If you enjoy having a few drinks here and there, you may be familiar with the company Buzzbox Beverages. This company sells premixed cocktails in local stores.
The company uses promotional items that show models lounging on yachts and drinking juice boxes of the product. While the company is doing well, everything is not perfect.
Just three years ago, another cocktail maker called Buzzballz sued Buzzbox. It claimed that Buzzbox infringed on its trademark. Buzzbox ended up creating a new tagline and logo as a result of the lawsuit. While you'd think this took care of the problem, it hasn't.
Buzzbox is now suing BuzzBallz claiming that even though it has made a new application for a new logo, BuzzBallz isn't satisfied. It wants the courts to agree that the new logo doesn't cause a risk of confusion. Both companies do have similar sounding names, but their products come packaged differently; Buzzboxes come in juice-box-shaped containers, whereas the BuzzBallz come in ball-shaped containers. BuzzBallz believes that the similarities between their names is enough to create confusion, citing times when consumers compared the two drinks.
A judge in California's Central District didn't agree that the names were too similar, but the logo Buzzbox used did. Buzzbox responded by making a new logo quickly, changing its font and graphics as well as adding additional text.
Trademarks can make or break a business. If yours is violated, it could mean that consumers don't realize when they're using another company's products. Don't stand for the confusion; you have a right to challenge anyone who uses your trademark or infringes on your rights.
Source: The Desert Sun, "Legal Buzz: Cocktail maker still says Palm Desert 'box' infringing on its trademarked 'ballz'," Amy DiPierro, Dec. 4, 2017
On behalf of Crockett & Crockett posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2017.