The topper of the week, though, was the lawsuit filed by a dad against this son. That's right - dad sued his son. Seems dad and son were lawyers and son was working for dad.
I'm guessing dad and son had a falling out and son decided to open his own law practice. The problem is that dad had named his son after himself - so, the opposing parties were Dad and Dad, Jr.
Now, Dad had been practicing personal injury for a long time - long before Dad, Jr. decided to work for Dad. After the falling out, Dad, Jr. opened his own practice and called it....wait for it...Dad, Jr law firm II (see the play on words there? That's II as in too as in I'm Dad, too, or something like that).
Poetic justice, I think since it's a real slap in Dad's face. I'll bet Dad never thought Dad, Jr. would ever rebel against Dad and that Dad, Jr. would always just goose-step as he was so ordered. Clearly, Dad, Jr. is a rebel and a force to be reckoned with.
Anyway, Dad didn't like (or get) the joke and sued Dad, Jr. for trademark infringement seeking, among other things, to prevent Dad, Jr. from using his own name. Seems also that Dad is pulling out all the stops seeking to put the kibosh on Dad, Jr. from using his name (i.e. "Dad").
For his part, Dad, Jr. is not Dad and Dad, Jr. created a website that (I think) is enough different as to not overlap Dad. Being a techno fuddyduddy (and probably someone who was unable to program a VCR) Dad is livid that Dad, Jr. is using anything that resembles his name. According to Dad:
Defendant's (i.e. Dad, Jr) confusingly similar designation in connection with identical services is likely to cause confusion among consumers as to the affiliation, connection, association, origin, sponsorship, or approval of defendant's with or by Plaintiff (i.e. Dad).This reminds me of the Lexis/Lexus lawsuit a few years back. In that case, Lexus (the car manufacturer) sued claiming that Mead couldn't use the name Lexis (a data retrieval service). The court found that because the two names were being used in different industries, that there would be no confusion.
In this instant case, there are two problems to address. First is whether trademark law can prohibit someone from using his own legal name or restrict its use when there are two people in the same industry who are using it to promote their business.
Thing is, unless there were some contract provision saying that Dad, Jr. must not use the name of "Dad" withing 50 miles of Dad, then I don't see how Dad has a chance in hell of succeeding.
The second problem is what is going to happen years down the line when Dad, Jr. has kids. Is Dad, Jr. going to want to have anything to do with Dad? I don't know many grandparents that don't freak out when they discover that they can't see their grandchildren. Dad, for his part, really needs to think these things through. What is the real cost of winning?
Maybe, Dad, you need to step back and see the big picture. In the immediate sense it's all about about money and hurt feelings, but long term? Maybe you need to think about who is going to be around when you can't take care of yourself. Do you really want to make Dad, Jr. to be your enemy?
Just think about it Dad, who would you rather have selecting your rest home? A happy Dad, Jr. or a resentful Dad, Jr.?
I'm just sayin.
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