The Nippies

Nippies research on the Spike Lee v. Viacomm situation: the trademark issue We at Nippies did some trademark research on the words "Spike" and "Spike Lee". And what Nippies has discovered is that "Shelton J. Lee" (Spike Lee's real name, according to the imdb.com data base biography) and "Forty Acres and a Mule" (Spike Lee's production company) have... filed several times in the past 10 years or so for trademarks on the words "spike" and "spike lee". None have been granted registrations yet from what we at Nippies can see. We at Nippies think this is going to be a difficult case to decide. One doesn't need to apply for a trademark if you have already been using a certain word, words, or mark. Just usage grants you rights. You can put your own "tm" or "sm" (which stand for "trademark" and "service mark" respectively) after the word(s) you are claiming. And there can be more than one trademark registration given by the USPTO for the same "word", works or mark, if the goods and services for the same name are clearly different goods and services and there is no chance of confusion. (An example often used is "Apple".Read More