Hi Jared: I've often thought that one way to defend this type of suit would be to conduct usability testing to see if, in fact, there was confusion. There was a similar suit against a small company called teracycle by Scotts Fertilizer. Personally, I didn't see the similarity. But it ought to be a question that could be answered empirically.
Charlie ============================ Charles B. Kreitzberg, Ph.D. CEO, Cognetics Corporation ============================ -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jared Spool Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 4:49 PM To: G. Jason Head Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] ING sues PNC over alleged similarities of Web sites On Aug 15, 2008, at 4:16 PM, G. Jason Head wrote: > Interesting enough it has to do a bit with the user interface on the > PNC Virtual Wallet site: > > "The site features several orange balls used to highlight products and > services PNC offers. ING alleges that PNC's use of the orange balls > could confuse customers who associate the orange balls with ING." > > More info on the Post-Gazette site: > http://www.postgazette.com/pg/08228/904608-100.stm Yup. Trademark infringement. Surprised that PNC went ahead with it. Usually these things are settled before the suit is launched. (There's a bunch of steps that ING would go through, starting with a standard Cease & Desist letter.) The interesting thing is that you can't easily argue it's a trademark infringement if the elements are functional. By definition, trademark (and trade dress) elements have to be non-functional, which is why we don't see more of these types of suits on web sites. However, that's a defense, which means that PNC will have to spend a lot of money in court to protect the use of the orange balls. That's why I'm surprised it's gotten this far -- I'm betting it's not worth it to keep them orange. But, what do I know? Jared ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
