A disagreement over the PostgreSQL trademark [LWN.net]

A disagreement over the PostgreSQL trademark

Posted Sep 17, 2021 20:02 UTC (Fri) by mpr22 (subscriber, #60784)
In reply to: A disagreement over the PostgreSQL trademark by calumapplepie
Parent article: A disagreement over the PostgreSQL trademark

> For instance, if an actor in an adult film is wearing Nike shoes, that is dilution

I would expect that to be considered "de minimis" unless the camera crew was making a great effort to keep the Nike branding visible / refer to it in the script / otherwise draw attention to what brand of shoes the cast are wearing and thereby associate "Nike" with "naughty movies".

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A disagreement over the PostgreSQL trademark

Posted Sep 17, 2021 21:07 UTC (Fri) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

But if they are genuine real Nike's, how on earth can this be considered a trademark infringement!?

Nike may not wish to be associated with that sort of film, but there's no abuse of trademark. Nike would have to sue for "bringing the brand into disrepute" or somesuch.

It's like copyright has been diluted where anybody can pay a licence fee and use any music, and the artist has to object if they hear of and don't like the use. But they can't sue for breach of copyright because a licence fee has been paid.

Cheers,
Wol