“Forgotten Hollywood”- Put Up Your Dukes!
Manny P. here…
A legal dispute is going on between Duke University and the estate of John Wayne. Fans of the late film star will recall he went by the nickname Duke, which he garnered as a child. He preferred it to his real first name, which was Marion.
Now, the actor’s estate wants to sell a Duke brand of bourbon featuring the actor’s likeness and signature on the label. Duke University filed an objection with the US Patent & Trademark Office, arguing that to prevent a tarnishing of its brand, [Duke University] does not permit the use of confusingly similar marks associated with unapproved goods or services. The school and the estate have been battling over the name for over a decade. Lawyers representing the actor’s family has now filed suit in federal court, contending it’s ludicrous to think the educational facility owns the name in all contexts for all purposes.
The Wayne estate is attempting to use the Duke nickname as a means of into an entirely new enterprise. But, they don’t have a trademark. This is a very different scenario from the cases where companies license the use of celebrity names — for instance, with Jack Daniel’s new Sinatra Select Whiskey. JOHN WAYNE ——>
It’s not like Duke University has a problem with every other Duke that comes along. The estate of Duke Ellington has had zero problems with the North Carolina school (for example).
And so it goes…
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Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History has just been purchased by customer number 3100. My initial work has been placed in the hands of patrons at Larry Edmund’s Bookshop in Hollywood, which put me over the latest illustrious sale. I also made recent transactions at a recent local Rotary meeting in historic San Gabriel.
A heartfelt thanks to all my loyal readers.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2014 at 2:23 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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