Indeed. And begin by overturning the insanity that is Citizens United.
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For a few years I was really into Move to Amend. Even going to some local workshops and writing to some of my representatives, something that I otherwise don’t do (I’m mostly apolitical). But I’m at a loss how to gain any traction for fixing Citizens United under the current White House and Congress. And we can no longer count on a future Supreme Court bailing us out.
America will eventually slide into decay if we keep missing chances to set ourselves on a better path, I think the midterms are a chance to do that. But even the most optimistic results for Democrats wouldn’t necessarily solve the issue. On the plus side I feel that a bunch of fresh faces put into office through a populist movement are going to be more receptive than those who have held their seat for multiple terms.
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Yep. The only feasible way they could fight it would be if they joined together and pooled their (likely scant) resources. Which would, of course, require them to know of each others’ existence and receipt of similar letters. Not likely.
Wait. It’s called “Aloha Poke”, and he’s selling fucking toast?
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They also drench their unappetizing-looking dishes with some kind of pink mayonnaise. (I made the mistake of looking them up on Yelp.) I’m originally from the Midwest myself, and I would normally take offense at anyone saying that Midwesterners will eat anything, but the success of this place apparently supports the statement. Honestly, here in Honolulu I can get better poke from the supermarket on the corner.
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So “poke” is the name of the food … you can’t trademark that any more than you can trademark tacos or sushi. “Aloha” has been used for everything from Airlines to hotels.
The only trademark elements would be the “word mark” (typography and color).
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My search of the trademark database show that they have two:
Aloha poke co - a trademark on the logo
Aloha poke - a trademark on the phrase ‘aloha poke’
I see no evidence that they have any claim to the word Aloha on its own. IANAL but I would think this would allow a competitor restaurant called ‘Aloha bowl’ that sold poke.
So two things clearly wrong with the cease and desist letter: They ask people to stop using Aloha on its own which they have no claim on. And the letter says they were in business first which is simply not true.
Most importantly there is no obligation or even interest for the company to sue/threaten restaurants in different markets. They chose to do so and they reaped what they sowed.
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They might not be obligated to do so but they probably could win. About 12 years ago a restaurant in Pittsburgh was forced to change it’s name from Hot Dogma to Franktuary because they lost a case brought against them by a Miami restaurant called Dogma Grill. Trademark is a strange monster.
Your linked article says that they settled, not that they lost. This is similar to a SLAPP, in that the defendant settles a case they likely would have won to avoid the legal fees.
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