[Bluco]

^ This. You either defend your rights and marks or you don't - its not possible to let some people get away with it and not others as you set precedent with your actions.

I completely empathise with Oyster & Pop - I built my company from the ground up as well, but as a matter of course whenever we are creating a logo / branding / campaign or whatever, we have a procedural obligation to our clients as well as ourselves to have our output checked for IP infringement in market before what we have produced goes live.

(I have also bought 2 clocks from Oyster and Pop - they are great for kids bedrooms.)

 

[Bluco]

The claim that Rolex lawyers have made, that a reasonable consumer will be confused, and come to believe these children's clocks are made by Rolex, is absurd.

Is that actually the case, or is that just the narrative the press are taking because its hyperbolic and makes the action sound absurd. I haven’t seen the actual legal text.

 

[Bluco]

The New York company send the UK guy a really nasty letter demanding...

It really depends on where the trademarks are registered. They can be registered on a country basis, regionally, by economic zone or worldwide (Madrid System). However, sometimes individual country laws prevent a trademark being registered - for example, and to your point, good luck getting a TM on McDonalds in Scotland, Smith in the UK, Rossi in Italy and so on.

This case is interesting, as a Swiss TM absolutely will apply in the UK. Nevertheless, the name Oyster & Pop does have its own provenance, and it is entirely probable that if Rolex counsel approach the court on the basis that people will be confused between a kids wall clock and a £8k wristwatch it will be seen as specious and dismissed.

Its a mess. Every time I have to go through this crap at work it brings me out in hives.

 

[Bluco]

For example, if "oyster" is used by O&P, and then by Tonka, and then by Mattel, and then by a pizza shop, and then by [add infringer A, B and C], then the word "oyster" becomes diminished as a brand.

You misunderstand both what a ‘trademark’ is and what ‘dilution’ means. Rolex do not own the commercial rights of the word ‘oyster’. Period.