A Not So
Sweet Battle Wages Over a Term of
Endearment
The Story of the Sourpeas Click here to find out what all the
fuss is about...
April
3rd, 2006 3:00PM
PST
Complete Resolution of Sweet Pea
Lawsuit Reveals Power of the Internet
The Sourpeas, an ad-hoc organization of the 52 Sweet Pea
defendants in the trademark lawsuit filed by Sweet Pea,
Ltd. is happy to announce that the case has been
voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff. In fact, the few settlement fees that
were paid to the plaintiff's attorney early on have been
returned to those defendants. For the many Sweet Pea
defendants that settled recently at no cost, though details
can't be revealed, we can definitely say that it was done
in our favor and that it particularly addresses our key
creative and legal issues.
We would like to take this opportunity to first thank the
many people involved inside and outside the group for their
support and aid in our defense. And, we'd like to
congratulate the large group of Sourpeas who worked closely
together within the unique Internet environment to create a
successful resolution for
everyone.
We hope that that the long term impact of the Sourpeas
fight will be to raise public awareness of the growing
problem regarding the extent that trademark laws can be
abused for gain and how their misuse can prohibit
legitimate and legal creative expression. Trademark abuse
as well as genuine trademark infringement are becoming key
issues in the evolution of the Internet and should be of
great concern to trademark holders and creative
professionals alike.
For more information about the Sourpeas, stay in touch with
the www.sourpeas.org
website. This site will soon
evolve into an archive and function as a resource focusing
on educating others on the issue of trademark
abuse.