Resources

Complete Resolution of Sweet Pea Lawsuit Reveals Power of the Internet

The Soupeas, 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. To see a copy of the dismissal, click here.

The plaintiff's attorney deliberately ignored larger potential defendants in his lawsuit. Whether it was distributors of some of defendant's clothing such as Nordstrom or other providers of clothing using the words Sweet Pea the intent of the suit is quite clear. Go after the little guys for a quick payment as the bigger companies would have shut this suit down immediately.

Here's a link to a PDF file showing items of clothing made by such major manufacturers as Gymboree and Carters. Links to the various items and manufacturers are included in the file. Click here to see the file.

Never will you ever see a better example of what is called "prior art". That more or less means some kind of proof of an earlier creation as used in a commercial situation. And, in this case it's actually is quite funny....

Here's the link

After you get done enjoying it, consider that this example is on a copyrighted commercial television show that was first run in 1990. And, Sweet Pea Limited's claimed creation date is 1997.

Case Number: 06-20081
CIV-GOLD Magistrate Judge Turnoff

Plaintiff: Sweet Pea, Limited, Inc. A Florida Corporation

Jurisdiction for this case is in Federal District Court in the State of Florida

United States District Court
Southern District of Florida
301 North Miami Avenue, Miami, FL 33128
(305) 523-5100

On Pacer you select the court

http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/psco/cgi-bin/links.pl

US District Court
Florida Southern District Court

There's a fee to access search results pages, but it's minimal, .08 per page.

The following is a list of downloadable files from this website. To download a file right-click on a PC on the link or ctrl-click on a Mac.

The original Lawsuit in PDF format. Note that it's over 2MB in size. Click here to download. Does not include exhibits.

Sweet Pea Limited's pending trademark as registered with the USPTO. Click here to download.

Final Docket Report from FL Pacer system. Lists all court actions in the Sweet Pea Lawsuit from launch to disolution. Click here to download.

Sweet Pea Dismissal. The final chapter in the Sweet Pea sage. Click here to download.

Sour Peas Press Release. Click here to download.

A Copyright Primer For every artist: everything you need to know about copyright law in plain easy to understand language.

Chilling Effects This site has some of the best background information I've run across. It was suggested by someone trying to help us with our situation. Make sure your read the FAQs section regarding Trademarks. It's well written and should help clear up the questions many of us have about our case.

Trademark Abuse This site has some broad information, but it's really focuses on the famous battle over the word "entrepreneur" and Entrepreneur Magazine. Also some coverage on another aggressive company, Monster Cable who seem to think they own "monster" when the word is attached to anything.

Brand Name Bullies More and more, "content owners" are asserting property rights in every conceivable creation — not just visual images and musical riffs, but words, letters, facts and even smells. While these episodes may be absurdly funny, they are also grim omens for the future of creativity and free expression. Brand Name Bullies probes the complexities of this terrain with wit, passion and fresh insight.

You May Be Next This website appears to be down right now, but I was able to dig it up on the web archive. As you can image this trolling for a lawsuit kind of thing we're in the middle of has happened before. And people have fought it, and have one. There could be a few lessons here worth looking at.

Public Knowledge Public Knowledge is a public interest group of lawyers, technologists, lobbyists, academics, volunteers and activists dedicated to fortifying and defending a vibrant information commons. Their focus is intellectual property. On February 16 a very scary change to the IP laws comes before the Senate Judiciary committee. This is definitely a big deal. Here's a link to some discussions about that bill at MeFi. Anyone that creates IP should read this!

Trademark Dilution Act Serious changes may be coming to our trademark laws. Read what the Electronic Frontier Foundation has to say about the radical changes being proposed by congress.

A
Registration Number
2118843
Registration Date
December 9, 1997
Owner
(REGISTRANT) Westbrook, Carolyn INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES P.O. BOX 69 Chatfield TEXAS 75105
Trademark Office
Click search and put in the above information

B
Registration Number
2855632
Registration Date
June 22, 2004
Owner
(REGISTRANT) Mercantile Resources Limited CORPORATION IRELAND 41 Central Chambers Dame Court Dublin IRELAND 2
Attorney of Record
Alexander E. Barthet
Prior Registrations
2118843
Trademark Office
Click search and put in the above information

C
Application Number
76/551684
Owner
(APPLICANT) Mercantile Resources Limited CORPORATION IRELAND 41 Central Chambers Dame Court Dublin IRELAND
Attorney of Record
Alexander E. Barthet
Prior Registrations
2118843;2855632
Description of Mark
"The mark consists of the stylized words SWEET PEA followed by a green dot. The designated color is a feature of the mark."
Trademark Office
Click search and put in the above information