Man & Machine Wins Rights to Use Mighty Mouse Moniker
The US Patent and Trademark Office recently awarded Man & Machine with rights to the name “Mighty Mouse” to refer to the company’s “cursor control devices.” Man & Machine won the rights despite the fact that CBS had actually filed for the trademark six months earlier. During this same time period, Apple was also using the name for its own computer mice. In a bold move, Man & Machine actually sued Apple and CBS for trademark infringement the same day that they filed the application with the US Patent and Trademark Office. CBS and Man & Machine settled the dispute out of court. As part of the settlement, CBS abandoned its registration, allowing the Man & Machine registration to be approved without further complications. This story shows how important it is to protect your company’s trade names, and to do so as soon as soon as possible in the development process. Changing the name of a product after you have already spent considerable time and money on developing and marketing it is an unnecessary setback that can be avoided with a proactive approach to registering trademarks. If you have a business legal matter, please contact Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. for expert legal counsel. Find out more about this story at Mighty Mouse trademark awarded to Man & Machine, Mister Trouble can stop hanging around now.
