Posted on 01/10/2014 9:37:52 PM PST by rey
The fact that the guy was born and named “Jeep” BEFORE Jeep was manufactured proves he did use the name first.
The very fame of Coca-Cola would tend to forbid using “Coke” for something that is not related, then. Kind of makes sense. A less famous name like, say, Domino (sugar and pizza, separately) could be reused for a computer and they would be unlikely to care.
With Duck Dynasty taking off in spades, I wonder if redneck/camo-theme marketing concepts, especially newer ones, are going to come under fire. I think the Duck Commander folks might be less concerned because they have a life (as long as it is not a blatant rip), but A&E could be more prissy about their spin on it.
I think the point is market use. If he wasn’t marketing as “Jeep” then the law, as Alice In Wonderland as it sounds, would be that his commercial use of the name “could” come under challenge. (Whether to actually mount a challenge is at the discretion of the alleged infringee. Nobody, but Satan and some lawyers with heads up their rears, say that he “must.”) There was a brouhaha over a guy named Nissan who had an auto garage. The actual Nissan car company got a court order forbidding him to use that name on his garage. Mr. Nissan got very steamed over it, and a cat fight ensued which might still be going on. For me, if my name got encumbered that way, I’d just laugh and go on to something else. From my viewpoint God is in control and He is the “name above all names.” (If anyone has had the cheek to try to trademark “God” I haven’t seen it yet.)
Someone did use Sugar for computers, then again I’m not sure anyone building a new flavor of Linux, distributed for free, has to worry since its all open source.
The guy owned a bar, I think in Arizona, that was called “Jeep’s”. And Jeep was his real name. Like I said, if I remember correctly the bad PR caused Chrysler to drop the suit.
This was a story the Beck told on air, he said that Garth defended the copyright against him, and won, Beck changed his logo to a multiple letter group.
Beck also said that Garth was successful because he defended the copyright consistently, I think he said something about 11 times but that is just my recollection and it is not that dependable.
The Duck guys are coming out for the Lord.
They can expect many more attacks. Jesus warned us of this.
The fact that the guy was born and named “Jeep” BEFORE Jeep was manufactured proves he did use the name first.
That fact alone means the guy must be ancient. Jeeps were "Jeeps" in WWII.
It reminds me of a similar lawsuit in Springfield, Ohio.
There was a very old bar & grill called "Burger King" that really HAD been open before the chain started in 1954.
The little guy won that round, and ALL BK's in Springfield had to change THEIR signs.
So it looked just like the usual 2 bun BK logo, but the restaurant used "Home of the Whopper".
When the guy died, BK was allowed to use their regular logo.
Yeah, but "Eugene the Jeep" appeared in Popeye in 1936 - five years before Jeeps were being manufactured...
I remember asking my dad about "the Jeep" in Popeye and which came first. He didn't know.
Off to google I go.
Before I do, I wonder if Jeep was sued by E.C. Segar first.
Can find nothing about BK and trademarks in Ohio but there is this one in Matoon, Illinois;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burger_King_%28Mattoon,_Illinois%29
I always heard that the name Jeep for the military vehicle came from the Popeye comic strip.
The word jeep, however, was used as early as 1914 by US Army mechanics assigned to test new vehicles. In 1937, tractors which were supplied by Minneapolis Moline to the US Army were called jeeps. A precursor of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was also referred to as the jeep.
So "jeep" was around BEFORE either Popeye used it, OR AMC.
I suspected as much, since in Popeye, Eugene is referred to as THE Jeep. Not just Jeep. So Segar must have heard it before then.
The whole debate reminds me of Alfred E. Neuman.
Mad artists have used him as their mascot, but he is unquestionably MUCH older. And Mad artists were explicit in admitting that they copied the image.
Earliest known references are from 1894.
But I'm pretty sure that Mad "owns" the image today. I could be wrong.
Wikipedia is unclear.
I’ve had Duckhorn from time to time, off my dad’s table or from his (figurative) cellar. NO ONE WHO DRINKS DUCKHORN WOULD BE CONFUSED BY DUCK DYNASTY. Duckhorn customers read The Wine Spectator and have never heard of Duck Dynasty, which is literally about ducks. Duckhorn is just a friggin sounds-upper-class NAME.
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