Trademarks and Social Media : Enforcing Rights without Alienating your Customers
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TRADEMARKSANDSOCIALMEDIA:ENFORCINGRIGHTSWITHOUT
ALIENATINGYOURCUSTOMERS
V
INCENTBERGERON*
ROBIC,LLP
L
AWYERS,PATENTANDTRADE-MARKAGENTS
Aggressivelyenforcingone’srightsinsocialmediamightnotbetheidealapproach
fortrademarkownersanymore.Howaresocialmediachangingourapproachto
trademarkenforcement?
Therapidgrowthofsocialmediacallsintoquestionthenotionthatitisessentialto
preventallunauthorizeduseofatrademark,whethersuchuseismadeingoodfaith
orwithlesshonestintentions.
Infact,thetraditionalroleoftrademarkowners”controlling”theirtrademarksthrough
authoritativeone-on-onecommunicationwiththirdpartiesmakingunauthorizeduse
ofatrademarkislesseffectiveinthesocialmediaworld.Consumersnowdiscuss,
shareandcriticizetrademarks,productsandcompanymarketingstrategiesamong
themselvesalmostinstantaneously.Heavy-handedapproachesmaycreate
extremelynegativerepercussionsshouldacompanyactinamannerdispleasingto
consumers.
Asitisalmostoftenimpossibleandunthinkabletopreventthepublicfrommaking
commentsthatmaybeunfavourabletotrademarkowners,trademarkprotectionin
socialmediarequirescompaniestoutilizenewandinnovativemethodstoprotect
theirbrandsandavoidalienatingtheircustomers.Inrecentyears,anumberof
companieswithoverlyaggressiveapproachesinthelegitimatedefenseoftheir
rightshavelearnedattheirownexpensethattheruleshavechanged.
HasbroDefends”Scrabble”
In2008,amultiplayerremakeoftheclassicScrabbleboardgamecalledScrabulous
delightednearly500,000Facebookusersonaweeklybasis.Inlightofthenew
game’spopularity,HasbrodecidedtoinstituteproceedingsagainstFacebookand
thecreatorsofScrabulousforviolationofitsexclusiverights.Followingthisaction,a
FacebookgroupwascreatedbyuserstoprotestagainstHasbro’sconduct,which
©CIPS,2011.*LawyerwithROBIC,LLP,amultidisciplinaryfirmoflawyersandpatentandtrade-marksagents.
Publishedinthe2011-09-08issueofTheGazette.Publication062.056.
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1001Square-Victoria-BlocE-8thFloor
Montreal,Quebec,CanadaH2Z2B7
Tel.:+1514987-6242Fax:+1514845-7874QUEBEC
2828LaurierBoulevard,Tower1,Suite925
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2
quicklygrewto55,000members.Someusersevencla
imedtohave”burnedtheir
Scrabbleboardgame”toprotestagainsttheactionstakenbyHasbro.
Itisclearthatnocompanywishestogeneratethistypeofreactionwithregardtoits
brandandassociatedproducts.Thequestionisthereforeraisedastowhetheror
notmorecreativesolutionscouldhavebeenforeseen,suchasapartnershipwith
thecreatorsofScrabuloustoavoidthenegativeresponsefromthousandsofusers
oftheelectronicgame.
BPanditsManagementoftheCrisisSurroundingtheOilSpillintheGulfof
Mexico
In2010,inthemidstoftheBPcrisisconcerningtheoilspillintheGulfofMexico,an
individualregisteredtheTwitteraccount@BPGlobalPRtoparodyBP’seffortsin
maintainingitsbrandimage.BPcontactedtheuserimmediatelytoensurethatitbe
clarifiedontheInternetthattheTwitteraccountwasnotinfactanofficialaccount
administeredbyBP.Althoughtherequestwasnotillegitimateinitself,itprovokeda
waveofindignationamongstusersofsocialmediawithregardstoBPandsurely
increasedthepopularityoftheunofficialTwitteraccount.Wouldamorecreative
solutionhavebeenanoptionunderthecircumstances?
CreativeSolutionstoMeettheDemandsoftheNewPlayingField
Thefollowingpracticalcasewillhelpdemonstratethatcreativesolutionsmayexist
andbebeneficialfortoday’scompanies.In2008,theCoca-ColaCompany
discoveredanunofficialFacebookpagerelatingtoCoca-Colaproductsthatwas
createdbytwofansandfollowedbycloseto2millionusers.Giventhatcertainusers
wereprobablymisledregardingwhetherthepagewasanofficialCoca-Cola
Companypage,thecompanydecidedtoapproachthecreatorsofthepageand
invitethemtojointheCoca-Colateam,asopposedtoinstitutingproceedings
againsttheindividualsorrequestingthatFacebookremovethepage.Tothisday,
thesetwoindividualsareresponsibleforthemanagementofthefanpage,which
nowhastensofmillionsofmembers.
Thesethreecasesclearlydemonstratethatintheemergingeraofsocialmedia,
companiesmustcarefullyconsiderthebestwaytoprotecttheirbrandsinsocial
media.Theimportanceofprotectingcompanybrandsremainsthesame,butthe
mannerinwhichcompanieschoosetoprotecttheirbrandsmustevolve.Theymust
movetowardinnovativealternativesastoprotecttheirbrandswhileensuringthat
consumersremainenthusiasticabouttheirproductsorservices.
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1001Square-Victoria-BlocE-8thFloor
Montreal,Quebec,CanadaH2Z2B7
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2828LaurierBoulevard,Tower1,Suite925
Quebec,Quebec,CanadaG1V0B9
Tel.:+1418653-1888Fax.:+1418653-0006
4