Disqus
The Register is reporting that O2 has lost it’s appeal to prevent a competitor using bubbles to represent the company when comparing prices.
Let’s rewind a second – back in 2004, a 3UK TV Ad compared prices between O2 and themselves (which is fine), but the Ad opended with “falling bubbles” – providing a reference to O2′s branding. O2 argued that it’s brand was being misused, and fairplay to them, they went all the way to the European Court, to prevent anyone else using it in the future – however this has failed.
The wider implication of course here is now that any company will be free to use their competition’s branding when comparing products or prices.
Personally, I think this judgement opens a whole can of worms, and is going to lead to some pretty messy legal spats in the future between lots of companies – they should, IMHO, have stuck to allowing competitors to using a company’s name in text only – that’s more than enough for comparative purposes, without involving the complex visual issues surrounding corporate marks, logos, and brands.
[Via: The Register]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
