already been made famous by Twitter, way before Twittad filed the trademark for their phrase – therefore Twitter was the rightful owner of “tweet.”

According to the WSJ, Twittad and Twitter have come to an agreement that would transfer the trademark for “tweet” to Twitter, and see the lawsuit against Twittad dropped.

“We’ve arrived at a resolution with Twittad that recognizes consistent use of Tweet while supporting the continued success of Twitter ecosystem partners like Twittad,” Twitter spokeswoman Lynn Fox said in a statement.

There’s no confirmation of any other incentive, such as a payment from Twitter to Twittad – but Twitter will reinstate Twittad’s Twitter account, which it had suspended.

[Image Courtesy born1945 on Flickr]

Granted, it was unlikely that Google – with its market cap of $193 billion and army of lawyers – would ever have actually needed to develop a new name for the OS.  The company could have tied up the suit in the court system until doomsday, or just paid the plaintiff to hand over his papers and go away.

Still, Google’s now officially won.  Erich Specht, who at one point operated a firm called Android Data, will not get a penny of the $94 million he was seeking to cover Google’s use of the term.

As reported by Jason Kincaid, a court document stated, "Google is entitled to a declaratory judgment that Plaintiffs abandoned ANDROID DATA and the other Asserted Marks.  Plaintiffs do not possess valid or enforceable rights to the marks."

Later, the document added, "Defendant Google’s Motion for Summary Judgment is granted for Counts I-V of Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Complaint, and for Counts I and III of Google’s Counterclaim."

Fans of Google’s mobile operating system should be pleased by the clear (if predictable) victory.