|
I don't think that who the original user is/was matters. It's who registers the mark first. Maybe some of our lawyers or law students can help out here, but that's my impression. It isn't really a patent question -- closer to copyrite it would seem to me.
Sometimes these things seem pretty petty, but we had a local high school who used to call themselves the "Olympians" and were sued (or maybe just threatened) by the US Olympic Committee and forced to change their name.
In the case being discussed, Playboy would probably never have found out about the fraternity using the bunny symbol if there had not been damage, injuries and negative publicity.
__________________
Fraternally,
DeltAlum
DTD
The above is the opinion of the poster which may or may not be based in known facts and does not necessarily reflect the views of Delta Tau Delta or Greek Chat -- but it might.
|