
The Oatmeal sued over trademark by ‘Oatmeal Studios’ - Garbage
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/11/the-oatmeal-sued-over-trademark-by-oatmeal-studios/
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haldean
This is how trademarks are supposed to work; "The Oatmeal" and "Oatmeal
Studios" are similar and it's reasonable to think that consumers could confuse
the two. At the very least, it's way more legitimate than the FunnyJunk crap.

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user24
Agreed; and they're even arguably in the same business wrt greetings cards.

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vectorbunny
I would venture a guess that someone at Oatmeal Studios was probably aware of
The Oatmeal as an online entity; they took no legal action until Inman entered
their domain. I would also expect that Inman was not aware of Oatmeal Studios
prior to this venture, and that this matter will be amicably resolved.

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ebiester
I'm not sure how, other than Inman completely giving up on greeting cards, or
somehow completely separating it from The Oatmeal.

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cstross
Third option: Inman pays Oatmeal Studios -- either a consideration for using
their trademark, or buys the trademark outright.

Fourth option: Inman licenses _his_ content to Oatmeal Studios, who then
handle the greeting card side of the business and pay him a royalty.

(I have no idea of the relative turnover of these two businesses so I don't
know if a licensing option is feasible.)

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debacle
Fifth option: Inman keeps making greeting cards, but brands them differently.

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snogglethorpe
Sixth option: Inman mobilizes his zombie hordes and obliterates all evidence
that oatmeal studios ever existed...

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louischatriot
For once, a patent/trademark lawsuit that doesn't smell like bullshit. I hope
it is resolved amicably (I think it will).

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irahul
This one is hard to call. Trademark owner should defend trademarks. Oatmeal
studio has a legit case where it's not making up the charges or claiming
damages - it's simple, plain trademark infringement(per the article). On the
other hand, oatmeal is a loaded term. Even if The Oatmeal did some searches
before settling on the name, it's very likely he didn't know about the
existence of Oatmeal studio.

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WalterGR
_Trademark owner should defend trademarks._

Trademark owners _have to_ defend their trademarks, or risk losing them.

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irahul
> Trademark owners have to defend their trademarks, or risk losing them.

Should have worded it better. That's what I meant. I don't know how relevant
it is. Suppose Oatmeal Studios sue some fictional "Oatmeal Cards" and "Oatmeal
Cards" argue that they didn't defend their trademark as they didn't go after
The Oatmeal. Can't Oatmeal Studios claim they weren't aware about The
Oatmeal's existence?

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brokentone
Article inaccurate. Notes: "Inman responded by drawing a picture of a woman
meant to be Carreon's mother becoming intimate with a Kodiak bear." but in
reality: "the drawing of Funnyjunk's mother."[0]. That's okay though Joe
Mullin, you made the same mistake Carreon did himself. "That fact that he
[Inman] wants to react by advocating net war against me and accusing my mom of
bestiality makes him lower than the low." [1]

0 <http://theoatmeal.com/blog/fundraiser_update> 1
[http://www.ramblingbeachcat.com/2012/06/not-backing-down-
ram...](http://www.ramblingbeachcat.com/2012/06/not-backing-down-rambling-
beach-cat.html)

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nobleach
Can one really trademark the term "oatmeal" for their own personal use?

I mean, at what point are Wilford Brimmley or The Quaker going to show up and
alert you to the fact that you did NOT coin the term "oatmeal". I feel the
same about Apple and other extremely generic names. You name your company
something to rudimentary and generic, you waive all right to people using the
name in other venues. Granted, if another computer company starts up and
chooses the name "Apple"... take 'em down.

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Turing_Machine
"Can one really trademark the term "oatmeal" for their own personal use?"

You can, but it has to be for a specific use. Microsoft can stop you from
calling your computer operating system "Windows" but they can't stop you from
starting "Nobleach Storm Windows".

If I recall correctly (and this may not be the exact situation) when Apple
Computer first started they had to make some sort of agreement with Apple
Records (started by The Beatles) that specified that Apple Computer wouldn't
go into the music business. That had to be renegotiated once the iPod came
around.

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adnam
It seems that suing each other is an American substitute for civil discourse
and common sense. If I was Gary Larson I'd consider suing Oatmeal Studios for
all the derivative card designs they sell.

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grabeh
Perhaps the civil discourse and common sense preceded the issuance of
proceedings, but was to no avail.

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meaty
That's not how humanity works.

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mochizuki
I guess the most civil way this could end is The Oatmeal just decides to sell
the cards under a different name but is allowed to keep the webcomic/online
stuff under 'The Oatmeal'.

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yo-mf
I am surprised no one mentioned just how god awful the "Oatmeal Studios"
greeting cards are. Unfortuantely for Inman however, this case is legit.

